Monica — Personal Relationship Manager for Remembering What Matters

Introduction

Monica is the personal CRM for your life outside work. Instead of trying to remember everyone's kid's name, their spouse's birthday, what movie you last recommended, and what gift you gave for their last birthday — Monica stores it. Open it before a call; you'll remember everything that matters.

With over 24,000 GitHub stars, Monica is beloved by people with large social circles, families managing extended relatives, and anyone who's ever forgotten the name of a close friend's child. Self-hosted means your private relationship data never leaves your server.

What Monica Does

Monica centralizes everything about the people in your life. For each contact, track: relationships (partner, kids, siblings), significant dates (birthdays, anniversaries), activities done together, tasks (call Mom), gifts (given + ideas), notes (preferences, allergies), reminders. Monthly email digests surface upcoming birthdays and reconnection nudges.

Architecture Overview

[Monica (Laravel / PHP)]
      |
[Database: MySQL / MariaDB]
   contacts, relationships,
   notes, reminders, activities,
   gifts, debts, journal
      |
[Queue worker]
   daily reminder emails
   monthly digest
      |
[Storage (local or S3)]
   contact photos, attachments
      |
[CLI + API]
   REST API for integrations
   CLI for admin tasks
      |
[iOS + Android apps]
   (community-maintained + official Flutter)

Self-Hosting & Configuration

# .env (excerpt)
APP_NAME=Monica
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=base64:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=
APP_URL=https://monica.example.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=monica-db
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=monica
DB_USERNAME=monica
DB_PASSWORD=secret

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=...
MAIL_PASSWORD=...
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=notifications@example.com

# Enable API for integrations (official iOS / Android apps)
APP_DISABLE_SIGNUP=true

# Cron job for daily reminders (add to host crontab)
*/5 * * * * docker compose exec -T monica php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

# Backups
docker compose exec -T monica-db mysqldump -u monica -p$DB_PASSWORD monica > backup.sql

# Upgrade
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
# Then inside the container:
docker compose exec monica php artisan monica:update --force

Key Features

• Contacts + relationships — family, friends, colleagues with defined links
• Activities — log what you did with whom (dinners, calls, trips)
• Significant dates — birthdays, anniversaries, custom events
• Tasks + reminders — "call Dad this week", with email + mobile push
• Gifts — given + received + ideas-for-later
• Notes — preferences, interests, allergies, kids' names
• Journal — timeline entries per contact
• Email digest + reminders — daily/weekly summaries of upcoming events

Comparison with Similar Tools

FAQ

Q: Is it really just for personal use? A: Yes — designed for friends/family, not sales CRMs. Data structure assumes relationships (parent/child, partner) rather than leads/deals.

Q: Does it import from Google Contacts? A: Yes, basic import (name + phone + email). Advanced fields (relationships, gifts) you'll fill in manually.

Q: What about privacy? A: The whole point. Data stays on your server. Communication is local or via your SMTP. No telemetry, no cloud sync unless you enable it.

Q: Monica Cloud vs self-hosted? A: Monica Cloud (the hosted SaaS) funds development. Same features, managed infra. Self-hosting gives you full control and costs only your server.

Sources

• GitHub: https://github.com/monicahq/monica
• Website: https://www.monicahq.com
• License: AGPL-3.0