Automate merges
Let rules auto-merge the pairs you trust, rule out the ones you don't, and keep the rest for review.
Once you trust how DeDupe finds duplicates, you can let it act on the clearest cases for you. Every matching rule has an action, and Settings → Matching rules → Automation holds the safety settings those actions run under. Admins make the changes. Auto-merge needs a subscription; the other actions are on every plan.
Rule actions
At the bottom of each rule, choose what happens when it matches:
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Send to review | The default. The pair waits in your review queue. |
| Auto-merge — at any confidence | The pair merges without review, whatever its confidence score. Use it for rules that are proof on their own, like same LinkedIn and same phone. |
| Auto-merge — when confidence is at least N% | Merges only pairs this rule matches that also score at least N%. |
| Never flag it | The pair is marked not a duplicate, even when other rules match it — for example same name, different company. |
When several rules match one pair, never flag it wins, then the strongest auto-merge rule, then review.
Click Preview on pending pairs on any rule to see what it would do to your queue right now — including unsaved changes — before you save: "Of the 42 pending pairs this rule matches: 37 would auto-merge, 5 held back."
The confidence catch-all
Auto-merge catch-all merges any other matched pair at or above a confidence you choose (80–100%), as long as no rule has already decided it. It's off by default: rules are the precise tool, the catch-all is the blunt one.
Safety checks
Before any auto-merge, DeDupe runs these checks, in order. If one fails, the pair stays in review, and the reason shows on the pair ("Would auto-merge — held for review: a guardrail field differs (LinkedIn profile)").
- Guardrails. Never auto-merge when one of these fields differs and both records have a value. Defaults: LinkedIn for companies; LinkedIn and company for people. You can add any field, including your own Attio fields. Emails and domains are off by default, because Attio keeps them unique per record, so real duplicates always differ there.
- Paused. Auto-merge pauses itself if merges keep failing (see Limits).
- Limits. At most N auto-merges per scan (or live-monitoring event), and M per 24 hours.
- Clusters are checked as a whole. When approved pairs connect records (A–B and B–C), every pair of records in the group must pass the guardrails — not just the linked ones — or the whole group waits for review. Groups larger than your limit (default 10 records) also wait for review.
- One merge per record at a time. A record that's already part of a queued merge waits until that merge is done.
- Merge conflict alerts. A blocking alert on the pair always wins.
- Close calls. When the two records score too close to tell which should survive, either send the pair to review or merge, keeping the record with more relationships (then the older one). You set a default for rule auto-merges and one for the catch-all, and a rule can override it.
Clusters
When several approved pairs connect records — A–B and B–C — DeDupe merges the whole group in one step: it picks one survivor for the group (the most complete record; ties go to the one with more relationships, then the older one), and merges the others into it, best first. You'll see it as one entry under History → Cluster merges, and Undo cluster restores every record at once. If a step fails, the job stops: the merges already done stay, and the rest go back to review.
To merge pair by pair instead, switch off Merge clusters in one step under Automation → Clusters.
Limits and pausing
Under Limits, set the per-scan and 24-hour caps, and how many failed auto-merges in 24 hours pause auto-merge (default 3). When it pauses, admins get a notification and every auto-merge waits in review until an admin clicks Resume auto-merge.
Apply to existing pairs
Rules act on new pairs as scans and live monitoring find them. To run your saved rules over the pairs already waiting for review, open Automation → Apply to existing pairs. Click Preview to see the counts, then Apply now. It runs in the background, bounded by the 24-hour cap.
Seeing what automation did
- Auto-merged pairs show as Auto Merged, with the rule that did it. They're recorded in merge history like any merge, and can be undone.
- Undoing an auto-merge puts the pair back in your review queue. Automation never auto-merges that pair again; it's yours to decide.
- Admins get a daily summary: "12 pairs auto-merged (8 by "Same LinkedIn + phone", 4 by the confidence catch-all), 3 held back for review."
- After each scan, reviewers get one notification about new pairs at or above the Notify reviewers confidence.