diff --git a/core/dr-catalog/src/sync.rs b/core/dr-catalog/src/sync.rs
index 59dc80a..32ee48f 100644
--- a/core/dr-catalog/src/sync.rs
+++ b/core/dr-catalog/src/sync.rs
@@ -344,6 +344,18 @@ pub fn merge_remote(conn: &Connection, remote: &Path) -> Result<MergeReport, Cat
         log::warn!("failed to detach remote catalog: {e}");
     }
 
+    // After every merge, because a merge is where two devices' people meet:
+    // the same name typed on each, or a redirect one of them made. Its own
+    // transaction, and a failure is logged rather than returned -- what the
+    // merge took is committed and valid whether or not the duplicates were
+    // folded, and the next pass tries again. Runs on the sync worker, never
+    // the UI thread, and costs ~10 ms when there is nothing to do.
+    if result.is_ok() {
+        if let Err(e) = crate::dedup_people::run(conn) {
+            log::warn!("dedup after the catalog merge: {e}");
+        }
+    }
+
     result
 }