diff --git a/backend/__tests__/integration/faceMergeSuggestions.test.js b/backend/__tests__/integration/faceMergeSuggestions.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2bff6316
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/__tests__/integration/faceMergeSuggestions.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,452 @@
+/**
+ * Automatic consolidation reporting and the suggestion band (#1107).
+ *
+ * Centroids are built to an EXACT cosine similarity rather than jittered
+ * towards one, because every assertion here is about which side of a threshold
+ * a pair falls on. `pairAtSimilarity` returns two unit vectors whose dot
+ * product is the requested number to floating-point precision, and each pair
+ * is built on its own orthogonal basis so two different pairs are never
+ * accidentally similar to each other.
+ */
+
+const path = require('path');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const os = require('os');
+
+process.env.NODE_ENV = 'test';
+process.env.TEST_DATABASE_PATH = path.join(
+  fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'picpeak-facesuggest-')), 'db.sqlite',
+);
+process.env.JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'facesuggest-test-secret';
+
+const { bootCrmDb } = require('./helpers/crmDb');
+
+let db; let cleanup; let clustering;
+
+// Mirrors the service: merge at match + 0.08, so with a 0.60 floor the
+// suggestion band is [0.60, 0.68).
+const THRESHOLDS = {
+  face_match_threshold: 0.6,
+  face_quality_min_score: 0.7,
+  face_quality_min_px: 40,
+};
+
+const DIM = 64;
+
+/** Two unit vectors whose dot product is exactly `target`, on basis (i, i+1). */
+function pairAtSimilarity(target, basis) {
+  const a = new Float32Array(DIM);
+  const b = new Float32Array(DIM);
+  const orth = Math.sqrt(1 - target * target);
+  a[basis] = 1;
+  b[basis] = target;
+  b[basis + 1] = orth;
+  return [a, b];
+}
+
+async function seedEvent(slug) {
+  const [row] = await db('events').insert({
+    slug,
+    event_type: 'wedding',
+    event_name: slug,
+    event_date: '2026-01-01',
+    host_email: 'h@example.com',
+    admin_email: 'a@example.com',
+    password_hash: 'x',
+    share_link: `${slug}-share`,
+    expires_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  }).returning('id');
+  return typeof row === 'object' ? row.id : row;
+}
+
+async function insertPerson(eventId, centroid, overrides = {}) {
+  const [row] = await db('event_people').insert({
+    event_id: eventId,
+    centroid: clustering.packEmbedding(centroid),
+    face_count_total: 5,
+    model_version: 'test-v1',
+    created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    updated_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    ...overrides,
+  }).returning('id');
+  return typeof row === 'object' ? row.id : row;
+}
+
+/** One person with one real face, so merge/split have something to move. */
+async function insertPersonWithFace(eventId, centroid, overrides = {}) {
+  const personId = await insertPerson(eventId, centroid, overrides);
+  const [p] = await db('photos').insert({
+    event_id: eventId,
+    filename: `${Math.random()}.jpg`,
+    path: '/tmp/x.jpg',
+    type: 'individual',
+  }).returning('id');
+  const photoId = typeof p === 'object' ? p.id : p;
+  await db('photo_faces').insert({
+    photo_id: photoId,
+    event_id: eventId,
+    person_id: personId,
+    bbox_x: 0, bbox_y: 0, bbox_w: 200, bbox_h: 200,
+    det_score: 0.99,
+    embedding: clustering.packEmbedding(centroid),
+    model_version: 'test-v1',
+    created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  });
+  return personId;
+}
+
+/** An additional face on an existing person, so a split has something to move. */
+async function addFaceTo(eventId, personId, centroid) {
+  const [p] = await db('photos').insert({
+    event_id: eventId,
+    filename: `${Math.random()}.jpg`,
+    path: '/tmp/x.jpg',
+    type: 'individual',
+  }).returning('id');
+  const photoId = typeof p === 'object' ? p.id : p;
+  const [f] = await db('photo_faces').insert({
+    photo_id: photoId,
+    event_id: eventId,
+    person_id: personId,
+    bbox_x: 0, bbox_y: 0, bbox_w: 200, bbox_h: 200,
+    det_score: 0.99,
+    embedding: clustering.packEmbedding(centroid),
+    model_version: 'test-v1',
+    created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  }).returning('id');
+  return typeof f === 'object' ? f.id : f;
+}
+
+const suggest = (eventId) => clustering.suggestMerges(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+
+describe('face merge suggestions (#1107)', () => {
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    ({ db, cleanup } = await bootCrmDb());
+    clustering = require('../../src/services/faceClustering');
+  }, 120000);
+
+  afterAll(async () => { if (cleanup) await cleanup(); });
+
+  describe('the band', () => {
+    it('suggests a pair between the match and auto-merge thresholds', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('band-inside');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      const idA = await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      const idB = await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      const out = await suggest(eventId);
+
+      expect(out).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect([out[0].person_a_id, out[0].person_b_id].sort()).toEqual([idA, idB].sort());
+      expect(out[0].score).toBeCloseTo(0.64, 4);
+    });
+
+    it('stays silent above the auto-merge threshold — consolidate() owns that pair', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('band-above');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.75, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('stays silent below the match threshold — further apart than one face would join', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('band-below');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.5, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('what it refuses to ask about', () => {
+    it('never questions two people the photographer named differently', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('named-apart');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a, { label: 'Anna' });
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b, { label: 'Beatrix' });
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('still asks when only one of the two is named', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('one-named');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a, { label: 'Anna' });
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toHaveLength(1);
+    });
+
+    it('skips a person marked "not a real person" — that answer was already given', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('ignored');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b, { is_ignored: true });
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('never crosses embedding spaces', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('model-skew');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b, { model_version: 'test-v2' });
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('dismissal', () => {
+    it('stops suggesting a pair the photographer rejected, and survives a repeat', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('dismissal');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      const idA = await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      const idB = await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toHaveLength(1);
+
+      await clustering.dismissMergeSuggestion(eventId, idB, idA); // reversed on purpose
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+
+      // A second dismissal hits the UNIQUE constraint. Dismissing twice is a
+      // double-click, not an error.
+      await expect(clustering.dismissMergeSuggestion(eventId, idA, idB)).resolves.toEqual({
+        dismissed: true,
+      });
+      expect(await suggest(eventId)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    /**
+     * The swallow-the-duplicate branch has to discriminate, because the failure
+     * it must NOT swallow looks identical to the caller: returning
+     * "kept separate" for a decision that was never written means the pair
+     * silently comes back after the next scan.
+     *
+     * Tested on the predicate directly — provoking a read-only database or a
+     * dropped table mid-suite would corrupt the shared fixture for every other
+     * case in this file.
+     */
+    it.each([
+      ['postgres unique violation', { code: '23505', message: 'duplicate key value violates unique constraint' }, true],
+      ['sqlite3 unique violation', { code: 'SQLITE_CONSTRAINT', message: 'UNIQUE constraint failed: event_people_merge_dismissals.event_id' }, true],
+      ['better-sqlite3 unique violation', { code: 'SQLITE_CONSTRAINT_UNIQUE', message: 'UNIQUE constraint failed' }, true],
+      ['sqlite foreign-key violation', { code: 'SQLITE_CONSTRAINT', message: 'FOREIGN KEY constraint failed' }, false],
+      ['sqlite busy', { code: 'SQLITE_BUSY', message: 'database is locked' }, false],
+      ['missing table', { code: 'SQLITE_ERROR', message: 'no such table: event_people_merge_dismissals' }, false],
+      ['postgres read-only transaction', { code: '25006', message: 'cannot execute INSERT in a read-only transaction' }, false],
+      ['no error at all', null, false],
+    ])('%s → swallowed: %s', (_name, err, expected) => {
+      expect(clustering.isUniqueViolation(err)).toBe(expected);
+    });
+
+    /**
+     * The dismissal read is the only thing standing between the automatic pass
+     * and a pair the photographer explicitly separated. If it fails open, a
+     * timeout silently restores the merge that "Not the same" was supposed to
+     * prevent — so anything other than a missing table must stop the pass.
+     */
+    it('refuses to consolidate when the dismissal list cannot be read', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('dismissals-unreadable');
+      // Well above the auto-merge threshold, so only a refusal keeps them apart.
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.97, 0);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, a);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, b);
+
+      // Break the read for real rather than mocking knex: dropping a selected
+      // column makes the query fail with something that is NOT "missing
+      // table", which is exactly the class that must not fail open.
+      await db.schema.alterTable('event_people_merge_dismissals', (t) => t.dropColumn('person_b_id'));
+      try {
+        await expect(clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS }))
+          .rejects.toThrow();
+
+        // Nothing merged: the pass gave up rather than overriding a decision
+        // it could not read.
+        expect(await db('event_people').where({ event_id: eventId })).toHaveLength(2);
+      } finally {
+        await db.schema.alterTable('event_people_merge_dismissals', (t) => {
+          t.integer('person_b_id').notNullable().defaultTo(0);
+        });
+      }
+    });
+
+    it.each([
+      ['postgres undefined_table', { code: '42P01', message: 'relation "x" does not exist' }, true],
+      ['sqlite missing table', { code: 'SQLITE_ERROR', message: 'no such table: x' }, true],
+      // The one that matters: a missing COLUMN is a broken query, not a
+      // pre-migration install, and must NOT be allowed to fail open.
+      ['postgres undefined_column', { code: '42703', message: 'column "x" does not exist' }, false],
+      ['sqlite missing column', { code: 'SQLITE_ERROR', message: 'no such column: x' }, false],
+      ['statement timeout', { code: '57014', message: 'canceling statement due to statement timeout' }, false],
+    ])('missing-table check — %s → %s', (_name, err, expected) => {
+      expect(clustering.isMissingTable(err)).toBe(expected);
+    });
+
+    it('normalizes the pair so one row covers both orderings', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('dismissal-normalized');
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.64, 0);
+      const idA = await insertPerson(eventId, a);
+      const idB = await insertPerson(eventId, b);
+
+      await clustering.dismissMergeSuggestion(eventId, idB, idA);
+      const rows = await db('event_people_merge_dismissals').where({ event_id: eventId });
+
+      expect(rows).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(rows[0].person_a_id).toBe(Math.min(idA, idB));
+      expect(rows[0].person_b_id).toBe(Math.max(idA, idB));
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('one suggestion per person per round', () => {
+    it('does not offer A-B, A-C and B-C for a three-way fragment', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('three-way');
+      // Three mutually similar centroids, all inside the band.
+      const base = new Float32Array(DIM); base[0] = 1;
+      const people = [];
+      for (let k = 0; k < 3; k++) {
+        const v = new Float32Array(DIM);
+        v[0] = 0.9;
+        v[1 + k] = Math.sqrt(1 - 0.81);
+        people.push(await insertPerson(eventId, v));
+      }
+      await insertPerson(eventId, base);
+
+      const out = await suggest(eventId);
+
+      // Every returned pair must name people not already spoken for: accepting
+      // the first suggestion must never leave a second one pointing at a person
+      // that the merge just deleted.
+      const seen = new Set();
+      for (const s of out) {
+        expect(seen.has(s.person_a_id)).toBe(false);
+        expect(seen.has(s.person_b_id)).toBe(false);
+        seen.add(s.person_a_id);
+        seen.add(s.person_b_id);
+      }
+    });
+
+    it('offers the most similar pair first', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('ordering');
+      const [a1, b1] = pairAtSimilarity(0.62, 0);
+      const [a2, b2] = pairAtSimilarity(0.67, 10);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a1);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b1);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, a2);
+      await insertPerson(eventId, b2);
+
+      const out = await suggest(eventId);
+
+      expect(out).toHaveLength(2);
+      expect(out[0].score).toBeGreaterThan(out[1].score);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('manual splits survive the automatic pass', () => {
+    /**
+     * The regression that matters most once consolidation runs on every scan:
+     * a photographer splitting a wrongly-merged cluster produces two people
+     * who are look-alikes BY CONSTRUCTION, so their centroids sit above the
+     * merge threshold and the very next scan would put them straight back.
+     */
+    it('records a split as a separation, so consolidation leaves it alone', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('split-protected');
+      const base = new Float32Array(DIM); base[0] = 1;
+
+      // One cluster holding two near-identical faces.
+      const personId = await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, base);
+      const extraFaceId = await addFaceTo(eventId, personId, base);
+
+      const newPersonId = await clustering.splitPerson(eventId, personId, [extraFaceId]);
+      expect(newPersonId).toBeTruthy();
+
+      const rows = await db('event_people_merge_dismissals').where({ event_id: eventId });
+      expect(rows).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect([rows[0].person_a_id, rows[0].person_b_id].sort())
+        .toEqual([personId, newPersonId].sort());
+
+      // Identical centroids — nothing but the recorded separation can stop
+      // this merge.
+      const merged = await clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+      expect(merged).toEqual([]);
+      expect(await db('event_people').where({ event_id: eventId })).toHaveLength(2);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('consolidation reporting', () => {
+    it('records what an automatic pass merged, so it is not silent', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('report-merged');
+      // 0.97 is above the 0.68 auto-merge threshold — consolidate() acts.
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.97, 0);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, a);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, b);
+
+      const merged = await clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+      expect(merged).toHaveLength(1);
+
+      const event = await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).first();
+      expect(Number(event.faces_last_consolidated_count)).toBe(1);
+      expect(event.faces_last_consolidated_at).toBeTruthy();
+    });
+
+    it('never absorbs an ignored cluster — that would mark a real person ignored', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('consolidate-ignored');
+      // Well above the auto-merge threshold: only the is_ignored flag can
+      // stop this pair.
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.97, 0);
+      const real = await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, a);
+      const junk = await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, b, { is_ignored: true });
+
+      const merged = await clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+
+      expect(merged).toEqual([]);
+      // Both still standing, and the real person is still guest-visible —
+      // mergePeople ORs is_ignored onto the survivor, so absorbing the junk
+      // cluster would have hidden a real person from the gallery.
+      const survivors = await db('event_people').where({ event_id: eventId }).select('id', 'is_ignored');
+      expect(survivors.map((p) => p.id).sort()).toEqual([real, junk].sort());
+      const realRow = survivors.find((p) => p.id === real);
+      expect(realRow.is_ignored === true || realRow.is_ignored === 1).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('never merges a pair the photographer said was not the same person', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('consolidate-dismissed');
+      // Also above the auto-merge threshold: the dismissal is the only thing
+      // standing between these two, which is the point — a human "no" has to
+      // outrank the automatic pass, not just the suggestion list.
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.97, 0);
+      const idA = await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, a);
+      const idB = await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, b);
+
+      await clustering.dismissMergeSuggestion(eventId, idA, idB);
+      const merged = await clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+
+      expect(merged).toEqual([]);
+      expect(await db('event_people').where({ event_id: eventId }).count({ c: '*' }).first())
+        .toEqual(expect.objectContaining({ c: 2 }));
+    });
+
+    // NOT covered by a test: reporting what a pass merged before it died
+    // partway. `consolidate` calls `mergePeople` through the module-local
+    // binding, so a spy on the export cannot intercept it, and no realistic
+    // database failure lands on the second merge only. The recording therefore
+    // sits in a `finally` — each mergePeople is its own transaction, so a pass
+    // that throws has still committed what it did, and the alternative is a
+    // real merge going unreported. Verified by reading, not by assertion.
+
+    it('clears a previous count when a later pass merges nothing', async () => {
+      const eventId = await seedEvent('report-cleared');
+      await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).update({ faces_last_consolidated_count: 7 });
+
+      const [a, b] = pairAtSimilarity(0.5, 0);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, a);
+      await insertPersonWithFace(eventId, b);
+
+      await clustering.consolidate(eventId, { thresholds: THRESHOLDS });
+
+      const event = await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).first();
+      expect(Number(event.faces_last_consolidated_count)).toBe(0);
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/backend/__tests__/integration/faceQueueDrainConsolidation.test.js b/backend/__tests__/integration/faceQueueDrainConsolidation.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5eae7ed6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/__tests__/integration/faceQueueDrainConsolidation.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+/**
+ * "The scan finished" is not a thing this queue is told (#1107).
+ *
+ * It claims photos one at a time, so a backfill is just a lot of independent
+ * claims and the only available signal is a worker finding nothing left. That
+ * signal is NOT sufficient on its own — with concurrency above one the other
+ * workers may still be busy, and a photo released back to `pending` by a down
+ * sidecar is still owed — so the drain is tested against the queue directly.
+ *
+ * These are the cases that decide whether consolidation runs too early (a
+ * wasted pass over half-formed clusters) or never (the feature silently does
+ * nothing, which is the state #1107 was filed about).
+ */
+
+const path = require('path');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const os = require('os');
+
+process.env.NODE_ENV = 'test';
+process.env.TEST_DATABASE_PATH = path.join(
+  fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'picpeak-facedrain-')), 'db.sqlite',
+);
+process.env.JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'facedrain-test-secret';
+
+const { bootCrmDb } = require('./helpers/crmDb');
+
+let db; let cleanup; let faceQueue; let clustering;
+
+async function seedEvent(slug) {
+  const [row] = await db('events').insert({
+    slug,
+    event_type: 'wedding',
+    event_name: slug,
+    event_date: '2026-01-01',
+    host_email: 'h@example.com',
+    admin_email: 'a@example.com',
+    password_hash: 'x',
+    share_link: `${slug}-share`,
+    expires_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    // The drain rechecks this before consolidating, so the fixture has to be
+    // a gallery that actually has detection on.
+    face_recognition_enabled: true,
+  }).returning('id');
+  return typeof row === 'object' ? row.id : row;
+}
+
+/** Both halves of the "two deliberate actions" rule have to be on. */
+async function enableFacesGlobally() {
+  const existing = await db('feature_flags').where({ key: 'faces' }).first();
+  if (existing) await db('feature_flags').where({ key: 'faces' }).update({ value: true });
+  else await db('feature_flags').insert({ key: 'faces', value: true });
+}
+
+async function insertPhoto(eventId, faceStatus) {
+  const [row] = await db('photos').insert({
+    event_id: eventId,
+    filename: `${Math.random()}.jpg`,
+    path: '/tmp/x.jpg',
+    type: 'individual',
+    face_status: faceStatus,
+  }).returning('id');
+  return typeof row === 'object' ? row.id : row;
+}
+
+describe('faceQueue drain consolidation (#1107)', () => {
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    ({ db, cleanup } = await bootCrmDb());
+    faceQueue = require('../../src/services/faceQueue');
+    clustering = require('../../src/services/faceClustering');
+    await enableFacesGlobally();
+  }, 120000);
+
+  afterAll(async () => { if (cleanup) await cleanup(); });
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.clear();
+    faceQueue.consolidationRetryAt.clear();
+    faceQueue.inFlightByEvent.clear();
+    jest.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('does nothing at all when no photo has been scanned', async () => {
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate');
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('waits while the event still has photos queued', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-pending');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'pending');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate');
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    // Still owed, so it must keep its place for the next idle tick — dropping
+    // it here would mean the gallery never consolidates at all.
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('waits while a photo is still being processed by another worker', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-processing');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'processing');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate');
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('consolidates once the queue is empty, and does not repeat itself', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-empty');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'failed');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'skipped');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate').mockResolvedValue([]);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(eventId);
+    // Drained and handled, so a second idle tick must not pay for it again.
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(false);
+
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('a failing consolidation never propagates into the worker loop, and is retried', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-throws');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate').mockRejectedValue(new Error('boom'));
+
+    await expect(faceQueue.drainConsolidation()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
+    // A transient database error must not cost the gallery its consolidation
+    // outright — the event keeps its place so a later tick retries.
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(true);
+
+    // ...but not on the very next tick. The worker idles every couple of
+    // seconds, so an immediate retry would hot-loop a permanently broken event
+    // and warn every time.
+    expect(faceQueue.consolidationRetryAt.get(eventId)).toBeGreaterThan(Date.now());
+    const callsBefore = spy.mock.calls.length;
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(callsBefore);
+
+    // Once the backoff elapses it really does try again, and succeeds.
+    faceQueue.consolidationRetryAt.set(eventId, Date.now() - 1);
+    spy.mockResolvedValue([]);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(false);
+    expect(faceQueue.consolidationRetryAt.has(eventId)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('waits while another worker is still inside processPhotoFaces', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-inflight');
+    // Every row already reads as drained: the last photo is committed 'done'
+    // inside the transaction, and auto-categorisation runs afterwards. Only
+    // the in-flight count knows a worker is still there.
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+    faceQueue.inFlightByEvent.set(eventId, 1);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate').mockResolvedValue([]);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    // Consolidating here would record its count, and the busy worker would
+    // then re-mark the event — the next pass merges nothing and overwrites the
+    // real number with zero.
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(true);
+
+    faceQueue.inFlightByEvent.delete(eventId);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('does not consolidate an event whose detection was switched off mid-drain', async () => {
+    const eventId = await seedEvent('drain-disabled');
+    await insertPhoto(eventId, 'done');
+    await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).update({ face_recognition_enabled: false });
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(eventId);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate').mockResolvedValue([]);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    // An earlier photo legitimately marked the event before the toggle went
+    // off. Merging someone's clusters just after they disabled the feature is
+    // not a thing to do quietly.
+    expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    // Dropped rather than retried — it is not coming back on its own.
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(eventId)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('treats events independently — a busy gallery does not hold up a finished one', async () => {
+    const busy = await seedEvent('drain-busy');
+    const done = await seedEvent('drain-done');
+    await insertPhoto(busy, 'pending');
+    await insertPhoto(done, 'done');
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(busy);
+    faceQueue.touchedEvents.add(done);
+
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(clustering, 'consolidate').mockResolvedValue([]);
+    await faceQueue.drainConsolidation();
+
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(done);
+    expect(faceQueue.touchedEvents.has(busy)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/backend/migrations/core/180_face_merge_suggestions.js b/backend/migrations/core/180_face_merge_suggestions.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f9cb16e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/migrations/core/180_face_merge_suggestions.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/**
+ * Automatic consolidation after a scan, and the suggestion band below it
+ * (#1107).
+ *
+ * `faceClustering.consolidate()` has existed since #1074 but only ever ran from
+ * `recluster()`, i.e. when an admin pressed "Re-group people". After a normal
+ * background scan nobody looked, so a gallery settled with "Anna in daylight"
+ * and "Anna at the party" as separate people even though their centroids had
+ * long since converged.
+ *
+ * Two things get stored here.
+ *
+ * 1. `events.faces_last_consolidated_*` — merging biometric clusters silently
+ *    is the wrong default even at high confidence, so a pass that merged
+ *    anything has to be able to say so afterwards. The count is per-scan: the
+ *    next consolidation overwrites it, which is the intended lifetime.
+ *
+ * 2. `event_people_merge_dismissals` — the band BELOW the auto-merge threshold
+ *    is surfaced as a suggestion rather than merged, and a suggestion the
+ *    photographer has rejected must stay rejected. Without this the same "are
+ *    these the same person?" pair returns after every scan.
+ *
+ * The dismissal rows reference people that merge, split and recluster all
+ * delete. That is deliberately NOT enforced with a foreign key: a dangling
+ * dismissal simply stops matching anything, which is the correct outcome, and
+ * an FK would either block those operations or need cascade rules on a table
+ * whose whole purpose is to be advisory. `pruneDismissals` is not needed for
+ * correctness — the rows are tiny and harmless.
+ */
+
+exports.up = async function up(knex) {
+  if (await knex.schema.hasTable('events')) {
+    const hasCount = await knex.schema.hasColumn('events', 'faces_last_consolidated_count');
+    const hasAt = await knex.schema.hasColumn('events', 'faces_last_consolidated_at');
+    if (!hasCount || !hasAt) {
+      await knex.schema.alterTable('events', (table) => {
+        if (!hasCount) table.integer('faces_last_consolidated_count').defaultTo(0);
+        if (!hasAt) table.timestamp('faces_last_consolidated_at').nullable();
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (!(await knex.schema.hasTable('event_people_merge_dismissals'))) {
+    await knex.schema.createTable('event_people_merge_dismissals', (table) => {
+      table.increments('id').primary();
+      table.integer('event_id').notNullable();
+      // Stored with person_a_id < person_b_id so a pair has exactly one row
+      // regardless of which order the comparison produced it in.
+      table.integer('person_a_id').notNullable();
+      table.integer('person_b_id').notNullable();
+      table.timestamp('created_at').defaultTo(knex.fn.now());
+
+      table.unique(['event_id', 'person_a_id', 'person_b_id']);
+      table.index(['event_id']);
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+exports.down = async function down(knex) {
+  if (await knex.schema.hasTable('event_people_merge_dismissals')) {
+    await knex.schema.dropTable('event_people_merge_dismissals');
+  }
+  if (await knex.schema.hasTable('events')) {
+    const hasCount = await knex.schema.hasColumn('events', 'faces_last_consolidated_count');
+    const hasAt = await knex.schema.hasColumn('events', 'faces_last_consolidated_at');
+    if (hasCount || hasAt) {
+      await knex.schema.alterTable('events', (table) => {
+        if (hasCount) table.dropColumn('faces_last_consolidated_count');
+        if (hasAt) table.dropColumn('faces_last_consolidated_at');
+      });
+    }
+  }
+};
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/adminEvents/faces.js b/backend/src/routes/adminEvents/faces.js
index e594331d..42aa7281 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/adminEvents/faces.js
+++ b/backend/src/routes/adminEvents/faces.js
@@ -99,6 +99,14 @@ module.exports = (router) => {
           enabled: event.face_recognition_enabled === true || event.face_recognition_enabled === 1,
           visible_to_guests: faceSettings.areFacesVisibleToGuests(event),
           last_scan_at: event.faces_last_scan_at || null,
+          // What the automatic consolidation pass did when this event last
+          // drained (#1107). Surfaced because merging biometric clusters
+          // without saying so is the wrong default, however confident the
+          // similarity was.
+          consolidation: {
+            merged: Number(event.faces_last_consolidated_count || 0),
+            at: event.faces_last_consolidated_at || null,
+          },
           status,
         });
       } catch (error) {
@@ -189,6 +197,71 @@ module.exports = (router) => {
       }
     });
 
+  /**
+   * Look-alike pairs in the band BELOW the auto-merge threshold (#1107).
+   *
+   * Registered before the '/:id/people/:personId' family so the literal
+   * 'suggestions' segment can never be read as a person id — see ./index.js on
+   * why registration order is load-bearing here. It would not collide today
+   * (that route has no GET), but relying on that is one refactor away from a
+   * person id of "suggestions" reaching the database.
+   *
+   * Returns ids and a score only. Every caller already holds the people list
+   * with its covers, so re-sending face crops here would duplicate a payload
+   * the modal has open in front of it.
+   */
+  router.get('/:id/people/suggestions',
+    adminAuth, requirePermission('events.view'), requireFaces, requireEventOwnership,
+    async (req, res) => {
+      try {
+        const event = await loadOwnedEvent(req);
+        if (!event) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Event not found' });
+
+        const suggestions = await faceClustering.suggestMerges(event.id);
+        res.json({ suggestions });
+      } catch (error) {
+        errorResponse(res, error, 500, 'Failed to fetch merge suggestions');
+      }
+    });
+
+  /**
+   * "These two are not the same person." Sticky, so the pair stops coming back
+   * after every scan.
+   */
+  router.post('/:id/people/suggestions/dismiss',
+    adminAuth,
+    requirePermission('events.edit'),
+    requireFaces,
+    requireEventOwnership,
+    [body('person_a_id').isInt(), body('person_b_id').isInt()],
+    async (req, res) => {
+      const errors = validationResult(req);
+      if (!errors.isEmpty()) return res.status(400).json({ errors: errors.array() });
+
+      try {
+        const event = await loadOwnedEvent(req);
+        if (!event) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Event not found' });
+
+        // Both ids must belong to this event. Without this an admin could
+        // write dismissal rows naming people in someone else's gallery —
+        // harmless on its own, but it is other tenants' data in our table.
+        const ids = [Number(req.body.person_a_id), Number(req.body.person_b_id)];
+        if (ids[0] === ids[1]) {
+          return res.status(400).json({ error: 'A person cannot be dismissed against itself' });
+        }
+        const owned = await db('event_people')
+          .where({ event_id: event.id }).whereIn('id', ids).pluck('id');
+        if (owned.length !== 2) {
+          return res.status(400).json({ error: 'One or more people do not belong to this event' });
+        }
+
+        const result = await faceClustering.dismissMergeSuggestion(event.id, ids[0], ids[1]);
+        res.json({ success: true, ...result });
+      } catch (error) {
+        errorResponse(res, error, 500, 'Failed to dismiss suggestion');
+      }
+    });
+
   /**
    * Rename / hide / ignore / set cover.
    */
diff --git a/backend/src/services/databaseBackup.js b/backend/src/services/databaseBackup.js
index 63883f5f..99f34dfe 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/databaseBackup.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/databaseBackup.js
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ const PROGRESS_INTERVAL = 100; // Report progress every 100 rows
 // SQLite cannot filter at all — `sqlite3 .backup` is a whole-file binary copy
 // — so the rows are deleted from the temp copy before it is finalised. See
 // createSQLiteBackup below.
-const FACE_TABLES = ['photo_faces', 'event_people'];
+const FACE_TABLES = ['photo_faces', 'event_people', 'event_people_merge_dismissals'];
 
 /**
  * Database Backup Service
diff --git a/backend/src/services/faceClustering.js b/backend/src/services/faceClustering.js
index 5f10997f..73e238b0 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/faceClustering.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/faceClustering.js
@@ -247,6 +247,60 @@ async function assignFacesLocked(eventId, faceRows, thresholds, trx) {
   return assignments;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Does this error mean the table isn't there yet, as opposed to the query
+ * failing? Postgres reports SQLSTATE 42P01; SQLite says so in the message.
+ * The distinction decides whether a dismissal read may fail open.
+ */
+function isMissingTable(err) {
+  if (!err) return false;
+  // Postgres: undefined_table. Deliberately NOT matched on the message — its
+  // "does not exist" wording also covers a missing COLUMN, which is a broken
+  // query rather than a pre-migration install and must not fail open.
+  if (err.code === '42P01') return true;
+  return /no such table/i.test(err.message || '');
+}
+
+/**
+ * One identity for a pair regardless of which order it was produced in.
+ * Rows are stored the same way, so the two always agree.
+ */
+function pairKey(a, b) {
+  return a < b ? `${a}:${b}` : `${b}:${a}`;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Pairs the photographer has explicitly kept apart (#1107).
+ *
+ * Read by BOTH the automatic pass and the suggestion list: "not the same
+ * person" has to bind the thing that acts on its own even more than it binds
+ * the thing that asks. Missing table (pre-migration) reads as "nothing
+ * dismissed" rather than failing the merge that called this.
+ */
+async function loadDismissedPairs(eventId) {
+  try {
+    const rows = await db('event_people_merge_dismissals')
+      .where({ event_id: eventId })
+      .select('person_a_id', 'person_b_id');
+    return new Set(rows.map((d) => pairKey(d.person_a_id, d.person_b_id)));
+  } catch (err) {
+    // ONLY a missing table reads as "nothing dismissed" — that is a
+    // pre-migration install, where by definition nothing has been dismissed.
+    //
+    // Everything else FAILS CLOSED. Treating a timeout or a permission error
+    // as an empty set would let the automatic pass merge pairs the
+    // photographer explicitly separated, which is precisely the decision this
+    // set exists to protect. The caller defers instead: drainConsolidation
+    // backs the event off and retries.
+    if (!isMissingTable(err)) throw err;
+    logger.warn(
+      `faceClustering: merge-dismissal table absent for event ${eventId} — treating as none`,
+      { error: err.message }
+    );
+    return new Set();
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Merge people whose centroids have drifted together.
  *
@@ -264,40 +318,214 @@ async function consolidate(eventId, options = {}) {
 
   const people = await db('event_people')
     .where({ event_id: eventId })
-    .select('id', 'centroid', 'face_count_total', 'model_version', 'label');
+    .select('id', 'centroid', 'face_count_total', 'model_version', 'label', 'is_ignored');
 
   const state = people
+    // "Not a real person" must never be merged INTO one. mergePeople ORs
+    // is_ignored onto the survivor, so absorbing a false-positive cluster
+    // would mark a real person ignored and drop them out of the guest-facing
+    // strip entirely. Cheap to skip, expensive to discover.
+    .filter((p) => !(p.is_ignored === true || p.is_ignored === 1))
     .map((p) => ({ ...p, vec: unpackEmbedding(p.centroid) }))
     .filter((p) => p.vec);
 
+  // A pair the photographer answered "not the same" about stays not the same,
+  // however far the centroids drift afterwards. Without this the automatic
+  // pass silently overturns an explicit human decision the moment new faces
+  // push the pair over the threshold — or the moment someone tunes it.
+  const dismissed = await loadDismissedPairs(eventId);
+
   const merged = [];
   const absorbed = new Set();
 
+  // Each mergePeople is its own transaction, so a pass that dies halfway has
+  // still committed what it did. Reporting has to survive that: recorded in a
+  // finally, or a failure on the second pair would leave the first one merged
+  // and unreported — silent, which is the one thing this must never be. The
+  // retry then re-reports against whatever is left.
+  try {
+    for (let i = 0; i < state.length; i++) {
+      if (absorbed.has(state[i].id)) continue;
+      for (let j = i + 1; j < state.length; j++) {
+        if (absorbed.has(state[j].id)) continue;
+        const a = state[i];
+        const b = state[j];
+        if (a.model_version !== b.model_version) continue;
+
+        // Never silently merge two people the photographer has NAMED
+        // differently — that is a human assertion this heuristic does not get
+        // to overrule.
+        if (a.label && b.label && a.label !== b.label) continue;
+
+        if (dismissed.has(pairKey(a.id, b.id))) continue;
+
+        if (dot(a.vec, b.vec) >= mergeThreshold) {
+        // Re-read this one pair immediately before acting. The set above was
+        // loaded once for the whole pass, and a photographer pressing "Not the
+        // same" during it would otherwise be overruled by a decision that was
+        // already stale when it was made. Narrows the window to a single
+        // statement rather than the length of the pass; one extra query per
+        // pair that is actually about to merge, which is rare.
+          const justDismissed = await db('event_people_merge_dismissals')
+            .where({
+              event_id: eventId,
+              person_a_id: Math.min(a.id, b.id),
+              person_b_id: Math.max(a.id, b.id),
+            })
+            .first()
+            .catch((err) => {
+              if (isMissingTable(err)) return null;
+              throw err;
+            });
+          if (justDismissed) continue;
+
+          await mergePeople(eventId, [b.id], a.id);
+          absorbed.add(b.id);
+          merged.push({ from: b.id, into: a.id });
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+  } finally {
+    if (merged.length) {
+      logger.info(`faceClustering: consolidated ${merged.length} person pair(s) in event ${eventId}`);
+    }
+
+    // Record the outcome even when it is zero. Merging biometric clusters
+    // silently is the wrong default however confident the maths is (#1107), so
+    // the admin card reports what this pass did — and a run that merged nothing
+    // has to clear a previous run's count rather than leave it standing.
+    await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).update({
+      faces_last_consolidated_count: merged.length,
+      faces_last_consolidated_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    }).catch((err) => {
+      // Pre-migration installs simply do not report. Never let bookkeeping fail
+      // a merge that already happened.
+      logger.warn(`faceClustering: could not record consolidation for event ${eventId}`, {
+        error: err.message,
+      });
+    });
+  }
+
+  return merged;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Pairs that look like the same person but not confidently enough to merge
+ * automatically (#1107).
+ *
+ * The band is [match_threshold, merge_threshold): above the top of it
+ * `consolidate()` has already merged the pair, and below the bottom the two
+ * centroids are further apart than the distance at which a single face would
+ * have joined the cluster at all — which is not a claim worth putting in front
+ * of anyone.
+ *
+ * This is the "with a warning" half of the request. An over-eager merge is much
+ * harder to unpick than a missed one, so the uncertain band never merges by
+ * itself; it asks.
+ */
+async function suggestMerges(eventId, options = {}) {
+  const thresholds = options.thresholds || (await getThresholds());
+  const mergeThreshold = Math.min(0.95, thresholds.face_match_threshold + 0.08);
+  const floor = thresholds.face_match_threshold;
+  const limit = options.limit || 20;
+
+  const people = await db('event_people')
+    .where({ event_id: eventId })
+    .select('id', 'centroid', 'face_count_total', 'model_version', 'label', 'is_ignored');
+
+  const state = people
+    // "Not a real person" is an answer already given — never ask about it again.
+    .filter((p) => !(p.is_ignored === true || p.is_ignored === 1))
+    .map((p) => ({ ...p, vec: unpackEmbedding(p.centroid) }))
+    .filter((p) => p.vec);
+
+  if (state.length < 2) return [];
+
+  const dismissed = await loadDismissedPairs(eventId);
+
+  const pairs = [];
   for (let i = 0; i < state.length; i++) {
-    if (absorbed.has(state[i].id)) continue;
     for (let j = i + 1; j < state.length; j++) {
-      if (absorbed.has(state[j].id)) continue;
       const a = state[i];
       const b = state[j];
       if (a.model_version !== b.model_version) continue;
-
-      // Never silently merge two people the photographer has NAMED
-      // differently — that is a human assertion this heuristic does not get
-      // to overrule.
+      // Same rule consolidate() applies: two different names is a human
+      // assertion, not a question.
       if (a.label && b.label && a.label !== b.label) continue;
 
-      if (dot(a.vec, b.vec) >= mergeThreshold) {
-        await mergePeople(eventId, [b.id], a.id);
-        absorbed.add(b.id);
-        merged.push({ from: b.id, into: a.id });
-      }
+      if (dismissed.has(pairKey(a.id, b.id))) continue;
+
+      const score = dot(a.vec, b.vec);
+      if (score < floor || score >= mergeThreshold) continue;
+
+      pairs.push({
+        person_a_id: Math.min(a.id, b.id),
+        person_b_id: Math.max(a.id, b.id),
+        score,
+      });
     }
   }
 
-  if (merged.length) {
-    logger.info(`faceClustering: consolidated ${merged.length} person pair(s) in event ${eventId}`);
+  // Most-similar first: the strongest suggestion is the one most likely to be
+  // accepted, and a photographer working down the list should meet it first.
+  pairs.sort((x, y) => y.score - x.score);
+
+  // One suggestion per person per round. Without this a cluster that genuinely
+  // has three fragments produces A-B, A-C and B-C, and accepting A-B leaves two
+  // suggestions pointing at a person that no longer exists.
+  const used = new Set();
+  const result = [];
+  for (const pair of pairs) {
+    if (used.has(pair.person_a_id) || used.has(pair.person_b_id)) continue;
+    used.add(pair.person_a_id);
+    used.add(pair.person_b_id);
+    result.push(pair);
+    if (result.length >= limit) break;
   }
-  return merged;
+  return result;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Is this the UNIQUE constraint firing, as opposed to a real write failure?
+ *
+ * Both engines have to be recognised: Postgres reports SQLSTATE 23505, and
+ * sqlite3 reports SQLITE_CONSTRAINT with the specific constraint named in the
+ * message (better-sqlite3 narrows the code itself). Matching too broadly here
+ * would put us back to swallowing genuine failures.
+ */
+function isUniqueViolation(err) {
+  if (!err) return false;
+  if (err.code === '23505') return true;
+  if (typeof err.code === 'string' && err.code.startsWith('SQLITE_CONSTRAINT')) {
+    return /unique/i.test(err.message || '');
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remember that these two are NOT the same person, so the pair stops being
+ * suggested. Normalized to (lower id, higher id) so the pair has one identity.
+ */
+async function dismissMergeSuggestion(eventId, personAId, personBId) {
+  const lo = Math.min(personAId, personBId);
+  const hi = Math.max(personAId, personBId);
+  try {
+    await db('event_people_merge_dismissals').insert({
+      event_id: eventId,
+      person_a_id: lo,
+      person_b_id: hi,
+      created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    });
+  } catch (err) {
+    // ONLY the UNIQUE constraint doing its job — dismissing twice is a
+    // double-click, not an error. Anything else (missing table on a
+    // pre-migration install, read-only database) must reach the caller:
+    // reporting "kept separate" for a decision that was never stored is worse
+    // than an error, because the pair silently comes back next scan.
+    if (!isUniqueViolation(err)) throw err;
+  }
+  return { dismissed: true };
 }
 
 /**
@@ -380,6 +608,22 @@ async function splitPerson(eventId, personId, faceIds) {
       .whereIn('id', faces.map((f) => f.id))
       .update({ person_id: newPersonId });
 
+    // A split IS a "these are not the same person" decision, and it has to be
+    // recorded as one (#1107). Consolidation now runs automatically after
+    // every scan, and two clusters a photographer pulled apart are look-alikes
+    // by construction — their centroids usually sit above the merge threshold,
+    // so the very next scan would put them straight back together and the
+    // manual correction would look like it never happened.
+    await trx('event_people_merge_dismissals').insert({
+      event_id: eventId,
+      person_a_id: Math.min(personId, newPersonId),
+      person_b_id: Math.max(personId, newPersonId),
+      created_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    }).catch((err) => {
+      // Pre-migration install, or the pair was already separated once before.
+      if (!isMissingTable(err) && !isUniqueViolation(err)) throw err;
+    });
+
     await recomputeCentroid(newPersonId, trx);
     await recomputeCentroid(personId, trx);
     return newPersonId;
@@ -557,6 +801,12 @@ module.exports = {
   meetsQualityFloor,
   assignFaces,
   consolidate,
+  suggestMerges,
+  dismissMergeSuggestion,
+  // Exported for the tests that pin which failures may be swallowed and which
+  // must stop the pass.
+  isUniqueViolation,
+  isMissingTable,
   mergePeople,
   splitPerson,
   recomputeCentroid,
diff --git a/backend/src/services/faceProcessor.js b/backend/src/services/faceProcessor.js
index 05df9a07..ee3f5c7e 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/faceProcessor.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/faceProcessor.js
@@ -371,6 +371,18 @@ async function purgeEvent(eventId) {
     await trx('photos').where({ event_id: eventId }).update({
       face_status: null, face_count: null, face_started_at: null, face_error: null,
     });
+
+    // Everything the erasure was about is gone, so the records ABOUT that
+    // grouping go too (#1107): dismissal rows name people that no longer
+    // exist, and a consolidation count left standing would have the card
+    // reporting merges beside an empty people list. Inside purgeEvent rather
+    // than the route so archival gets the same treatment.
+    await trx('event_people_merge_dismissals').where({ event_id: eventId }).del()
+      .catch(() => { /* pre-migration install — nothing to clear */ });
+    await trx('events').where({ id: eventId }).update({
+      faces_last_consolidated_count: 0,
+      faces_last_consolidated_at: null,
+    }).catch(() => { /* pre-migration install */ });
     logger.info(`faceProcessor: purged ${faces} face(s) and ${people} person(s) from event ${eventId}`);
     return { faces, people };
   });
diff --git a/backend/src/services/faceQueue.js b/backend/src/services/faceQueue.js
index 433d512a..190e1454 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/faceQueue.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/faceQueue.js
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ const logger = require('../utils/logger');
 const { processPhotoFaces } = require('./faceProcessor');
 const { SidecarUnavailableError } = require('./faceClient');
 const { TransientSourceError } = require('./faceProcessor');
-const { isFeatureEnabled } = require('./faceSettings');
+const { isFeatureEnabled, isEnabledForEvent } = require('./faceSettings');
 
 const POLL_INTERVAL_MS = parseInt(process.env.FACE_PROCESSOR_POLL_MS || '2000', 10);
 const CONCURRENCY = Math.max(1, parseInt(process.env.FACE_PROCESSOR_CONCURRENCY || '1', 10));
@@ -101,6 +101,121 @@ function logUnreachableSource(message) {
   );
 }
 
+/**
+ * Events that have had a photo scanned since their last consolidation pass
+ * (#1107).
+ *
+ * There is no "scan finished" event to hook: the queue is per-photo, and a
+ * backfill is just a lot of independent claims. So a worker that finds nothing
+ * left to claim asks whether the events it touched have actually drained, and
+ * consolidates the ones that have — greedy assignment leaves "Anna in daylight"
+ * and "Anna at the party" as two clusters whose centroids have since converged,
+ * and until now nothing looked unless an admin pressed "Re-group people".
+ *
+ * In-memory, like `deferredEvents`: a restart loses at most a consolidation
+ * pass, and the next scan of that event schedules another one.
+ */
+const touchedEvents = new Set();
+
+// A consolidation that fails keeps its place so a transient database error
+// does not cost the gallery its pass — but the worker goes idle every
+// POLL_INTERVAL_MS, so retrying immediately would hot-loop a permanently
+// broken event and emit a warning every couple of seconds. Same shape as
+// `deferredEvents` above: back it off, then try again.
+const CONSOLIDATE_RETRY_MS = parseInt(process.env.FACE_CONSOLIDATE_RETRY_MS || '60000', 10);
+const consolidationRetryAt = new Map();
+
+// eventId -> how many workers are currently inside processPhotoFaces for it.
+//
+// `face_status` alone cannot answer "is anyone still working on this event":
+// the photo is committed 'done' inside the transaction, and auto-categorisation
+// then runs before the call returns. During that window the row looks drained
+// to every other worker. Counting the callers closes it.
+const inFlightByEvent = new Map();
+
+function markInFlight(eventId, delta) {
+  if (eventId == null) return;
+  const next = (inFlightByEvent.get(eventId) || 0) + delta;
+  if (next > 0) inFlightByEvent.set(eventId, next);
+  else inFlightByEvent.delete(eventId);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Consolidate every touched event that has genuinely drained.
+ *
+ * "A worker went idle" is not the same as "the scan is done" — with
+ * FACE_PROCESSOR_CONCURRENCY > 1 the others may still be working, and photos
+ * released back to `pending` by a down sidecar are still owed. So the drain is
+ * tested directly against the queue rather than inferred, and an event that is
+ * still busy simply stays in the set for the next idle tick.
+ *
+ * Across multiple pods two workers can consolidate the same event at once.
+ * That is safe rather than coordinated: `mergePeople` is transactional, and a
+ * pair whose source was already absorbed merges nothing.
+ */
+async function drainConsolidation() {
+  if (!touchedEvents.size) return;
+
+  for (const eventId of [...touchedEvents]) {
+    const retryAt = consolidationRetryAt.get(eventId);
+    if (retryAt && Date.now() < retryAt) continue;
+
+    try {
+      const outstanding = await db('photos')
+        .where({ event_id: eventId })
+        .whereIn('face_status', ['pending', 'processing'])
+        .count({ c: '*' })
+        .first();
+
+      if (Number(outstanding?.c ?? 0) > 0) continue;
+
+      // A worker may still be inside processPhotoFaces for this event: the
+      // photo is committed 'done' before auto-categorisation runs, so the row
+      // stops counting as outstanding while the call is still going. Without
+      // this, an idle worker consolidates and records its count, the busy one
+      // then re-marks the event, and the next pass overwrites the real number
+      // with zero — losing exactly the report this feature exists to give.
+      if ((inFlightByEvent.get(eventId) || 0) > 0) continue;
+
+      // Detection may have been switched off mid-drain, after an earlier
+      // photo already marked this event. Merging someone's clusters just
+      // after they turned the feature off is not a thing to do quietly.
+      const event = await db('events').where({ id: eventId }).first();
+      if (!(await isEnabledForEvent(event))) {
+        touchedEvents.delete(eventId);
+        consolidationRetryAt.delete(eventId);
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      // Required here rather than at module load, matching faceProcessor's
+      // call into faceAutoCategories: the binding stays late, which keeps the
+      // seam this is tested through honest.
+      const { consolidate } = require('./faceClustering');
+      const merged = await consolidate(eventId);
+      // Dropped only once it has actually run. Removing it first meant a
+      // transient database error lost the pass entirely — no retry until the
+      // gallery happened to be scanned again.
+      touchedEvents.delete(eventId);
+      consolidationRetryAt.delete(eventId);
+      if (merged.length) {
+        logger.info(
+          `faceQueue: scan of event ${eventId} drained — consolidated ${merged.length} look-alike pair(s)`
+        );
+      }
+    } catch (e) {
+      // Never let a consolidation failure stop the queue. The event keeps its
+      // place so a transient error is retried, but not before the backoff —
+      // otherwise a permanently failing event warns on every idle tick.
+      consolidationRetryAt.set(eventId, Date.now() + CONSOLIDATE_RETRY_MS);
+      logger.warn(
+        `faceQueue: consolidation failed for event ${eventId}, retrying in `
+        + `${Math.round(CONSOLIDATE_RETRY_MS / 1000)}s`,
+        { error: e.message }
+      );
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 let running = false;
 let workerHandles = [];
 let janitorHandle = null;
@@ -184,12 +299,27 @@ async function workerLoop(workerIdx) {
     }
 
     if (!claimed) {
+      // Nothing left to claim is the only signal this queue has that a scan
+      // may have finished. Cheap when idle: no-ops unless work happened.
+      await drainConsolidation();
       await sleep(POLL_INTERVAL_MS);
       continue;
     }
 
+    markInFlight(claimed.event_id, +1);
     try {
-      await processPhotoFaces(claimed.id);
+      const outcome = await processPhotoFaces(claimed.id);
+      // Only a photo that actually went through detection can have moved this
+      // event's clusters. 'skipped' covers videos, a purge that raced the
+      // scan, and — the one that matters — detection being switched OFF
+      // mid-drain: consolidating there would merge clusters moments after the
+      // admin turned the feature off. 'failed' produced no faces either.
+      //
+      // A photo containing no faces still reports 'done', so an event whose
+      // photos are all empty still gets its (harmless) pass.
+      if (outcome?.status === 'done' && claimed.event_id != null) {
+        touchedEvents.add(claimed.event_id);
+      }
     } catch (err) {
       // The sidecar being down stops EVERY photo, so returning this one to
       // 'pending' and backing off costs nothing — there is no other work to
@@ -237,6 +367,11 @@ async function workerLoop(workerIdx) {
           error: updateErr.message,
         });
       }
+    } finally {
+      // In a finally because the catch above returns to the loop via
+      // `continue` on two paths — a leaked count would block this event's
+      // consolidation for the lifetime of the process.
+      markInFlight(claimed.event_id, -1);
     }
   }
 }
@@ -255,6 +390,18 @@ async function janitorLoop() {
     } catch (e) {
       logger.warn('faceQueue: janitor error', { error: e.message });
     }
+
+    // The worker only reaches its drain when it can claim NOTHING, anywhere.
+    // With the default single worker that means one gallery finishing during a
+    // large backfill waits for every other gallery — and under continuous
+    // ingestion it could wait indefinitely. Running the drain here too makes
+    // consolidation depend on the event being finished rather than the whole
+    // install being idle. It is per-event guarded, so this is a no-op for
+    // anything still in flight.
+    await drainConsolidation().catch((e) =>
+      logger.warn('faceQueue: janitor drain error', { error: e.message })
+    );
+
     await sleep(JANITOR_INTERVAL_MS);
   }
 }
@@ -293,4 +440,11 @@ async function stop() {
   janitorHandle = null;
 }
 
-module.exports = { start, stop, claimNextPhoto };
+// drainConsolidation, touchedEvents and consolidationRetryAt are exported for
+// the same reason claimNextPhoto is: the drain condition and its failure
+// backoff are the subtle parts of #1107 and are worth pinning directly, rather
+// than through a running worker loop.
+module.exports = {
+  start, stop, claimNextPhoto, drainConsolidation,
+  touchedEvents, consolidationRetryAt, inFlightByEvent,
+};
diff --git a/backend/src/services/picpeakExportService.js b/backend/src/services/picpeakExportService.js
index 4595b581..50c1cdaa 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/picpeakExportService.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/picpeakExportService.js
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ const EXCLUDED_TABLES = new Set([
   'knex_migrations_lock',
   'photo_faces',
   'event_people',
+  // Follows event_people out of the export (#1107): these rows are nothing but
+  // references to person ids the target will never receive. Carried across,
+  // they would attach to whatever ids the target's own re-scan happens to
+  // mint, silently suppressing merge suggestions in unrelated galleries.
+  'event_people_merge_dismissals',
 ]);
 
 // Storage subdirs holding non-recalculable blobs — always included.
diff --git a/backend/src/services/picpeakImportService.js b/backend/src/services/picpeakImportService.js
index ee9c38ef..fa3beab7 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/picpeakImportService.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/picpeakImportService.js
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ async function replaceAllTables(tables, dataDir, currentAdmin, roleSnapshot, { c
     // orphans can end up attached to reused photo/event ids from the incoming
     // archive: one instance's biometric data silently adopted by another's
     // galleries. Purge them explicitly.
-    for (const faceTable of ['photo_faces', 'event_people']) {
+    for (const faceTable of ['photo_faces', 'event_people', 'event_people_merge_dismissals']) {
       try {
         await trx(faceTable).del();
       } catch (err) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/admin/FaceRecognitionCard.tsx b/frontend/src/components/admin/FaceRecognitionCard.tsx
index bc793178..ee854894 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/admin/FaceRecognitionCard.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/admin/FaceRecognitionCard.tsx
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ interface FacesPayload {
   enabled: boolean;
   visible_to_guests: boolean;
   last_scan_at: string | null;
+  // What the automatic consolidation pass merged when this gallery last
+  // finished scanning (#1107).
+  consolidation?: {
+    merged: number;
+    at: string | null;
+  };
   status: {
     scanned: number;
     total: number;
@@ -156,6 +162,29 @@ export const FaceRecognitionCard: React.FC<FaceRecognitionCardProps> = ({ eventI
     // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
   }, [healthAt, shouldProbe, scanRunning, health]);
 
+  // Consolidation happens AFTER the last photo is marked done: the worker
+  // records the event, goes idle, then drains. So the poll that first sees
+  // `in_progress: false` also stops polling, and it read the consolidation
+  // count a moment too early — leaving the card silent about merges that did
+  // happen until the admin navigates back.
+  //
+  // Two catch-up refetches rather than one, because a consolidation that hits
+  // a transient error is retried by the queue a minute later
+  // (FACE_CONSOLIDATE_RETRY_MS): the first covers the normal case, the second
+  // covers one retry. Deliberately a fixed pair and not a poll — an event
+  // whose photos all failed never consolidates at all, and a condition-based
+  // poll would spin on it forever.
+  const wasScanning = useRef(false);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const scanning = !!data?.status?.in_progress;
+    const justFinished = wasScanning.current && !scanning;
+    wasScanning.current = scanning;
+    if (!justFinished) return;
+
+    const timers = [8000, 70000].map((ms) => setTimeout(() => { refetch(); }, ms));
+    return () => timers.forEach(clearTimeout);
+  }, [data?.status?.in_progress, refetch]);
+
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!data?.enabled) return;
     api.get('/admin/events/faces/auto-categories')
@@ -451,6 +480,24 @@ export const FaceRecognitionCard: React.FC<FaceRecognitionCardProps> = ({ eventI
                 misconfiguration or from corrupt images at some earlier point.
                 Attributing them properly would mean reading stored face_error
                 rows — worth doing, but a bigger change than this. */}
+            {/* Automatic consolidation (#1107). Clustering merged look-alike
+                groups on its own once the scan drained, and doing that to
+                biometric clusters without saying so is the wrong default —
+                even at the stricter-than-assignment threshold it uses. Points
+                at the tool for undoing it rather than claiming an undo we do
+                not have: Split is how a wrong merge gets unpicked. */}
+            {!status.in_progress && (data.consolidation?.merged ?? 0) > 0 && (
+              <p className="mt-2 flex items-start gap-2 text-xs text-neutral-600 dark:text-neutral-400">
+                <Users size={14} className="mt-0.5 shrink-0 text-neutral-400" />
+                <span>
+                  {t('admin.faces.consolidated', {
+                    count: data.consolidation!.merged,
+                    defaultValue_one: 'Grouping merged {{count}} look-alike pair automatically after the last scan. Open Manage people to check it — anything merged wrongly can be separated again with Split.',
+                    defaultValue_other: 'Grouping merged {{count}} look-alike pairs automatically after the last scan. Open Manage people to check them — anything merged wrongly can be separated again with Split.',
+                  })}
+                </span>
+              </p>
+            )}
             {!status.in_progress && sidecarNotice && (
               <div className="mt-2">
                 <p className="text-xs text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 mb-1">
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/admin/PeopleManagerModal.tsx b/frontend/src/components/admin/PeopleManagerModal.tsx
index cfce275c..eed94102 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/admin/PeopleManagerModal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/admin/PeopleManagerModal.tsx
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ interface PersonFace {
   blur: number | null;
 }
 
+/** A pair scoring between the assignment threshold and the auto-merge one. */
+interface MergeSuggestion {
+  person_a_id: number;
+  person_b_id: number;
+  score: number;
+}
+
 interface PeopleManagerModalProps {
   eventId: number;
   open: boolean;
@@ -199,6 +206,14 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
   // differs. Keyed by person id so switching between them reuses the cache.
   const facesFor = splitting || coverFor || viewing?.person || null;
 
+  // Look-alike pairs the automatic pass deliberately did NOT merge (#1107):
+  // similar enough to ask about, not similar enough to act on unasked.
+  const { data: suggestionData } = useQuery<{ suggestions: MergeSuggestion[] }>({
+    queryKey: ['admin-people-suggestions', eventId],
+    queryFn: async () => (await api.get(`/admin/events/${eventId}/people/suggestions`)).data,
+    enabled: open,
+  });
+
   const { data: faceData, isLoading: facesLoading } = useQuery<{ faces: PersonFace[] }>({
     queryKey: ['admin-person-faces', eventId, facesFor?.id],
     queryFn: async () =>
@@ -208,12 +223,53 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
 
   const people = useMemo(() => data?.people || [], [data]);
 
+  /**
+   * Suggestions resolved against the loaded people.
+   *
+   * The endpoint returns ids and a score only — the covers are already here.
+   * Pairs whose people are missing are dropped rather than rendered blank: the
+   * two queries are invalidated together, but a suggestion computed just before
+   * a merge can name a person that no longer exists.
+   */
+  const suggestionPairs = useMemo(() => {
+    const byId = new Map(people.map((p) => [p.id, p]));
+    return (suggestionData?.suggestions || [])
+      .map((s) => ({
+        a: byId.get(s.person_a_id),
+        b: byId.get(s.person_b_id),
+        score: s.score,
+      }))
+      .filter((p): p is { a: AdminPerson; b: AdminPerson; score: number } => !!p.a && !!p.b);
+  }, [suggestionData, people]);
+
+  /**
+   * Names already used in THIS gallery, for the rename input's datalist
+   * (#1107). Naming a wedding means typing the same surname into a dozen
+   * fresh empty inputs; the second occurrence should be a keystroke.
+   *
+   * Deliberately event-scoped. Names from other events would be more useful —
+   * the same family recurs across shoots — but that would surface client names
+   * from galleries the current admin may not be allowed to open, which is a
+   * permissions decision (#743), not an implementation detail.
+   *
+   * No fetch: the people list already in front of the user IS the source.
+   */
+  const knownNames = useMemo(() => {
+    const names = people
+      .map((p) => (p.label || '').trim())
+      .filter(Boolean);
+    return [...new Set(names)].sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b));
+  }, [people]);
+
   const after = async (message: string) => {
     // The face list is cached per person and split/merge move faces between
     // them. Until the cover picker landed, the only reader closed itself after
     // acting so nobody saw the stale copy; now a second surface reads the same
     // key and would offer faces that are no longer this person's.
     await queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['admin-person-faces'] });
+    // Merging or splitting changes which pairs are still worth suggesting, and
+    // a suggestion naming a person that no longer exists is worse than none.
+    await queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['admin-people-suggestions'] });
     await refetch();
     onChanged?.();
     setSelected([]);
@@ -262,6 +318,36 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
     );
   };
 
+  /**
+   * Accept a suggestion. The named side is the target so the name survives —
+   * the same rule doMerge applies, but here the order is ours to choose rather
+   * than the click order's, so it can be chosen correctly. Falling back to the
+   * larger cluster keeps the bigger centroid as the survivor.
+   */
+  const acceptSuggestion = (a: AdminPerson, b: AdminPerson) => {
+    const target = a.label ? a : b.label ? b
+      : ((a.total_face_count ?? a.face_count) >= (b.total_face_count ?? b.face_count) ? a : b);
+    const source = target.id === a.id ? b : a;
+    run(
+      async () => {
+        await api.post(`/admin/events/${eventId}/people/merge`, {
+          source_ids: [source.id], target_id: target.id,
+        });
+      },
+      t('admin.people.merged', { count: 1, defaultValue: 'People merged' })
+    );
+  };
+
+  const dismissSuggestion = (a: AdminPerson, b: AdminPerson) =>
+    run(
+      async () => {
+        await api.post(`/admin/events/${eventId}/people/suggestions/dismiss`, {
+          person_a_id: a.id, person_b_id: b.id,
+        });
+      },
+      t('admin.people.suggestionDismissed', { defaultValue: 'Kept separate' })
+    );
+
   const doSplit = () => {
     if (!splitting || !splitFaceIds.length) return;
     const personId = splitting.id;
@@ -307,6 +393,13 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
         aria-modal="true"
         className="relative bg-white dark:bg-neutral-900 text-neutral-900 dark:text-neutral-100 rounded-xl shadow-xl w-full max-w-4xl max-h-[88vh] flex flex-col"
       >
+        {/* One datalist for every row's rename input — a per-row copy would
+            duplicate the whole name list once per person. */}
+        {knownNames.length > 0 && (
+          <datalist id="picpeak-people-names">
+            {knownNames.map((name) => <option key={name} value={name} />)}
+          </datalist>
+        )}
         <div className="flex items-center justify-between px-5 py-4 border-b border-neutral-100 dark:border-neutral-700">
           <div>
             <h2 className="text-lg font-medium text-neutral-900 dark:text-neutral-100">
@@ -539,6 +632,71 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
                 </p>
               ) : (
                 <div className="space-y-1">
+                  {/* --- merge suggestions (#1107) -------------------------
+                      The band below the auto-merge threshold. These are asked
+                      rather than done: an over-eager merge of two people is
+                      much harder to unpick than a missed one, and this is
+                      biometric grouping, so the uncertain cases get a human.
+                      Dismissal is sticky — a pair told "not the same" does not
+                      come back after the next scan. */}
+                  {suggestionPairs.length > 0 && (
+                    <div className="mb-4 rounded-lg border border-amber-200 dark:border-amber-800 bg-amber-50 dark:bg-amber-900/20 overflow-hidden">
+                      <p className="px-3 py-2 text-xs text-amber-900 dark:text-amber-200 border-b border-amber-200 dark:border-amber-800">
+                        {t('admin.people.suggestionsHeading', {
+                          count: suggestionPairs.length,
+                          defaultValue: 'These might be the same person. Grouping was not confident enough to merge them on its own.',
+                        })}
+                      </p>
+                      <div className="divide-y divide-amber-200 dark:divide-amber-800">
+                        {suggestionPairs.map(({ a, b, score }) => (
+                          <div key={`${a.id}-${b.id}`} className="flex items-center gap-3 p-3 flex-wrap">
+                            <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
+                              {[a, b].map((person) => (
+                                <div key={person.id} className="flex items-center gap-2">
+                                  <FaceThumb
+                                    eventId={eventId}
+                                    photoId={person.cover?.photo_id ?? 0}
+                                    bbox={person.cover?.bbox}
+                                    photoWidth={person.cover?.photo_width}
+                                    photoHeight={person.cover?.photo_height}
+                                    size={48}
+                                  />
+                                  <span className="text-xs text-neutral-700 dark:text-neutral-300">
+                                    {person.label || t('admin.people.photoCount', {
+                                      count: person.total_face_count ?? person.face_count,
+                                      defaultValue: `${person.total_face_count ?? person.face_count} photos`,
+                                    })}
+                                  </span>
+                                </div>
+                              ))}
+                            </div>
+                            <span className="text-xs text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 tabular-nums">
+                              {t('admin.people.suggestionScore', {
+                                percent: Math.round(score * 100),
+                                defaultValue: `${Math.round(score * 100)}% alike`,
+                              })}
+                            </span>
+                            <div className="flex gap-2 ml-auto">
+                              <Button
+                                variant="outline" size="sm" disabled={busy}
+                                onClick={() => dismissSuggestion(a, b)}
+                              >
+                                {t('admin.people.suggestionReject', { defaultValue: 'Not the same' })}
+                              </Button>
+                              <Button
+                                variant="primary" size="sm" disabled={busy}
+                                onClick={() => acceptSuggestion(a, b)}
+                                leftIcon={<Merge className="w-3.5 h-3.5" />}
+                              >
+                                {t('admin.people.suggestionAccept', { defaultValue: 'Same person' })}
+                              </Button>
+                            </div>
+                          </div>
+                        ))}
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                  )}
+
                   {people.map((person) => {
                     const isSelected = selected.includes(person.id);
                     return (
@@ -577,6 +735,7 @@ export const PeopleManagerModal: React.FC<PeopleManagerModalProps> = ({
                                 if (e.key === 'Escape') setRenaming(null);
                               }}
                               placeholder={t('admin.people.namePlaceholder', { defaultValue: 'Add a name' })}
+                              list={knownNames.length ? 'picpeak-people-names' : undefined}
                               className="w-full max-w-xs px-2 py-1 text-sm border border-neutral-300 dark:border-neutral-600 bg-white dark:bg-neutral-800 text-neutral-900 dark:text-neutral-100 rounded focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-primary-500"
                             />
                           ) : (
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/de.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/de.json
index 0c655351..55623955 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/de.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/de.json
@@ -3150,7 +3150,14 @@
       "splitHelp": "Wählen Sie die Fotos aus, die NICHT diese Person zeigen. Sie werden zu einem neuen Eintrag, alles andere bleibt.",
       "splitSelected": "{{count}} ausgewählt",
       "doSplit": "Abtrennen",
-      "empty": "Noch keine Personen erkannt."
+      "empty": "Noch keine Personen erkannt.",
+      "photoCount_one": "{{count}} Foto",
+      "photoCount_other": "{{count}} Fotos",
+      "suggestionsHeading": "Das könnte dieselbe Person sein. Die Gruppierung war sich nicht sicher genug, um sie von selbst zusammenzuführen.",
+      "suggestionScore": "{{percent}}% ähnlich",
+      "suggestionAccept": "Dieselbe Person",
+      "suggestionReject": "Nicht dieselbe",
+      "suggestionDismissed": "Getrennt gelassen"
     },
     "faces": {
       "manage": "Personen verwalten",
@@ -3180,7 +3187,9 @@
       "sidecarUnreachable": "Der Gesichtserkennungs-Dienst unter {{url}} ist nicht erreichbar, deshalb werden die {{pending}} eingereihten Fotos nicht verarbeitet. Es geht nichts verloren — der Scan läuft von selbst weiter, sobald der Dienst wieder da ist. Starte ihn mit `docker compose --profile faces up -d`; er beendet sich sofort, wenn FACE_ML_TOKEN nicht auf denselben Wert wie im Backend gesetzt ist — einen Standardwert gibt es nicht.",
       "sidecarUnauthorized": "Der Gesichtserkennungs-Dienst unter {{url}} weist unser Token zurück; Fotos werden als fehlgeschlagen markiert statt erneut versucht. Setze FACE_ML_TOKEN im Backend und im picpeak-ml-Container identisch, starte beide neu und nutze dann Neu scannen — das Token allein zu korrigieren verarbeitet die bereits fehlgeschlagenen Fotos nicht erneut.",
       "sidecarRejected": "{{url}} antwortet, aber nicht wie der Gesichtserkennungs-Dienst — Fotos werden als fehlgeschlagen markiert statt erneut versucht. Prüfe, ob FACE_ML_URL auf den picpeak-ml-Container zeigt und kein Proxy dazwischenliegt, und nutze dann Neu scannen für die bereits fehlgeschlagenen Fotos.",
-      "sidecarStateNow": "Aktueller Zustand des Dienstes — einige der Fehler oben können eine andere Ursache haben, aber ein erneuter Scan wird erst nach der Behebung erfolgreich sein:"
+      "sidecarStateNow": "Aktueller Zustand des Dienstes — einige der Fehler oben können eine andere Ursache haben, aber ein erneuter Scan wird erst nach der Behebung erfolgreich sein:",
+      "consolidated_one": "Beim letzten Scan wurde {{count}} ähnliches Paar automatisch zusammengeführt. Prüfen Sie es unter „Personen verwalten“ — falsch Zusammengeführtes lässt sich mit „Trennen“ wieder aufteilen.",
+      "consolidated_other": "Beim letzten Scan wurden {{count}} ähnliche Paare automatisch zusammengeführt. Prüfen Sie sie unter „Personen verwalten“ — falsch Zusammengeführtes lässt sich mit „Trennen“ wieder aufteilen."
     }
   },
   "acceptInvitation": {
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en.json
index 8e35f594..0f36b611 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en.json
@@ -2722,7 +2722,14 @@
       "splitHelp": "Pick the photos that are NOT this person. They become a new entry, and everything else stays.",
       "splitSelected": "{{count}} selected",
       "doSplit": "Split out",
-      "empty": "No people detected yet."
+      "empty": "No people detected yet.",
+      "photoCount_one": "{{count}} photo",
+      "photoCount_other": "{{count}} photos",
+      "suggestionsHeading": "These might be the same person. Grouping was not confident enough to merge them on its own.",
+      "suggestionScore": "{{percent}}% alike",
+      "suggestionAccept": "Same person",
+      "suggestionReject": "Not the same",
+      "suggestionDismissed": "Kept separate"
     },
     "faces": {
       "manage": "Manage people",
@@ -2752,7 +2759,9 @@
       "sidecarUnreachable": "Can't reach the face-detection service at {{url}}, so the {{pending}} queued photos aren't being processed. Nothing is lost — the scan resumes on its own once the service is up. Start it with `docker compose --profile faces up -d`, and note it exits immediately unless FACE_ML_TOKEN is set to the same value as the backend — there is no default.",
       "sidecarUnauthorized": "The face-detection service at {{url}} is rejecting our token, and photos are being marked failed rather than retried. Make FACE_ML_TOKEN identical on the backend and the picpeak-ml container, restart both, then use Re-scan — fixing the token alone will not reprocess the photos that already failed.",
       "sidecarRejected": "{{url}} answered, but not like the face-detection service — photos are being marked failed rather than retried. Check FACE_ML_URL points at the picpeak-ml container and that nothing is proxying that address, then use Re-scan for the photos that already failed.",
-      "sidecarStateNow": "Service state right now — some of the failures above may have a different cause, but a re-scan will not succeed until this is fixed:"
+      "sidecarStateNow": "Service state right now — some of the failures above may have a different cause, but a re-scan will not succeed until this is fixed:",
+      "consolidated_one": "Grouping merged {{count}} look-alike pair automatically after the last scan. Open Manage people to check it — anything merged wrongly can be separated again with Split.",
+      "consolidated_other": "Grouping merged {{count}} look-alike pairs automatically after the last scan. Open Manage people to check them — anything merged wrongly can be separated again with Split."
     }
   },
   "acceptInvitation": {