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Anonymous retrospectives

How Retromik keeps your retrospectives anonymous

The point of a retro is honesty. That only works if raising a hard truth carries no personal risk. So in Retromik, people join by link — no account — and nothing they write is ever tied to a name.

Here's exactly how that works, mechanism by mechanism — no marketing hand-waving.

01

No sign-up to join

Participants open a board link and they're in. Retromik provisions a temporary anonymous identity for the device — just enough so you can add and edit your own cards. It carries no name and no email.

02

No names on what you write

Cards, votes and comments are never shown with an author — not to other participants, and not to the facilitator. Everyone sees the content, nobody sees who wrote it.

03

Enforced on the server, not just hidden in the UI

Access is scoped by database row-level security. It isn't a case of data being sent to your browser and hidden with CSS — the server only returns what you're allowed to see.

04

Blind write, masked at the source

In blind-write mode, cards stay concealed — masked on the server until the facilitator reveals them — so no one can anchor on early ideas or read anything into who typed first.

05

Aggregates never expose one person

Team-health signals (pulse, participation, follow-through, cadence) appear only above an anonymity floor of at least three contributors, and only as team-level trends — never a single person's number, never a name.

06

Even secret roles stay secret

In Hidden Roles mode, only you can see your own role. The facilitator triggers the draw but can't see who got what — there's simply no screen or endpoint that lists individual assignments.

07

Guests don't linger

The temporary identity created for a guest holds no personal data and is retired automatically after the session expires — anonymity by default, not something you have to clean up.

The honest version

We don't claim to "know nothing." So you can edit your own card and not someone else's, your device holds a throwaway anonymous identity during the session. It has no name, no email, is shown to no one, and is deleted automatically when the session expires. The promise isn't that you're a ghost — it's that we never tie what you say to who you are, and we don't keep it.

Common questions

Is it really anonymous?+

Yes. Participants join by link without an account, and nothing they write is shown with a name — not to other participants and not to the facilitator. Access is enforced by database row-level security, not just hidden in the interface.

Do participants need an account?+

No. Opening a board link is enough. Retromik provisions a temporary anonymous identity for your device so you can add and edit your own cards; it carries no name or email and is removed automatically after the session expires.

Can the facilitator see who wrote which card?+

No. Cards, votes and comments are never attributed to a person in the UI — the facilitator sees the content, not the author. In Hidden Roles mode, only you can see your own secret role; the facilitator can't see who got what.

What about the team-health numbers?+

Every team-level signal is shown only above an anonymity floor of at least three contributors, and only as an aggregate — never a single person's number and never a name.

Run an anonymous retro

Free, no sign-up for participants. Share a link, and let the team speak freely.

Start a retro →