Start with the group, not the inbox
Add the people who are participating, choose a budget and pick a reveal date. Participants do not need accounts or email addresses for the core flow, so the organizer can use the group chat, team channel or family thread they already have.
Set exclusions before the draw
Keep couples, housemates, teammates or direct reports apart with mutual exclusions. MerryShuffle checks the complete set of rules before committing an assignment and explains when the constraints cannot produce a valid result.
Share a private reveal link
After the draw, share each link directly with its intended recipient. A link is a bearer credential: anyone who has it can open it, so keep links out of public posts. Organizers can rotate links when a share needs to be replaced.