Is there a genealogy app for ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes. Ancestral Fire is a genealogy app you add to Claude or ChatGPT. You add it once, bring in your family from FamilySearch or a GEDCOM file, and ask about the people in it in your own words. Every answer comes from your own tree and its records, with the source behind each fact.
How to add it.
| Where | How |
|---|---|
| Claude | In Claude, open Customize, then Plugins, find AncestralFire and add it. Press Connect and sign in. The steps for Claude. |
| ChatGPT | It isn't in ChatGPT's own directory yet, so you add it as a custom MCP server. Which plans can do that is OpenAI's to say. The steps for ChatGPT. |
| Claude Code | One command in a terminal. The steps for Claude Code. |
| Another assistant | If it can add an MCP server, use this address. |
What you can ask.
- "Who's in my family?"
- "Who was the first in my family to leave Ireland, and what became of him?"
- "What doesn't the tree know about my great-grandfather?"
- "How am I related to her?"
Anything that would change your tree waits for you to press Approve.
Do I need a FamilySearch account?
No. You need a free Ancestral Fire account. FamilySearch is free and brings in the most, because someone may already have built part of your family there. You can also bring a GEDCOM file, or start with one grandparent or great-grandparent who has passed away, and you'll see less at first.
What's an MCP server?
MCP (the Model Context Protocol) is the standard way an AI assistant connects to another service. If you're looking for a genealogy MCP server or a family tree MCP, this is one. The address is https://mcp.ancestral-fire.com/mcp, and you sign in with your own account.
It works with FamilySearch but isn't made by FamilySearch. It reads your family with your own sign-in and changes nothing there unless you approve it.
What it costs.
Free while we're in beta.
Others you can try.
Claude's directory also lists Genealogy Researcher, Rootline Family Tree, KleioBase and FamyTree (read November 2, 2026). Genealogy Researcher works from a GEDCOM file you upload, and says FamilySearch support is planned. If you only need help reading one record, plain ChatGPT or Claude can do that with no app at all: paste the text in, then check what it tells you.
Or just ask.
Tell Ancestral Fire one name, and it reads your tree, searches FamilySearch Family Tree once you connect it, and tells you what it found, with the source behind each fact. A real answer:
What doesn't the tree know about Patrick?
Your imported file records Patrick's birth around 1823, immigration to Boston around 1847, work as a cooper, and death in 1858. A note says he died of consumption, but the file has no attached birth or death record or 1850 census to verify details; his parents are named Patrick and Mary Johanna, but their dates aren't given.
From the Kennedy family's published tree: what an answer looks like when it says what it doesn't know.
See a whole conversation on How it works, or what it finds in one family: The Kennedy family tree, from Wexford to Dallas.
Keep reading.
- Cousin chart: second cousin once removed. A second cousin is someone who shares a set of great-grandparents with you, and "once removed" means you are one generation apart: your second cousin's child, or your parent's second cousin.