FamilySearch MCP Server

A local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for FamilySearch. Gives AI assistants access to search the Family Tree, view person details, explore ancestors and descendants, and search historical records.

Features

• Family Tree search — find individuals by name, dates, places, and gender

• Person details — view a person card by ID

• Pedigree exploration — ancestors (up to 8 generations) and descendants (up to 3)

• Historical records — search record collections

• Browser session auth — log in once with Brave; no FamilySearch API key required

Related MCP server: Gramps MCP

How it works

FamilySearch does not approve direct API access for most personal projects. This server reuses your browser session cookies and calls the same internal /service/ endpoints the website uses. Your session is stored locally at ~/.familysearch-mcp/config.json.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm

• Brave browser — Playwright's bundled Chromium is blocked by FamilySearch bot detection

• A free FamilySearch account

Installation

1. Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/JonathanReiss15/familysearch-mcp.git
cd familysearch-mcp
npm install
npm run build

2. Log in to FamilySearch

npm run login

This opens Brave with a dedicated profile. Sign in when prompted. Your session is saved to ~/.familysearch-mcp/config.json.

Tip: You can also ask your AI assistant to run the login-with-browser tool after the MCP is connected.

3. Configure your MCP client

Add the server to your client using stdio transport. Replace /path/to/familysearch-mcp with the absolute path to this repo.

Recommended config (uses cwd so you don't need absolute paths in args):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "familysearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["build/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/familysearch-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Run npm run build whenever you pull changes.

MCP client setup

Cursor

Project-scoped — create .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or add globally in Cursor Settings → MCP):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "familysearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["build/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/familysearch-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor or reload MCP servers after saving.

Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "familysearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["build/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/familysearch-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Claude Code

From the repo directory:

claude mcp add familysearch -- node build/index.js

Or with an absolute path from anywhere:

claude mcp add familysearch -- node /path/to/familysearch-mcp/build/index.js

Verify with claude mcp list.

Codex

From the repo directory (after npm run build):

codex mcp add familysearch -- node build/index.js

Or add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.familysearch]
command = "node"
args = ["build/index.js"]
cwd = "/path/to/familysearch-mcp"

Use /mcp in Codex to confirm the server is connected.

This repo also includes .codex/config.toml for project-scoped config when the directory is trusted.

VS Code

Add to your user MCP config (Command Palette → MCP: Open User Configuration) or .vscode/mcp.json in a workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "familysearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["build/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/familysearch-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Windows

If node is not found, use the full path to your Node executable. For clients that struggle with direct node invocation, wrap with cmd:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "familysearch": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "node", "build/index.js"],
      "cwd": "C:\\path\\to\\familysearch-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Authentication

Option 1: Browser login (recommended)

npm run login

Opens Brave (not headless Chromium) to avoid FamilySearch bot detection.

Option 2: Copy cookies manually

1. Log in at familysearch.org

2. In DevTools → Console, run: copy(document.cookie)

3. Use the set-session-cookie MCP tool with the copied string

The full cookie string is required — bot protection cookies like reese84 and incap_ses_* must be included, not just fssessionid.

Tools

Example prompts

Search for persons named "John Smith" born in "New York"

Get person with personId G2KQ-JTH

Get 4 generations of ancestors for personId G2KQ-JTH

Search historical records for surname "Reiss" in "Pennsylvania"

Troubleshooting

Security

• Session cookies are stored locally in ~/.familysearch-mcp/config.json

• They grant the same access as your browser session — never share this file

• Sessions expire after inactivity; re-authenticate when tools return auth errors

• This server runs locally over stdio; no data is sent to third parties

License

MIT