FamilySearch 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

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:

Platform	Config path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Claude\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

Tool	Description
login-with-browser	Open Brave, log in, and save session locally
set-session-cookie	Authenticate by pasting cookies from your browser
get-current-user	View your authenticated account info
search-persons	Search individuals in the Family Tree
get-person	Get details for a person by ID
get-ancestors	View ancestors (default 4 generations, max 8)
get-descendants	View descendants (default 2 generations, max 3)
search-records	Search historical record collections

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

Problem	Fix
"Not authenticated" errors	Run npm run login or use set-session-cookie
Session expired / 401 errors	Re-run npm run login
"Request blocked by FamilySearch security (error 15)"	Re-run npm run login to refresh bot-protection cookies
Brave not found	Install Brave or set BRAVE_PATH to your Brave executable
MCP tools not appearing	Confirm npm run build succeeded and restart your MCP client
node not found	Use the full path to your Node binary in the MCP config

---

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