Gramps MCP - AI-Powered Genealogy Research & Management

Without Gramps MCP

Genealogy research with AI assistants is limited and frustrating:

No direct access to your family tree data
Manual data entry and research across multiple platforms
Generic genealogy advice without context of your specific family
No ability to automatically update or maintain your research

With Gramps MCP

Gramps MCP provides AI assistants with direct access to your Gramps genealogy database through a comprehensive set of tools. Your AI assistant can now:

Smart Search: Find people, families, events, places, and sources across your entire database
Data Management: Create and update genealogy records with proper validation
Tree Analysis: Trace descendants, ancestors, and family connections
Relationship Discovery: Explore family connections and research gaps
Tree Information: Get comprehensive tree statistics and track changes

Add Gramps MCP to your AI assistant and transform how you research family history:

Search for all descendants of John Smith born in Ireland before 1850

Create a new person record for Mary O'Connor with birth date 1823 in County Cork

Find all families missing marriage dates and suggest research priorities

No more manual data entry, no context switching between apps, no generic genealogy advice.

Connect to your Gramps Web API
Install Gramps MCP in your AI assistant
Start intelligent genealogy research with natural language

Features

16 Genealogy Tools

Search & Retrieval (3 tools)

find_type - Universal search for any entity type (person, family, event, place, source, citation, media, repository) using Gramps Query Language
find_anything - Text search across all genealogy data (matches literal text, not logical combinations)
get_type - Get comprehensive information about specific persons or families by ID

Data Management (9 tools)

create_person - Create or update person records
create_family - Create or update family units
create_event - Create or update life events
create_place - Create or update geographic locations
create_source - Create or update source documents
create_citation - Create or update citations
create_note - Create or update textual notes
create_media - Create or update media files
create_repository - Create or update repository records

Analysis Tools (4 tools)

tree_stats - Get tree statistics and information
get_descendants - Find all descendants of a person
get_ancestors - Find all ancestors of a person
recent_changes - Track recent modifications to your data

Installation

Requirements

Gramps Web server with your family tree data - Setup Guide
Docker and Docker Compose
MCP-compatible AI assistant (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)

Quick Start

Ensure Gramps Web is Running:
- Follow the Gramps Web setup guide to get your family tree online
- Note your Gramps Web URL, username, and password
- Find your tree ID under System Information in your Gramps Web interface
Start the Server:

# Download the configuration
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cabout-me/gramps-mcp/main/docker-compose.yml
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cabout-me/gramps-mcp/main/.env.example
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Gramps Web API credentials

# Start the server
docker-compose up -d

That's it! The MCP server will be running at http://localhost:8000/mcp

Alternative: Run Without Docker

If you prefer to run the server directly with Python:

Setup Python Environment:

# Install uv (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Install dependencies
uv sync

Run the Server:

# HTTP transport (for web-based MCP clients)
uv run python -m src.gramps_mcp.server

# Stdio transport (for CLI-based MCP clients)
uv run python -m src.gramps_mcp.server stdio

The HTTP server will be available at http://localhost:8000/mcp, while stdio runs directly in the terminal.

Environment Configuration

Create a .env file with your Gramps Web settings:

# Your Gramps Web instance (from step 1)
GRAMPS_API_URL=https://your-gramps-web-domain.com  # Without /api suffix - will be added automatically
GRAMPS_USERNAME=your-gramps-web-username
GRAMPS_PASSWORD=your-gramps-web-password
GRAMPS_TREE_ID=your-tree-id  # Find this under System Information in Gramps Web

MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration file (claude_desktop_config.json):

Using Docker (works with both pre-built and local images):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gramps": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["exec", "-i", "gramps-mcp-gramps-mcp-1", "python", "-m", "src.gramps_mcp.server", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Using uv directly (if running without Docker):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gramps": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "-m", "src.gramps_mcp.server", "stdio"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/gramps-mcp"
    }
  }
}

OpenWebUI

OpenWebUI recommends using the mcpo proxy to expose MCP servers as OpenAPI endpoints.

With uv:

uvx mcpo --port 8000 -- uv run python -m src.gramps_mcp.server stdio

With Docker:

uvx mcpo --port 8000 -- docker exec -i gramps-mcp-gramps-mcp-1 uv run python -m src.gramps_mcp.server stdio

Claude Code

HTTP Transport:

claude mcp add --transport http gramps http://localhost:8000/mcp

Stdio Transport (direct connection, more efficient):

# Using Docker
claude mcp add --transport stdio gramps "docker exec -i gramps-mcp-gramps-mcp-1 sh -c 'cd /app && python -m src.gramps_mcp.server stdio'"

# Using uv directly (requires local setup)
claude mcp add --transport stdio gramps "uv run python -m src.gramps_mcp.server stdio"

Transport Choice: Use stdio for better performance and direct integration with CLI tools like Claude Code. Use HTTP when you need the server to handle multiple clients or prefer web-based access.

Other MCP Clients

For any other MCP client, use the HTTP transport endpoint:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gramps": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Architecture

Core Components

src/gramps_mcp/
|-- server.py           # MCP server with HTTP transport
|-- tools.py            # Tool registry and exports
|-- client.py           # Gramps Web API client
|-- models.py           # Pydantic data models
|-- auth.py             # JWT authentication
|-- config.py           # Configuration management
|-- tools/              # Modular tool implementations
|   |-- search_basic.py
|   |-- search_details.py
|   |-- data_management.py
|   |-- tree_management.py
|   `-- analysis.py
|-- handlers/           # Data formatting handlers
`-- client/             # API client modules

Technology Stack

MCP Python SDK: Model Context Protocol implementation
FastAPI: HTTP server for MCP transport
Pydantic: Data validation and serialization
httpx: Async HTTP client for API communication
PyJWT: JWT token authentication
python-dotenv: Environment configuration

Usage Examples

Basic Search Operations

Find all people with the surname "Smith" born in Ireland

Show me recent changes to the family tree in the last 30 days

Data Creation and Updates

Create a new person record for Patrick O'Brien, born 1845 in Cork, Ireland

Add a marriage event for John and Mary Smith on June 15, 1870 in Boston

Genealogy Analysis

Find all descendants of Margaret Kelly and show their birth locations

Tree Information & Statistics

Show me statistics about my family tree - how many people, families, and events

What recent changes have been made to my family tree in the last week?

Security

JWT token authentication with automatic refresh
Environment-based credential management
Input validation using Pydantic models
Secure HTTP transport with proper error handling
No sensitive data exposed in tool responses

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Connection refused errors: Ensure your Gramps Web API server is running and accessible at the configured URL.

Authentication failures: Verify your username and password are correct and the user has appropriate permissions.

Tool timeout errors: Check your network connection and consider increasing timeout values for large datasets.

Docker issues: Ensure Docker and Docker Compose are installed and running.

Debug Mode

To enable debug logging, check your application logs with:

docker-compose logs -f

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Related Projects

Gramps - Free genealogy software
Gramps Web API - Web API for Gramps
Model Context Protocol - Standard for AI tool integration

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on:

Setting up the development environment
Running tests and maintaining code quality
Submitting pull requests
Reporting issues and requesting features

Community & Support

Bug Reports & Feature Requests: GitHub Issues
Questions & Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Documentation: Project Wiki

Acknowledgments

The Gramps Project team for creating excellent genealogy software
Anthropic for developing the Model Context Protocol
The genealogy research community for inspiration and feedback