Genealogy research skill

Use Sliday's canonical genealogy-research skill with your own agent. It provides a workflow for historical records, source evaluation and reviewable GEDCOM changes. GEDCOM Tools supplies the browser toolbox for checking and repairing an export, plus optional private hosted storage and deterministic reports.

• Find the skill on skills.sh
• Read the source and installation instructions on GitHub
• Read the upstream SKILL.md

This page is a guide, not a second installable gedcom-tools skill. Installing the upstream skill does not configure hosted access or grant access to your files, browser, archive accounts or paid databases.

Install the canonical package

Follow the current instructions on skills.sh or in the repository README for your runtime. Install the whole skill directory, including its references/ and scripts/. Copying this page into a skills folder is not an installation.

The upstream README documents Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI and Cursor locations. Check your runtime's skill-loading support, review the package before enabling it, and preserve local changes when updating an existing installation.

What the skill contributes

The upstream README and SKILL.md, checked on 6 September 2026, describe a Genealogical Proof Standard-based workflow:

• Plan a specific research question before searching. Record known facts, gaps and competing identities.
• Preserve the source image or response, archive reference and literal transcription. Keep transliteration, translation and normalized interpretation separate.
• Evaluate source type, information quality and evidence role. Support conclusions labelled Proven, Probable, Possible, Unresolved or Disproven with reasoning.
• Search the historical jurisdiction in relevant languages. Prefer official APIs, exports and permitted archive interfaces; establish coverage before treating a failed search as negative evidence.
• Build evidence packets and proposed edits before changing relationships, merging people, deleting records or resolving conflicts. Validate and compare the result with the original.

These instructions do not guarantee an accurate transcription, identity match or conclusion. Review uncertain readings against the source and keep unresolved alternatives visible.

The package includes scripts/gedcom_check.py for local checks and semantic comparisons. That script belongs to the upstream skill, not a gedcom.tools HTTP endpoint. Review its documentation and run it where you have authorized file access.

Use current toolbox information

Read the current tool manifest, API reference and Use with AI page before choosing a tool. A bundled skill catalogue can lag behind the site. Use the current manifest and tool page for routes, inputs, data flow, controls and result limits rather than an older tool count or API description.

Start with File Inspector and GEDCOM Validator for an unfamiliar export. Choose a repair when findings support it, preserve the original and review the output. A low record count does not prove truncation; a valid file does not prove the family history is correct.

An agent with browser and file-selection tools can work within the access you grant. Remote MCP provides public discovery without authentication and seven hosted operations with REST parity for private documents, analysis and reports. Complete hosted onboarding, open the vault and save your owner key before issuing a scoped agent key. Use the required read, write or delete scope through Authorization: Bearer <AGENT_TOKEN>; keep owner keys out of agent configuration. Installing the skill does not create that connection. Without browser controls or hosted access, the agent can recommend a page and interpret findings you choose to share.

Set privacy and change boundaries

Obtain explicit consent before a hosted upload. We retain private originals and reports until document or vault deletion; cleanup retries can continue after deletion without a finite deadline. Hosted checks leave originals unchanged and make no paid AI calls. Your agent's provider can receive the returned findings. The MCP guide explains retention, scopes and cleanup.

Browser-local analysis describes the browser tools' processing. If your external agent reads names through a screenshot, page snapshot, local file or pasted report, that information can enter its provider's context. Agree on that disclosure before the agent inspects private records.

Three toolbox features offer model calls: Merge Conflict Arbitration, Note Structurer and Research Gap Planner. Read the manifest's data_flow and sends fields and the page's send notice before invoking them. A research-planner request can disclose names and places even though it does not modify the GEDCOM.

Treat mutates as a description, not permission. Keep read-only checks within the requested scope. Present evidence and proposed relationship changes, merges, deletions and conflict resolutions for review before applying them. Preserve a separate output, then validate and compare it. A confidence score does not authorize a merge.

Your external agent may search archives or analyze scans when you grant the necessary access. GEDCOM Tools does not itself acquire new archive records or grant access to restricted sources. Do not bypass logins, CAPTCHAs, subscriptions or provider limits.

Start a scoped session

Tell your agent the question, historical place and period, permitted source locations, and what it may read or change. Ask it to use the canonical skill, record evidence and coverage, and bring proposed genealogical changes back for review. State whether it may send selected text or screenshots to a model.

Use the prompt collection for browser-tool instructions and the overview for interface limits. The MCP page explains public discovery, authenticated hosted analysis and their separate data boundaries.