FamilySearch API MCP for AI. Audit entire pedigrees and historical records instantly.
Works with every AI agent you already use
…and any MCP-compatible client








Connect to your AI in seconds.
FamilySearch API lets your AI agent manage complex genealogical research and ancestry auditing. It connects your workflow to one of the world's largest platforms for family history, allowing you to search millions of records, map pedigrees, and retrieve associated memories—all without touching a genealogy portal.
What your AI can do
Check api status
Confirms if the entire FamilySearch API connection is currently operational and responding.
Get person memories
Gathers photos, stories, and documents (memories) associated with an individual's record.
Get person pedigree
Maps the full ancestry chart for a person, showing their direct lineage over several generations.
Search across millions of records to find people by name and details within the FamilySearch database.
Generate a full pedigree chart for any person, detailing their ancestors and vital dates over multiple generations.
Retrieve comprehensive metadata for a specific individual, including birth/death places and reported lifespans.
Gather all linked photos, stories, and documents attached to a specific person's record.
List the available historical record collections so you know what kind of archives exist for deeper research.
Ask an AI about this
Waiting for input…
FamilySearch API: 6 Tools for Genealogists
Access six specific tools that let your agent perform everything from searching individuals to mapping entire family lineages.
Make your AI actually useful.
Add this MCP to Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf and your AI stops guessing. It gets real tools to look things up, take action, and handle the stuff you keep doing by hand.
Start using FamilySearch API on VinkiusCheck Api Status
Confirms if the entire FamilySearch API connection is currently operational and responding.
Get Person Memories
Gathers photos, stories, and documents (memories) associated with an individual's...
Get Person Pedigree
Maps the full ancestry chart for a person, showing their direct lineage over several...
Get Person Details
Retrieves detailed metadata, including lifespans and birth/death places for a...
List Historical Collections
Pulls a list of all historical record collections available within the FamilySearch...
Search Persons
Searches the global FamilyTree for people using criteria like name or location.
Security and governance baked right in.
Pick your AI client below to get set up. Just create a Vinkius account, subscribe, and you're instantly up and running. We handle the entire backend infrastructure, delivering out-of-the-box support for HTTPS Streamable, SSE, and OAuth2—zero messy routing required.
Choose How to Get Started
Build a custom MCP for your own tools, or connect a ready-made integration from our catalog.
Build Your Own
Turn any API into an MCP. Import a spec, define Agent Skills, or deploy with MCPFusion.
- Import from OpenAPI, Swagger, or YAML specs
- Create Agent Skills with progressive disclosure
- Deploy to edge with MCPFusion framework
- Built in DLP, auth, and compliance on every call
- Real time usage dashboard and cost metering
- Publish to catalog or keep private
Make Your AI Do More
Start with FamilySearch API, then connect any of our 5,000+ other servers whenever your AI needs more. One click, no limits.
- Use this MCP plus 5,000+ others, all in one place
- Add new capabilities to your AI anytime you want
- Every connection is secured and compliant automatically
- Track usage and costs across all your servers
- Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
- New servers added to the catalog every week
Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by FamilySearch API. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
VINKIUS INFRASTRUCTURE
Cloud Hosted
Managed infra
V8 Isolated
Sandboxed per request
Zero-Trust Proxy
No stored credentials
DLP Enforced
Policy on every call
GDPR Compliant
EU data residency
Token Compression
~60% cost reduction
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This connection provides 6 powerful capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other compatible AI platforms. No middleware. No custom integration required.
The tedious process of gathering family history data is clicking through tabs and forms.
Today, piecing together an ancestor's life involves navigating the FamilySearch portal. You search by name, get a preliminary result, then you have to manually click on that person’s profile to see if there are memories attached. If you need their family tree, it’s another separate view. It’s copy-pasting IDs and switching context between different tabs just to gather the basics.
With this MCP, you tell your agent exactly what you want—'Give me John Doe's full life audit.' The system handles retrieving the person details, mapping the pedigree chart, and collecting memories; it presents all that structured data back to you in one clean response.
You get instant access to verified lineage information with `get_person_pedigree`.
Before this, mapping an entire family line meant manually tracing generations across several separate records, often getting stuck when a vital date or parent name was missing or unlinked. You’d spend hours trying to piece together the right connection point.
Now, you ask for it. The MCP runs the complex logic instantly and returns a complete pedigree chart structure. It cuts out the manual guesswork; you get the full picture immediately.
What your AI can actually do with this
This MCP allows your agent to run deep-dive historical audits across global family tree data. Instead of manually searching multiple forms or spending hours cross-referencing documents on separate portals, you ask your AI client for what you need. It pulls person details, maps out complex lineage charts, and retrieves associated photos and stories directly into your workflow.
You can audit an individual's entire life record—from their reported lifespan to the historical collections they tie into. When you connect this MCP through Vinkius, your agent acts like a dedicated genealogical consultant, making sure every piece of metadata is verified before it hits your desk.
019d8439-90a0-7130-80b3-7d9a006b0bcf Here's how it actually works
The bottom line is you get structured genealogical data returned directly to your AI client, ready for analysis or writing.
Subscribe to this MCP and enter your FamilySearch Access Token.
Connect your AI client (like Claude or Cursor) to the Vinkius catalog via the installed token.
Ask your agent a specific research question, like 'Show me the full pedigree for John Doe's family,' and the tool executes the search.
Who is this actually for?
This MCP is built for professional researchers who spend time tracking family lines and verifying historical facts. It helps people tired of manually clicking through dozens of tabs and searching form after search form just to piece together one person's life story.
Runs deep audits on family lines, using the MCP to check a full pedigree chart and then cross-reference associated memories like photos or stories.
Performs rapid audits of historical collections by listing available records and pulling specific metadata identifiers for classification purposes.
Verifies tricky person details, like exact birth locations or lifespans, without needing to navigate the complex FamilySearch website manually.
What Changes When You Connect
Stop manually searching. Use the search_persons tool to find multiple matching people across the global tree, then use get_person_details to pull verified metadata like lifespans and places in one go.
Don't lose track of lines. The get_person_pedigree tool instantly builds out complex ancestry charts for a person, ensuring you maintain a clear view of the lineage distribution.
Find more than names. If you need context, use get_person_memories. This pulls associated photos and stories, giving you qualitative evidence alongside the quantitative data.
Understand the scope of research. Before diving deep, run list_historical_collections to see exactly what global archives exist for your area of interest.
Verify everything immediately. The MCP structure lets you audit a person's entire record—from basic details to memories—without leaving your chat interface.
See it in action
Need to verify the dates and locations for an ancestor.
A researcher finds an old document that only lists a name. Instead of manually trying to find records, they ask their agent to use search_persons first, then feed the resulting ID into get_person_details to get precise lifespans and confirmed birth/death locations.
Building out an entire family tree structure.
A user locates a key person. They use get_person_pedigree to build the chart, then run list_historical_collections to find related record sets that might fill in gaps for the next generation.
Finding evidence beyond names and dates.
The agent identifies a person. The user asks it to pull all 'memories' using get_person_memories. This retrieves not just metadata, but actual photos and stories related to that individual.
Systematically checking the data source integrity.
Before starting a massive project, an archivist runs check_api_status to confirm the API is online. They then use get_person_details on several test subjects to ensure the connection is pulling accurate metadata.
The honest tradeoffs
Copy-pasting IDs and running multiple searches.
Manually copying a person's ID from one site, pasting it into another tool interface, and repeating this process for every single piece of data (pedigree, memories, details). It’s slow, error-prone work.
Give your agent the full request: 'Using the ID I found, please get the person's pedigree and all associated memories.' The MCP handles chaining these calls automatically.
Relying only on name searches.
Running search_persons and getting a list of 50 names. Then spending hours clicking into each one to see if they match the target person, wasting time on unrelated records.
After running search_persons, immediately pass the top candidate's ID to get_person_details. This verifies the core metadata (lifespan/place) before you commit to deep research.
Assuming all data is available.
Starting a project assuming that because a person exists in the tree, every related document must be indexed. You waste time searching for records that don't exist or are locked away.
First, use list_historical_collections to understand the scope of the archives. This sets realistic expectations and tells you where to focus your search efforts.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this MCP if your research requires auditing complex relationships or historical data points. Specifically, if you need to chain together multiple pieces of information—like using search_persons results to feed into get_person_pedigree and then pulling memories from that ID—this is the right tool. Don't use it if you just need a simple list of names; that’s better handled by basic search tools. Also, don't try to process unstructured text documents; this MCP handles structured metadata retrieval, not document parsing.
Questions you might have
How does `get_person_details` work with FamilySearch records? +
The tool pulls key metadata—like lifespans and birth/death places—for a specific person ID. This lets you verify core facts without having to navigate the full profile page.
Can I use `get_person_memories` for every individual? +
Yes, you can run this tool against any individual's ID found in the tree. It gathers associated photos and stories, helping you build a richer context around their life.
What is the difference between `search_persons` and `get_person_details`? +
search_persons finds potential matches across the whole tree based on criteria. You must use get_person_details afterward to pull the specific, verified metadata for a single person ID.
What does `list_historical_collections` show me? +
This tool lists all available historical record collections tied to FamilySearch. It helps you understand the full depth of archived material related to your research area.
What is the purpose of calling `check_api_status` before I run any other queries? +
This tool confirms if the FamilySearch API connection is active and responding correctly. Running this check first guarantees your workflow has a stable endpoint, preventing errors when you try to use tools like get_person_details.
If I need to search thousands of names using `search_persons`, are there rate limits? +
Yes, continuous high-volume querying can trigger rate limits. You should implement a pause or 'sleep' function between batches of searches to keep your agent from being throttled by the service.
When I run `get_person_pedigree`, what information defines a unique ancestor ID? +
An ancestor ID is defined by its unique combination of person type, associated record collection, and internal FamilySearch identifier. This ensures you track lineage correctly across different records.
After I use `search_persons`, how do I get the specific IDs needed to run `get_person_details`? +
The search result returns a list of potential matches, each with its own unique ID. You must parse these results and select the desired ID before passing it to get_person_details.
How do I find my FamilySearch Access Token? +
Log in to the FamilySearch Developer portal, and you can generate a Personal Access Token or use the OAuth flow to obtain one. Copy and paste it below.
Can the agent show my family tree? +
Yes. Use the get_person_pedigree tool providing a starting person ID. Your agent will return the ancestry chart metadata instantly.
Are photos and stories included? +
Yes. The get_person_memories tool retrieves any photos, stories, and documents (memories) associated with a specified person in the tree.
We've already built the connector for FamilySearch API. Just plug in your AI agents and start using Vinkius.
No hosting. No infrastructure. No complex setup.
All 6 tools are live and waiting.
You're up and running in seconds.
Vinkius gives your AI agents access to the full catalog of app connectors, all fully managed, secure, and enterprise-ready. One subscription, every tool you need.
Built, hosted, and secured by Vinkius. You just connect and go.