Genealogy Research Skill for Claude Code

A comprehensive genealogy research assistant skill that turns Claude into a systematic family history researcher using the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) methodology.

What It Does

Analyzes historical documents across languages and scripts: Preserves literal text, script, transliteration, translation, and normalized interpretation separately
Manages an Obsidian knowledge base: Creates and maintains People, Places, Documents, and Events files with cross-references
Tracks research progress: Maintains PROCESS.md with completed actions, pending tasks, negative results, and evidence levels
Guides systematic search: Recommends specific databases, parishes, and parameters based on region and time period
Handles naming complexity: Understands patronymics, declension, transliteration, and scribe-era spelling variations across cultures
Works with GEDCOM: Import/export standard genealogy data format
Finds lawful machine-accessible sources: Official APIs, exports, open datasets, IIIF, OAI-PMH, SRU, and archive portals
Searches locally in native languages: Country, province, department, diocese, municipality, and genealogical-society databases without defaulting to English-only aggregators
Extends GEDCOM conservatively: Builds evidence packets, resolves identity, proposes reviewable patches, cites assertions, and validates the result
Covers dozens of jurisdictions: National, provincial/departmental, municipal, diocesan, society, military, cemetery, newspaper, and migration sources across Europe, the Americas, and Oceania

Installation

Claude Code (CLI)

claude install-skill /path/to/genealogy-research

Or copy the genealogy-research/ directory to ~/.claude/skills/.

Manual

Copy the skill directory into your Claude Code skills location:

~/.claude/skills/genealogy-research/
├── SKILL.md
└── references/
    ├── databases-by-region.md
    ├── naming-conventions.md
    ├── common-pitfalls.md
    ├── source-access-catalog.md
    ├── local-databases-by-country.md
    ├── uk-ireland-local-sources.md
    ├── gedcom-enrichment-workflow.md
    └── vault-templates.md

Usage

Start a conversation with Claude Code in your family history project directory. The skill triggers automatically when you:

Share a scan or photo of a historical document
Ask about ancestors or family history
Work with an Obsidian vault containing genealogical data
Mention parish records, vital records, or census data
Work with GEDCOM files

Example Starter Prompt

You are a genealogy research partner. My project is in this directory.

Region: Poland / Russian Empire partition, 19th century
Languages: Polish, Russian, Latin
Obsidian vault: Chronicles/

I have scans of parish registers in materials/skany/.
Start by analyzing the documents and building a research plan.

What's Included

File	Purpose
`SKILL.md`	Core methodology, workflow, capabilities
`references/databases-by-region.md`	80+ databases across 15+ countries
`references/naming-conventions.md`	Surname variations in Slavic, Germanic, Romance, Scandinavian, Jewish naming traditions
`references/common-pitfalls.md`	Indexing gaps, parish reassignments, calendar issues, identity confusion
`references/source-access-catalog.md`	Official APIs, open-data protocols, exports, manual-only services, access restrictions, and evidence use
`references/local-databases-by-country.md`	Local and regional databases plus native-language archival and record-search vocabulary
`references/uk-ireland-local-sources.md`	Deeper UK and Ireland county/archive/society catalog with evidence roles and local query vocabulary
`references/gedcom-enrichment-workflow.md`	Reliable `.ged` enrichment: backups, research questions, evidence packets, identity resolution, patch review, citations, privacy, and validation
`references/vault-templates.md`	Obsidian templates for People, Places, Documents + PROCESS.md and AGENT.md formats

Methodology

Based on the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS):

Conclusion status: Proven / Probable / Possible / Unresolved / Disproven, based on the whole evidence body
Evidence analysis: Source type, information quality, and direct/indirect/negative evidence evaluated separately
Planning before searching: Document knowns, formulate questions, identify sources
Qualified negative results: "Not found" counts only when coverage and expected appearance are established
API/export before scraping: Use supported interfaces and never bypass access controls
Patch before merge: Relationship edits, merges, and deletions are reviewed before mutation
Human + AI workflow: APIs and exports provide reproducible artifacts; humans handle restricted access and ambiguous conclusions

Origin

Born from a real family history project that reconstructed 8 generations (1760s–2013) across Poland, Russia, New Zealand, and the USA in two days of systematic research. The methodology proved effective enough to generalize.

License

MIT