gramps-ez-mcp

An easy-to-use MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to interact with Gramps genealogy family trees. This package provides a bridge between AI assistants and your Gramps database, enabling natural language queries about your family tree.

Installation

Install the package using pip:

pip install gramps-ez-mcp

Overview

gramps-ez-mcp is an MCP server that exposes your Gramps genealogy database through a standardized protocol. It allows AI assistants and chatbots to query and explore your family tree data using natural language.

The server provides tools for:

• Searching for people by name
• Retrieving person details (birth, death, events, etc.)
• Navigating family relationships (parents, children, spouses)
• Accessing family and event information
• Querying the home person

Configuration

Setup

You will need the following:

1. An API key from a model provider (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, etc)
2. Gramps installed and working with a family tree (may also need pip install gramps)

For example, you might have in your environment:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

Basic Configuration

The MCP server can be configured using command-line arguments or through MCP client configuration files.

Command-Line Usage

gramps-ez-mcp DBNAME [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

• DBNAME: Name of the Gramps database tree to open (required)

Options:

• --transport {stdio,sse}: Transport method to use (default: stdio)
• --host HOST: Host for SSE transport (default: localhost)
• --port PORT: Port for SSE transport (default: 8000)

Examples:

# Use stdio transport with a database
gramps-ez-mcp "Gramps Example"

# Specify a custom database name
gramps-ez-mcp "My Family Tree"

# Use SSE transport on a custom port
gramps-ez-mcp "Gramps Example" --transport sse --port 9000

MCP Client Configuration

For use with MCP-compatible clients (like ez-mcp-chatbot, Cursor, etc), you will need a configuration file.

For example, for ez-mcp-chatbot:

Example: ez-config.json

{
  "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
  "model_parameters": {
    "temperature": 0.0
  },
  "mcp_servers": [
    {
      "name": "gramps-ez-mcp",
      "description": "Gramps EZ MCP server for genealogy chats",
      "command": "gramps-ez-mcp",
      "args": ["Gramps Example"]
    }
  ]
}

Replace "Gramps Example" with your actual Gramps database name.

Usage Examples

Using with ez-mcp-chatbot

The ez-mcp-chatbot is a command-line chatbot that can interact with MCP servers. Here's how to use it with gramps-ez-mcp:

1. Install ez-mcp-chatbot (if not already installed):

   pip install ez-mcp-toolbox
   

2. Create a configuration file (e.g., examples/ez-config.json):

   {
     "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
     "model_parameters": {
       "temperature": 0.0
     },
     "mcp_servers": [
       {
         "name": "gramps-ez-mcp",
         "description": "Gramps EZ MCP server for genealogy chats",
         "command": "gramps-ez-mcp",
         "args": ["Gramps Example"]
       }
     ]
   }
   

3. Run the chatbot:

   ez-mcp-chatbot --config examples/ez-config.json
   

4. Example queries you can ask:

   • "Who is the home person in my family tree?"
   • "Search for people named John Smith"
   • "What is his birth date?"
   • "Who are the children of John?"
   • "Find the mother of Sarah Anderson"

LLM Logging, Debugging, and Observability

If you would like for the ez-mcp-chatbot to create a log of what the MCP server is doing, you can log the interactions with the LLM by doing the following:

pip install opik

Then you can get an OPIK_API_KEY from https://www.comet.com/docs/opik/quickstart and set it:

export OPIK_API_KEY="..."

Example Conversation

You: Who is the home person in my family tree?

Assistant: I'll look up the home person for you.
[Uses get_home_person tool]
The home person is John Doe (born 1950-01-15).

You: Who are their children?

Assistant: Let me find the children of John Doe.
[Uses get_children_of_person tool]
John Doe has 2 children:
- Jane Doe (handle: abc123)
- Bob Doe (handle: def456)

Available Tools

The following tools are available through the MCP server:

Person Tools

• get_person(person_handle: str)

  • Get complete data dictionary for a person by their handle
  • Returns: Dictionary with all person data

• search_people_by_name(name: str, page: int = 1, page_size: int = 10)

  • Search for people by name (partial match, case-insensitive)
  • Supports pagination
  • Returns: List of matching person dictionaries

• get_home_person()

  • Get the home person data from the database
  • Returns: Dictionary with home person data

Relationship Tools

• get_father_of_person(person_handle: str)

  • Get the father's data for a person
  • Returns: Dictionary with father's data

• get_mother_of_person(person_handle: str)

  • Get the mother's data for a person
  • Returns: Dictionary with mother's data

• get_children_of_person(person_handle: str)

  • Get list of children handles for a person's main family
  • Returns: List of child handles (strings)

Date and Place Tools

• get_person_birth_date(person_handle: str)

  • Get birth date as a string
  • Returns: Birth date string

• get_person_death_date(person_handle: str)

  • Get death date as a string
  • Returns: Death date string

• get_person_birth_place(person_handle: str)

  • Get birth place as a string
  • Returns: Birth place string

• get_person_death_place(person_handle: str)

  • Get death place as a string
  • Returns: Death place string

Family and Event Tools

• get_family(family_handle: str)

  • Get family data by family handle
  • Note: Family handles are different from person handles
  • Returns: Dictionary with family data

• get_person_event_list(person_handle: str)

  • Get list of event handles associated with a person
  • Returns: List of event handles (strings)

• get_event(event_handle: str)

  • Get event data by event handle
  • Returns: Dictionary with event data

• get_event_place(event_handle: str)

  • Get the place associated with an event
  • Returns: Place string

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Gramps (genealogy software)
• MCP-compatible client (for using the server)

Troubleshooting

Database Not Found

If you get an error that the database was not found:

• Verify the database name matches exactly (case-sensitive)
• Check that the database exists in your Gramps data directory
• Use the exact name as shown in Gramps

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL-2.0). See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Links

• Homepage: https://github.com/dsblank/gramps-ez-mcp
• Repository: https://github.com/dsblank/gramps-ez-mcp
• Bug Tracker: https://github.com/dsblank/gramps-ez-mcp/issues