Export the chart, remove the living and ask questions you can check
An AI assistant reads a family tree as data. It does not need the picture, and it works best with a file that lists every person, every couple and every parent and child, because then it can count, compare years and follow links without guessing from the layout. The five steps below are the whole method.
- Draw or import the tree
Draw the family in the editor, or bring in a GEDCOM file from your genealogy program with Import a family file.
- Remove the living
Change the names of living relatives to initials and clear any notes about them before you export.
- Export a JSON project
Choose Export and then JSON project. A visitor is asked to create a free account first.
- Ask one question at a time
Upload the file and ask for impossible dates, likely duplicates or missing parents, one task per message.
- Check each answer
Find the record that settles each finding before you change the chart.
Genogram Builder
Export a chart an assistant can read
Draw the family or import a GEDCOM file, then export the whole chart as a JSON project.
- Drawing needs no account
- Imports GEDCOM, GenoPro and Gramps files
- JSON export with a free account
The JSON project holds the whole chart as plain text
Genogram Builder exports a chart as a PNG picture, a PDF, a copy for Word or Google Docs, an SVG on the Pro plan, and a JSON project, which its export menu describes as a complete copy of the data. We checked on 10 November 2026 that a visitor who chooses an export is asked to create a free account, and that a free account downloads the JSON file. The editor imports GEDCOM files and does not export them.
Claude accepts JSON, CSV, TXT and PDF files among others, with up to 500 MB a file and up to 20 files in one chat, according to its upload help page. A GEDCOM file from another program is plain text, but GED is not on that list, so either save a copy with a TXT ending or import it into the editor and export the JSON project.
| Part of the JSON file | What it holds | In the test family |
|---|---|---|
| people | Each person with name, gender, birth and death years, birthplace, occupation, notes and health tags | Nine people |
| unions | Each couple, with the kind of relationship and the year it began | Three marriages, in 1971, 2000 and 2002 |
| parentChildLinks | Each parent and child, with the couple the child belongs to | Eight links |
| emotionalLinks and households | The relationship lines and household groups of a genogram | None |
| layout and view | Where each symbol sits and what the chart shows | Ignored by the questions |
An assistant found both planted mistakes in a fictional family
We wrote a GEDCOM file for a fictional family of nine and planted two mistakes. Isla Benton was given a birth year of 1985, when her mother Ruth, born in 1975, would have been ten. Thomas Alder was entered twice, once as Tom Alder with the same year and town, so that his wife Clara and daughter Nora hung from the duplicate. The editor imported it with a review that read Nine people and three couples, and we exported the JSON project.
We gave the JSON file to Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code, Anthropic’s command-line tool, rather than in the Claude app. The table shows what we asked, what came back and how a reader would check it.
| What we asked | What came back | How to check it |
|---|---|---|
| List anyone born before a parent turned 15 | Isla Benton, born 1985 to Ruth Alder, born 1975 | The birth certificate of Isla, which names her mother and the date |
| Find people who may be the same person | Tom Alder and Thomas Alder, both born in 1973 in Leeds | A birth index entry and the marriage record of Clara Whitlock |
| Who has no parents on the chart | Edith Rowe, Paul Benton, Clara Whitlock and Tom Alder, as well as Walter Alder at the top | Marriage records, which name the fathers of the couple |
| Which couples married after their child was born | Paul Benton and Ruth Alder, married in 2000, fifteen years after the year given for Isla | The same certificate, since the 1985 year may be the error |
| Who is alive | Only Walter Alder is marked as dead, in 2019, and the other eight are marked unknown | Relatives and death indexes, because the file cannot say |
The assistant reads the file and cannot see the records behind it
Everything the assistant says comes from the file and from general knowledge. It can tell you that a mother would have been ten, and it cannot tell you which of the two years is wrong. It can say that Tom and Thomas look alike, and it cannot know whether they were cousins with the same name. It cannot open FamilySearch, a census or a certificate for you, and a file with no sources gives it nothing to cite.
Assistants also make mistakes of their own. Anthropic says that Claude can occasionally produce responses that are incorrect or misleading and should not be relied on as a single source of truth. In family history, watch for a date shifted to fit a story, two people merged because they share a name, and a relationship term counted one generation off. Ask for the exact people and years behind each finding, so that you can test it.
Remove living relatives before the file leaves your computer
A family tree names people who never agreed to be in it, and the living ones have the most to lose. Before you upload, change the names of living relatives to initials, delete their notes and any health marks, and keep the people who have died, who are usually the subject of the research. The editor has a Clinical view whose export menu reads Names replaced by numbers, and our check on 10 November 2026 found that the JSON file still held every name with that view on. Edit the names themselves.
Read the settings of the service too. For Claude Free, Pro and Max, Anthropic asks each user whether chats may be used to improve its models, and the choice can be changed in the privacy settings at any time, says its notice on the consumer terms. With that setting on, data may be kept for up to five years, and deleted chats are removed from its systems within 30 days, according to its retention page. We did not check other assistants, so read their policies before you upload.
Check every finding against a record before you change the chart
Treat each answer as a question for the archives. For a date that cannot be right, order the certificate that settles it. For a likely duplicate, compare the parents, the spouse and the place in two records before you merge. For a missing parent, the marriage or birth record of the child usually names them. The guide on how to look up your family tree lists the free indexes for each kind of record.
When a record confirms a change, make it in the chart and write the source in the Notes of the person, so that the next export carries the evidence with it. When you want a person to read the chart as well, the guide to how a family tree works explains the rows, lines and branches.
Common questions
Whether an assistant can draw the family tree
It can describe the family and write a list of people and links. For a drawn chart, import a GEDCOM file or draw the family in the editor, which places the symbols and lines for you.
Uploading a picture of a family tree instead of a file
Claude accepts PNG and JPEG images, so it can read a picture of a chart. A file gives it the exact years and links without reading text from an image, so the JSON project is the better input.
Using an assistant on a real family
Use the people who have died, and replace the living with initials or leave them out. Keep the answers as leads, and add a fact to the chart only when a record supports it.
Sources and methodology
We make Genogram Builder. We used the references below for this guide. Last checked on 10 November 2026.
Draw the family or import a GEDCOM file, and export the JSON project with a free account. Drawing needs no account.