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Family Tree Research Assistant: Free Grok Bot for Genealogy and Family History

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Free Grok Bot for genealogy: plans research, searches free record sites, reads old documents, cites every source and checks tree hints before you add them.

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See Family Tree Research Assistant in action

Family Tree Research Assistant

Grok Bot

  1. You: Hey! What can you take off my plate?
  2. Family Tree Research Assistant: Hi, I'm Family Tree Research Assistant. Here's what I'll handle for you:
  3. Family Tree Research Assistant: Builds research plans for each ancestor or brick wall
  4. Family Tree Research Assistant: Searches free record sites and the subscription sites you sign in to
  5. Family Tree Research Assistant: Transcribes old handwriting, church records and census pages
  6. You: Love it. What do you need from me?
  7. Family Tree Research Assistant: Just a couple of things to get started: Say 'Let's get started.' It asks a few setup questions, one at a time; Tell it who you want to research and what you already know, or share a GEDCOM export of your tree
  8. Family Tree Research Assistant: Then I'll draft everything and wait for your OK before anything goes out.
Animated preview: an illustrative chat built from this bot's listed features, not a recording.

What it does

Family Tree Research Assistant is a free Grok bot template. Free Grok Bot for genealogy: plans research, searches free record sites, reads old documents, cites every source and checks tree hints before you add them.

Once you add it to Grok Bot, it runs as your own AI agent: it asks a few setup questions, connects the services it needs, and then works through its routines on a schedule, logging every action in an activity tracker so you can always see what it did and what is waiting on you.

Who it's for

Family historians from beginners to serious genealogists, and anyone putting together a family tree for a reunion, a holiday gift or a lineage society application.

No coding is required. If you can chat with Grok, you can run this bot: describe your goals in plain English, review what it drafts, and adjust the instructions any time.

Features

  • Builds research plans for each ancestor or brick wall.
  • Searches free record sites and the subscription sites you sign in to.
  • Transcribes old handwriting, church records and census pages.
  • Checks tree hints against original records before you add them.
  • Keeps a cited research log and drafts letters to archives and relatives.
  • Logs every action to an activity-tracker CSV.
  • HOW TO USE: First message: when you open the bot it greets you with: "Hi!
  • I'm your family history research partner: I plan searches, find and read old records, and cite every source.
  • Who's the ancestor you'd most like to learn more about, and what do you already know about them?" Ask: "Find my great-grandfather Josef Novak, born about 1878 in Bohemia, died in Chicago".
  • You get: Research plan drafted: 1900-1940 censuses, his Cook County death certificate, naturalization papers and the passenger list.
  • First pass: a 1910 census match in Chicago (immigration 1896) and a FamilySearch death index entry with his parents' names.
  • Citations logged.
  • Ask: "Transcribe this 1850s church record".
  • You get: Baptism, 14 March 1856: child Anna, father Johann Weber, mother Maria born Schmidt, two godparents named.
  • Two words are unclear and marked [?].
  • Facts extracted with a full citation.
  • Ask: "Ancestry says this woman is his mother.
  • Is that right?".
  • You get: Not proven.
  • The hint comes from 3 user trees with no sources, and her birth year would make her 11 at his birth.
  • His death certificate names a different mother.
  • Recommendation: don't add it yet.
  • Ask: "Draft a request to the county for his naturalization file".
  • You get: A letter to the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk with his name, dates and details, asking for the declaration and petition.
  • Ready for you to send.

What it can access and what it never does

What it can access

  • Only the apps, accounts and files you connect or share while setting it up.
  • Grok Bot asks before connecting each service, and you can disconnect any of them later.
  • It runs in your own Grok Bot workspace. Grokbot Agents never sees your chats or data.

What it never does

  • It drafts, you approve: nothing goes out without your OK.
  • It never works outside the rules and limits you give it during setup.
  • No hidden instructions: download the template to read every line before you add it. Never paste passwords into the chat.

How to install this Grok Bot agent

Add to Grok Bot in one click when the button is available, or download the template JSON and paste it into a new bot.

Manual install:

  1. Download the template JSON above
  2. Get the Grok Bot app and sign in
  3. Create a new bot in Grok Bot
  4. Open the downloaded JSON and copy the instructions
  5. Paste into the first message: "Set yourself up with these instructions"
  6. Answer its setup questions and connect services

Setup steps for Family Tree Research Assistant

1

Install: download this template from this page (or click 'Add to Grok Bot' if shown) and import it into Grok Bot as a new bot, or paste its instructions into a new bot. No code or API keys needed.

2

Say 'Let's get started.' It asks a few setup questions, one at a time.

3

Tell it who you want to research and what you already know, or share a GEDCOM export of your tree.

4

Sign in to any record sites you use (Ancestry, MyHeritage) in the bot's browser, or tell it to stick to free sites like FamilySearch.

5

Review the research plan, the records it finds with citations, and the tree changes it proposes; you make or approve every change.

6

It creates its activity tracker /workspace/trackers/family-tree-genealogy-research.csv (date,item,action,status,url,waiting_on,next_action,next_due,notes).

7

First prompts to try: "Find my great-grandfather Josef Novak, born about 1878 in Bohemia, died in Chicago" | "Transcribe this 1850s church record"

8

Day to day: say 'status' for open items, 'next' to do the next due item, or 'pause' to stop scheduled work.

See the detailed Grok bot installation guide →

FAQ

Does it need an Ancestry subscription?

No. It starts with free collections like FamilySearch, Find a Grave, Chronicling America and state archives. If you have Ancestry, MyHeritage or Findmypast, you sign in to them in the bot's browser and it searches those too.

Will it change my online tree?

Not on its own. It proposes each addition or change with citations, and you make or approve it. It never merges, deletes or edits records without your OK.

Can it read old handwriting?

It transcribes old handwriting, census pages and Latin or German church records you share, marks unclear words with [?] and explains old abbreviations.

How does it handle living relatives?

Information about living people stays private. It doesn't publish it, look up their current addresses or put it in shared reports without their consent.

Will it act without asking me?

No. It drafts and proposes; nothing is sent, posted, filed, bought, booked, cancelled or deleted until you approve it.

Is my data shared anywhere?

No. Files stay in the bot's own workspace, you sign in to your own accounts, and it never stores passwords.

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