GEDCOM Explorer
Parse any GEDCOM file and generate a self-contained interactive HTML dashboard.
Quick Start
python3 scripts/build_explorer.py <input.ged> [output.html] [--title "Title"] [--subtitle "Subtitle"]
Examples
# Basic — outputs family-explorer.html in current directory
python3 scripts/build_explorer.py ~/my-family.ged
# Custom output path and title
python3 scripts/build_explorer.py ~/my-family.ged ~/Desktop/hart-family.html \
--title "Hart Family Tree" --subtitle "Six generations of history"
# Demo with bundled US Presidents data
python3 scripts/build_explorer.py assets/demo-presidents.ged presidents.html \
--title "Presidential Family Explorer" --subtitle "US Presidents & Their Ancestors"
Features
- Dashboard — Stats grid (people, families, places, generations), On This Day events, top surnames, geographic origins, people by century, party breakdown (for presidential data)
- Family Tree — Interactive tree visualization with zoom/pan, select any person as root, color-coded by gender/president status
- People — Searchable/filterable directory with gender and president filters, pagination, click for full detail modal
- Timeline — Chronological events (births, deaths, marriages) with filters and search
- Daily Alerts — Today's anniversaries, random ancestor spotlight, fun facts
- Person Modal — Full detail view with parents, spouses, children (all clickable links)
- Global Search — Search across all tabs by name, place, or year
How It Works
build_explorer.py parses the GEDCOM, extracts all individuals + families, computes stats, and embeds everything as inline JSON in a single HTML file. No server needed — just open the HTML.
Auto-detects US Presidents from OCCU (occupation) fields. Works with any GEDCOM; presidential features simply won't appear if no president data exists.
GEDCOM Sources
Users can export .ged files from:
- Ancestry.com → Tree Settings → Export Tree
- FamilySearch.org → Download GEDCOM
- MyHeritage → Family Tree → Export → GEDCOM
- Any genealogy software (Gramps, RootsMagic, Legacy, etc.)
Demo Data
assets/demo-presidents.ged — Public domain US Presidents GEDCOM (2,322 people, 1,115 families, 44 presidents). Source: webtreeprint.com.
Serving Locally
cd /path/to/output/dir
python3 -m http.server 8899
# Open http://localhost:8899/family-explorer.html
Extending
The generated HTML is fully self-contained. To customize:
- Edit CSS variables in
:root for theming
- The dashboard adapts to whatever data is in the GEDCOM — no presidential data required
- For OpenClaw cron integration: parse GEDCOM daily events and send "On This Day" notifications via Telegram
1---2name: gedcom-explorer3description: Generate an interactive family tree dashboard from any GEDCOM (.ged) file. Creates a single-file HTML app with 5 tabs (Dashboard, Family Tree, People, Timeline, Daily Alerts), search, person modals, charts, and "On This Day" events. Use when asked to visualize genealogy data, explore family history, build a family tree viewer, or work with GEDCOM files. Triggers on "family tree", "genealogy", "GEDCOM", "ancestors", "family explorer", "family history dashboard".4---5
6# GEDCOM Explorer
7
8Parse any GEDCOM file and generate a self-contained interactive HTML dashboard.
9
10## Quick Start
11
12```bash
13python3 scripts/build_explorer.py <input.ged> [output.html] [--title "Title"] [--subtitle "Subtitle"]
14```
15
16### Examples
17
18```bash
19# Basic — outputs family-explorer.html in current directory
20python3 scripts/build_explorer.py ~/my-family.ged
21
22# Custom output path and title
23python3 scripts/build_explorer.py ~/my-family.ged ~/Desktop/hart-family.html \
24 --title "Hart Family Tree" --subtitle "Six generations of history"
25
26# Demo with bundled US Presidents data
27python3 scripts/build_explorer.py assets/demo-presidents.ged presidents.html \
28 --title "Presidential Family Explorer" --subtitle "US Presidents & Their Ancestors"
29```
30
31## Features
32
33- **Dashboard** — Stats grid (people, families, places, generations), On This Day events, top surnames, geographic origins, people by century, party breakdown (for presidential data)
34- **Family Tree** — Interactive tree visualization with zoom/pan, select any person as root, color-coded by gender/president status
35- **People** — Searchable/filterable directory with gender and president filters, pagination, click for full detail modal
36- **Timeline** — Chronological events (births, deaths, marriages) with filters and search
37- **Daily Alerts** — Today's anniversaries, random ancestor spotlight, fun facts
38- **Person Modal** — Full detail view with parents, spouses, children (all clickable links)
39- **Global Search** — Search across all tabs by name, place, or year
40
41## How It Works
42
43`build_explorer.py` parses the GEDCOM, extracts all individuals + families, computes stats, and embeds everything as inline JSON in a single HTML file. No server needed — just open the HTML.
44
45Auto-detects US Presidents from OCCU (occupation) fields. Works with any GEDCOM; presidential features simply won't appear if no president data exists.
46
47## GEDCOM Sources
48
49Users can export `.ged` files from:
50- **Ancestry.com** → Tree Settings → Export Tree
51- **FamilySearch.org** → Download GEDCOM
52- **MyHeritage** → Family Tree → Export → GEDCOM
53- Any genealogy software (Gramps, RootsMagic, Legacy, etc.)
54
55## Demo Data
56
57`assets/demo-presidents.ged` — Public domain US Presidents GEDCOM (2,322 people, 1,115 families, 44 presidents). Source: webtreeprint.com.
58
59## Serving Locally
60
61```bash
62cd /path/to/output/dir
63python3 -m http.server 8899
64# Open http://localhost:8899/family-explorer.html
65```
66
67## Extending
68
69The generated HTML is fully self-contained. To customize:
70- Edit CSS variables in `:root` for theming
71- The dashboard adapts to whatever data is in the GEDCOM — no presidential data required
72- For OpenClaw cron integration: parse GEDCOM daily events and send "On This Day" notifications via Telegram
modbender