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Alexey edited this page Jun 27, 2026 · 6 revisions

Alternatives

This page compares gramps-web-mcp-rs (this project) with other MCP servers for Gramps / Gramps Web.

gramps-web-mcp-rs (this project)

MCP server for the Gramps Web genealogy API, written in Rust. Connects AI assistants (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.) directly to a Gramps Web instance.

Tools (38):

  • Search & read (8) — search, get_object (generic endpoint to optimize tokens usage), get_oql_reference (very powerful query language https://github.com/dsblank/object-ql), get_relations, get_person_timeline, get_family_timeline, get_event_span, get_tree_info
  • Create (10) — person, family, event, place, source, citation, repository, note, tag, media
  • Update (10) — person, family, event, place, source, citation, repository, note, tag, media
  • Delete (1) — delete_object (generic, works across object types)
  • Merge (9) — person, family, citation, event, media, note, place, repository, source

Transports: stdio, and Streamable HTTP for server-side deployments. The HTTP transport ships with its own auth layer — a bearer token (MCP_AUTH_TOKEN) and a Host-header allowlist (MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS) against DNS rebinding — unlike the other two HTTP-capable alternatives above, which have no built-in authentication and rely entirely on network-level controls.

Stack: Rust. Docker image built specifically for size (~65 MB). Test coverage on the core tool logic. CI/CD publishes to ghcr.io on every release.

License: Apache-2.0.

Notes: GRAMPS_READONLY env var hides write tools from the model for a quick read-only mode (real access control should still use a Gramps Web account with a restricted role).

Other MCP servers

Other MCP servers for Gramps / Gramps Web.

gramps-ez-mcp

A lightweight MCP server for querying a Gramps family tree via natural language. Unlike the other alternatives, it connects directly to a local Gramps database (via the gramps Python package), not the Gramps Web API.

Tools (14): read-only access to people, relationships, dates/places, and events

  • Person — get_person, search_people_by_name, get_home_person
  • Relationship — get_father_of_person, get_mother_of_person, get_children_of_person
  • Date & Place — get_person_birth_date, get_person_death_date, get_person_birth_place, get_person_death_place
  • Family & Event — get_family, get_person_event_list, get_event, get_event_place

Transports: stdio (the intended transport), SSE (declared but not implemented — the POST /messages handler is a stub that echoes input without processing MCP protocol messages; SSE is also deprecated in the MCP spec since 2025-03-26 in favour of Streamable HTTP)

Stack: Python 3.8+

License: GPL-2.0

Notes: Read-only by design (no create/update/delete tools). Requires local Gramps installation with the target tree already open/available, rather than a remote Gramps Web instance. Early-stage release (v0.0.1, Dec 2025).

gramps-mcp

MCP server that integrates AI assistants (Claude, Cursor, etc.) with the Gramps Web API. Gives the assistant access to a genealogy database for searching, creating, and analyzing records using natural language.

Tools (16):

  • Search & Retrieval (3) — find_type, find_anything, get_type
  • Data Management (9) — create/update for person, family, event, place, source, citation, note, media, repository
  • Analysis (4) — tree_stats, get_descendants, get_ancestors, recent_changes

Transports: stdio, Streamable HTTP — stateless, no SSE streaming, plain JSON responses. Important: The HTTP transport has no authentication: any client knowing the URL gains full access to all tools and, transitively, can interact with the Gramps Web API via credentials stored on the server. Intended for local deployment or private network; external exposure requires an authentication layer at the infrastructure level (e.g. reverse proxy with auth).

Stack: Python 3.9+, MCP Python SDK, FastAPI, Pydantic, httpx, PyJWT

License: AGPL-3.0

Status: Appears unmaintained — no release since v1.1.0 (Sep 2025), and open bug reports (e.g. validation errors in create_note/create_family) remain unaddressed.

Notes: Docker Compose for quick setup. Most active community among the alternatives. Latest release v1.1.0 (Sep 2025).

gramps-web-mcp

MCP server for Gramps Web. Gives AI agents structured, tool-based access to family trees through the Model Context Protocol.

Tools (57): read, create, update, and delete people, families, events, places, sources, citations, notes, media, repositories, and tags. Includes full-text search, paginated object listing, kinship tools (ancestors, descendants, relationships, timelines), and composite workflows (quick-add person, add event to person, find by Gramps ID).

Other MCP features: 6 MCP resources (type vocabularies, input guide, tree metadata, name settings, opt-in media thumbnails/files), MCP prompts (guided workflows for research, adding people/families, imports)

Transports: stdio, Streamable HTTP (stateless by default, optionally stateful with legacy SSE endpoints), legacy SSE (stateful only). The HTTP/SSE transports have no built-in authentication — any client knowing the URL gains full access; Gramps Web credentials are stored server-side. Intended for local or private-network deployment; external exposure requires an auth layer at the infrastructure level (e.g. reverse proxy).

Stack: .NET 8 (C#)

License: AGPL-3.0

Notes: Read-only mode (keeps tools visible, blocks create/update/delete). Media safeguards (size limits, MIME allowlists, private-record defaults). Docker images published to GHCR with a /health endpoint. Latest release v1.0.0 (Jun 2026).

mcp-grampsweb

MCP server for the Gramps Web genealogy API. Allows AI assistants like Claude to search, retrieve, and create genealogical records in a Gramps Web instance. Distributed as an npm package.

Tools (16):

  • Search & Retrieval (3) — gramps_search (GQL-based), gramps_find (full-text), gramps_get
  • Data Management (9) — gramps_create_person, gramps_create_family, gramps_create_event, gramps_create_place, gramps_create_source, gramps_create_citation, gramps_create_note, gramps_create_media, gramps_create_repository
  • Analysis (4) — gramps_tree_stats, gramps_get_ancestors, gramps_get_descendants, gramps_recent_changes

Transports: stdio (via npx/npm)

Stack: TypeScript/Node.js

License: MIT

Notes: Installable directly via npx mcp-grampsweb, no Docker required. Supports multi-tree instances via GRAMPS_TREE_ID. Most frequently released among the alternatives (12 releases; latest v1.3.5, Feb 2026).

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