AncestryLLM documentation

AncestryLLM is a local-first command-line tool for genealogy research. It combines deterministic RootsMagic and GEDCOM workflows with optional, explicitly selected LLM providers.

The canonical source is this docs/ directory. It is published to the AncestryLLM documentation site and the GitHub Wiki; the Wiki remains available, but neither published view is an independent documentation source.

Current product surfaces

The CLI, interactive REPL, and released bounded Electron desktop control shell are the implemented product surfaces. The shell supports Home, Diagnostics, Settings, and capability onboarding.

The CLI and REPL use the same command specification, transport-neutral executor, application DTOs, and genealogy services.

All user-selected files are governed by the shared bounded file-ingress policy, including byte and record budgets, race detection, output alias rejection, and transactional publication.

The released bounded Electron desktop control shell uses the authenticated health/capability sidecar. The 0.6.0 source also includes explicitly bounded file-grant, provider-configuration, presentation-only Tasks adapters, a source-level synchronous transient-chat API, and a transient Chat destination over a Main-owned private stream. That chat boundary requires an exact stored profile and model plus current policy and compatible consent, keeps bounded content only in memory, grants no tools or domain authority, renders model Markdown through a closed allowlist, and keeps external-link confirmation in Electron Main. Desktop-domain capabilities such as target-matched packaged and adversarial chat evidence, genealogy/domain task admission or execution, direct artifact access, cloud accounts, and updater flows remain planned or incomplete. The current desktop records distinguish the supported packaged control surface from source-level gated adapters and the verification needed for later expansion; they are not a current journey for excluded domain capabilities.

The accepted deployment architecture now has a source-level profile control plane: Local Desktop is the safe default, while Connect Remote and advanced Host Remote remain explicit unavailable intents. The bounded desktop shell also has reviewed macOS arm64 controls for acquiring and managing app-owned Colima, Lima, Docker Engine, and Compose tools. Those controls do not ship or activate an AncestryLLM application container or a remote runtime; the local CLI, REPL, and bounded desktop shell remain the only product surfaces.

v0.6 desktop learning path

Start with the local, provider-none Home state, then use Desktop shell to understand the bounded control surface and its sanitized recovery path. Continue with the interactive console guide for genealogy commands, and use the CLI reference when a one-shot command is more appropriate. These surfaces share application contracts, but the desktop shell does not silently grant provider, network, filesystem, or genealogy authority.

Home shows the local desktop shell, Ready status, and local action cards.

Tutorials

Learn a complete, safe workflow with fictional data:

How-to guides

Task-oriented guidance for common goals:

The established root paths for the last four guides remain published while release packaging and contract consumers use them. Their inventory records the later git mv cutover that will update those consumers together.

Reference

Factual, accurate information to look up:

Explanation

Concepts, rationale, and design context:

Supporting records and publishing

Documentation links use relative Markdown filenames (for example, [Console guide](/AncestryLLM/CONSOLE.html)). This keeps links valid from this docs/ directory in the repository. The Pages build rewrites local links only in its generated staging directory, from .md targets to site paths. Wiki synchronization rewrites the same local targets to extensionless Wiki page links. The canonical source remains unchanged.

Use the sidebar to navigate the complete published documentation set.