A genealogy research tool that works with your AI.
Bring Claude or the assistant you choose. It reads your evidence and suggests what to do next — nothing lands in your tree until you accept it. Free permanently, no account, and everything stays on your Mac.
Get the beta Apple Silicon Macs today · Windows coming
AI can't put anything in your tree without you seeing it.
Let it transcribe records, pull out claims, and suggest where to look next. Everything it produces waits beside the source it came from until you confirm it — structural, not a promise, so unconfirmed content can never reach your conclusions or your exports.
Where to start
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For you
Research with your evidence kept attached to the people it belongs to. See what the app does today, what's coming next, and how your existing tree comes across in one step.
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For your AI assistant
You talk to the assistant you already use — no new app to learn. It can read records, suggest where to look next, and keep a log as it works. Evidence claims wait for your review; the documented safety matrix distinguishes direct organizational writes from pending claims and proposals.
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For toolmakers
Extensible by design: build your own tools on your own data over a documented local API. The full technical reference lives one level down, behind a door you'll never hit by accident.
What Heartwood is
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Free offline, permanently
Heartwood Desktop and every feature that works offline are free permanently, with no account or sign-in. Join the beta waitlist; we admit new users in small waves. Any future paid hosted collaboration will be optional; Desktop never requires it.
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Local-first, and yours
Your data lives on your disk, in plain files you can copy, back up, and walk away with at any time. Nothing about your research leaves your machine except what you explicitly choose to send — see the privacy policy for the exact, itemized list.
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Evidence-first
Sources, citations, and the claims they make are the spine of the data model — the Genealogical Proof Standard's methodology, built into the engine rather than bolted on.
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Works with the AI you already use
Connect Claude Desktop, or another assistant of your choosing, entirely on your machine. Your evidence goes only to the model you personally chose. Toolmakers get the same access through a documented local API. Read the docs.