What you need for the AI helper.

The free-records method asks for less than most beginners expect: whatever family material is already sitting in a drawer, and an hour here and there. The optional AI helper asks for a little more, a proper computer and a free Claude account. You do not need new equipment, a paid account or any technical background for either.

Equipment

A laptop or desktop running Mac or Windows will do everything this site describes. Plan to use a laptop or desktop computer to add the optional AI helper, not a tablet.

You add the optional AI helper on a computer. Claude’s Skills feature, which the helper uses, is set up through the web and desktop apps, as Anthropic’s own skills guide describes. Once you have added it, the helper also runs in the Claude app on a phone or tablet. Read guides and plan searches on your phone if you like. Do the actual research on a laptop or desktop computer, where records sites and your notes are easier to work with.

If you only own a phone, borrow a computer for the first session, or use a library computer. Our free-records guide also mentions library access; the same visit can often cover both.

Accounts

FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG need no account to search. FamilySearch and the General Register Office (GRO) index ask you to register, at no cost. For the optional helper, you need a Claude account and an email address to create one. Claude has a free tier, which is enough to try the skill and ask your first questions.

To use a skill, open Settings, then Capabilities, and turn on “Code execution and file creation”. This lets Claude run small pieces of code and create files inside a private, sandboxed space. That is how the skill keeps your research notes organised.

When you turn the setting on, Claude shows a short caution. It is there because Claude can now run small programs for you. A file or web page from someone you do not know could hide instructions that ask Claude to do something you did not intend, such as sending your notes elsewhere. The care that keeps you safe is the same care you take with an email attachment. Give Claude files and skills only from places you trust, and read what a skill does before you add it. Our privacy guide walks through that check.

What you already have

Look before you buy or search anything. Most beginners already hold useful sources without realising it, and the rule for this stage is that nothing is too much information. A document that looks irrelevant today can turn out to matter later, so the habit worth building is to capture everything you can find, not to pre-judge it:

• Certificates kept in a drawer or a folder, even a single marriage certificate.
• Photographs, especially ones with names or dates written on the back.
• Letters, formal or personal.
• Newspaper clippings. A short death notice or a passing mention in a local paper can show where someone was living or what their job was, sometimes long before any official record confirms it.
• Orders of service from a wedding or a funeral.
• A relative’s memory. Write down what they say and who said it, even before you check it against a record. Our guide on AI and invented ancestors explains how to mark a memory honestly.

A single photograph with a name on the back can start a real research thread. Treat what you already own as your first source, not your last resort. Capture it now, and let the archive sort out what matters later.

Time

An hour a week is enough to make progress. Over a month, four sessions like that typically get one person researched properly. You would end with a handful of records checked, one contradiction noticed and recorded, and a short written note you could hand to a relative. That pace feels slow next to an AI-generated family tree produced in a minute. It also produces something you can trust, which the instant version usually does not.

You do not need to book a long weekend. A single hour, once a week, beats an ambitious Saturday that never gets scheduled. If a session runs short, stop at a clean point and write down the next question, so the following week starts with a task rather than a blank page.

What you do not need

• A DNA test. This site never recommends one; see why AI invents ancestors for the kind of invented certainty this method is built to avoid.
• A paid subscription on day one. Start with the free-records route in tracing your family for free and add a subscription later, only if a specific question needs it.
• Any technical skill beyond sending an email and using a web browser. If you can do online banking, you can do this.

Sources

• Use Skills in Claude, Claude Help Center. Checked 19/09/2026.
• Create and edit files with Claude, Claude Help Center. Checked 18/10/2026.

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