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TempleKit

Research with Claude

Put Claude to work on your family history

Choose a task, fill in a few details, and TempleKit opens your own Claude with the instructions already written. Claude then does the work in your Chrome, where you're signed in to FamilySearch: finding records, finding relatives who need temple work, reserving names 10 at a time once you approve them, and making your cards.

One-time setup

  1. A paid Claude plan

    Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise, at claude.ai. Claude Cowork and Claude in Chrome need one.

  2. The Claude desktop app

    For Mac or Windows, from claude.ai/download. Cowork lives here (getting started).

  3. Claude in Chrome

    Install it in Google Chrome on the same computer and sign in, so Cowork can work in your browser (setup guide).

  4. Sign in to FamilySearch yourself

    In that Chrome, at familysearch.org. Never give Claude a password; it works in the window where you're already signed in.

No paid plan? The free TempleKit skill works with a free Claude account for reading records you give it, and our research assistant needs no account at all.

Tell Claude what to do

1. What should Claude do?
2. A few details

3. Start Claude

Claude opens with these instructions written in. Read them, then press Send. Using Claude in Chrome's side panel, ChatGPT's agent or Gemini in Chrome instead? Copy the instructions and paste them there.

See exactly what Claude will be told

Get my family's names reserved for the temple, 10 at a time. I'm signed in to FamilySearch in Chrome. Find up to 10 of my relatives who are ready for temple ordinances, using FamilySearch's Ordinances Ready (in the Family Tree app or Temple menu), or my Family Tree if that comes up empty. For each one, check: FamilySearch shows how they're related to me and they're my own relative (immediate family, direct-line ancestors and their families, including adoptive, step and foster lines); they died at least one year ago; they were born more than 110 years ago (leave out anyone born in the last 110 years); they aren't a famous person, someone I'm not related to, or from an unapproved extraction project such as Holocaust victims; any possible duplicates are resolved; and the ordinances are available to reserve. Leave out anyone who fails a check and tell me why. Show me each batch of up to 10 in a table: name, FamilySearch ID, relationship to me, birth and death, ordinances to reserve, and the evidence. When I say yes to a batch, open each person in their own tab, reserve exactly those ordinances to me (don't share them with the temple unless I ask), and report what was reserved and anything that didn't go through. Then make my family name cards with TempleKit. In FamilySearch, open Temple, then Reservations, select the names we just reserved (or the ones I name), and print their family name cards to a PDF saved in my Downloads folder; don't send anything to a printer. Open templekit.com/app in a new tab and upload that PDF. Fill in each step: my name, city and phone or email if I've given them (ask me if not); what I called my grandparents (ask me once); and each card's relationship to me exactly as FamilySearch shows it, checking the card's FamilySearch ID against the tree. Let TempleKit draft the story backs, read each one against its card, and fix anything that isn't on the card or in well-known history. If TempleKit asks me to calibrate my printer and I haven't, stop and tell me: that needs a printed test sheet. Finish by clicking Download (not Open to print) for the print-ready files and tell me their names. I'll do the printing. Rules: work like a careful person would, one ancestor at a time and at a normal pace; open only the pages this needs and never bulk-open or download search results (FamilySearch doesn't allow scraping or harvesting). Never ask me for a password. Reading is fine, but before you add or edit a person, attach a source, merge, reserve, request or share ordinances, or submit anything, stop, show me exactly what you'd do and the record behind it, and wait for my yes. My yes covers exactly the list you showed and nothing else. Mark anything you're unsure of. Never invent a name, date or relationship.

What Claude does, and how it keeps your account safe

Does the legwork

Searches, opens records, reads old handwriting and other languages, compares with your tree, and keeps a research log.

Shows you first

Before any change (adding a person, attaching a source, reserving), Claude shows exactly what it will do and the evidence, and waits for your OK.

Reserves 10 at a time

After you approve a batch, Claude opens each person in its own tab and reserves exactly those names to you, then reports back.

Follows the Church's rules

Only your own relatives, at least a year after death, nobody born in the last 110 years without permission, never famous people or extraction lists, duplicates checked.

Stays at a person's pace

One ancestor and a handful of pages at a time, because FamilySearch doesn't allow scraping or bulk downloads, and your account matters.

Makes the cards

Prints your reservations to PDF, runs them through TempleKit for labels and story backs, and downloads the files ready to print.

Claude can make mistakes, especially with faded handwriting and people with the same name: check its evidence before you approve. You're using Claude under Anthropic's terms and FamilySearch under FamilySearch's. TempleKit never sees what Claude reads. The full rules and the shortcuts are in Research with Claude.

Using ChatGPT, Gemini or another AI?

AI that can use a browser

The instructions above are plain English, so other AI agents that can click through websites can follow them too, such as ChatGPT's agent (ChatGPT Work) or Gemini in Chrome's auto browse. Pick a task, press Copy instructions, and paste it into that AI while you're signed in to FamilySearch. The one-click start is Claude only.

A regular AI chat

Free ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot can't click through FamilySearch, but they can read for you. Attach our research instructions to a chat (or paste them into a ChatGPT Project or a Gemini Gem), then add a photo or screenshot of a record: you get the transcription, translation, everyone named, a citation and what to search next.

Download the research instructions
But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
Joseph F. SmithDoctrine and Covenants 138:30Joseph F. Smith, describing his vision of the deadWhat the scriptures and prophets teach about family history →