AI and agents

The in-app chat

The chat panel sits at the bottom of the window. Type a question and the agent can read and edit the tree using built-in tools: tree_query, tree_get, tree_stats, tree_edit, sources_add, notes_write, charts_render (the last one renders a person's ancestor chart as an SVG image).

The provider is configured in the ai section of settings.json (see Settings):

• Provider presets: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama (local), LM Studio (local), a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or an ACP agent. Set the id in "provider"; each preset provides a default base URL and model, so "baseUrl" and "model" are optional overrides.
• API keys are stored encrypted in the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager / libsecret). The key never appears in the settings file in plaintext.
• Permissions: read-only tools run freely; mutating tools (tree_edit, sources_add, notes_write) ask for confirmation inline. External MCP tools always ask.

ACP agents

Set "ai": { "provider": "acp", "command": "…", "args": [] } to talk to an agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol (Zed-style agents). Dóru passes the project to the agent as an MCP server, so the agent can query and edit the tree just like the built-in chat. Permission prompts work the same way.

Dóru as an MCP server

Any MCP client — Claude Desktop, Cursor, coding agents — can work with your tree. Run Dóru in server mode, pointing at the .doru file:

doru --mcp-server /absolute/path/to/family.doru

Claude Desktop configuration example (Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "doru": {
      "command": "/Applications/Doru.app/Contents/MacOS/doru",
      "args": ["--mcp-server", "/Users/you/FamilyHistory/family.doru"]
    }
  }
}

Windows: "command": "C:\\Program Files\\Doru\\doru.exe". Linux AppImage: the path to the AppImage file. Tool names stay in English regardless of the UI language.

Example prompts

• “Find everyone born before 1850 and list their sources.”
• “Add Ivan Ivanov, born about 1923, as a child of Petr and Maria.”
• “Write a research note on Anna about the 1901 census.”
• “Check my tree for people born after their parents died.” — the agent can combine tree tools with external tools (e.g. web search) if you configure them in mcp.servers.