A family tree that lives online and keeps every source
Build your family tree with the evidence beside it. Keep sources and uncertain dates, explore connections, and turn unanswered questions into research tasks — on your own or with family.
- Free · no card · no expiry
- Your GEDCOM comes in, and goes back out
- Export is always free
Ask any fact where it came from
Attach the scan, name the register, and say how sure you are — high, medium or low, recorded on the fact rather than on the source. One register can support a baptism at high confidence and an occupation at low, and Leaves keeps both instead of averaging them.
How sources and citations workAbout 1850 stays about 1850
Record an exact day, an approximate date, a range, a period or the words the source used. The qualifier stays visible in records and timelines, so about 1850 never quietly becomes 1 January 1850.
What Leaves does with an uncertain dateBring in the cousin with the shoebox
Invite family by email with their own accounts. Free includes two viewer collaborators, so relatives can follow your research in one private project. You control who can see details of living people.
How working together worksNothing to install, nothing to lose with the laptop
Leaves runs in a browser, so there is nothing to install and no file to keep in step between two machines: the research is on our servers and opens on whichever one you are sitting at. The GEDCOM you already have comes in, and a full export goes back out whenever you ask for it.
How your tree gets in, and back outWhat it looks like when the evidence is kept
Two pieces of the application, drawn at the size they are used: a person with the confidence carried on each fact, and the tree canvas with a node that has no dates — which, in a real project, most of them do not.
Person · evidence
- Jan Verschoorborn 1850 · DordrechtConfidence: 3 of 3
- Maria Bakkerborn about 1852 · RotterdamConfidence: 2 of 3
- Pieter Verschoorborn about 1878 · Dordrechtapprox
- Unknown childno datesNo confidence recorded
Tree · three generations
1850–1921
about 1852–1919
1878–1955
no dates
More ways to follow the evidence
The tree is one view of the research. These tools work with the same people, families, places and sources, so each discovery stays connected.
- Explore the connections
- Move through the family tree, fan, sun, branches and network views. Compare lives with calendar, lifespan and Lexis views, and read events in a person’s timeline.
- Find the next question
- Review ancestor gaps and research coverage, run the tree checker, compare duplicate candidates and merge records. Consolidate places while keeping the evidence behind each decision.
- Keep the follow-up
- Create research tasks with linked records, an assignee, priority and due date. Filter your work by status, overdue items or the person and source you are investigating.
- Keep the original close
- Upload scans, photographs, PDFs, audio and video. Link them to the records they explain, record citation confidence and evidence inspection, and keep notes alongside your research.
- Put the research on paper
- Generate PDF ancestor and descendant charts, fan and hourglass charts, family group sheets, individual summaries, descendant narratives, Ahnentafel reports and family history books.
- Research together, privately
- Invite relatives to view your research in a private project. Living-person privacy controls let you decide which details collaborators can see.
Research guides
A next step for your family history
Start a tree, check an import, or work through historical examples of sources, identity checks and research planning.
How to start a family tree
Start a family tree with what you know. Learn what to ask relatives, how to record sources and uncertain dates, and how to plan your next genealogy search.
How to import a GEDCOM file and check your tree
Move a family tree with GEDCOM using a practical checklist. Keep an original backup, review import warnings, check sources and relationships, and recover missing media.
How to cite sources in your family tree
Write genealogy citations you can find again. Follow a historical death record from source to claim, separate readings from reasoning and assess each fact.
How to record uncertain dates in genealogy
Record estimated birth years, before and after dates, and incomplete historical dates. Production screenshots show how to preserve uncertainty without inventing precision.
Two records disagree. Which should you trust?
Compare conflicting genealogy evidence using a historical birth-date case. Check identity, distinguish readings from calculations and write a provisional conclusion.
How to identify the same person across genealogy records
Compare names, relatives, places and life events before merging family-tree records. Historical screenshots show name variants and a documented identity question.
How to keep a genealogy research log
Keep a useful genealogy research log: record search scope, results, limitations and next steps. Historical examples show a research note and an unsaved follow-up task.
How to extract facts from a marriage record
Work through a historical marriage entry one claim at a time. Record people, dates, occupations and residences with citations and appropriate uncertainty.
How to research parent-child relationships
Trace a parent-child connection through its evidence. Historical screenshots explain family membership, relationship types, assessments and namesake checks.
How to research places in your family tree
Preserve historical place wording, review modern map suggestions and date residence claims. Screenshots show structured places and a historical residence fact.
How to plan genealogy research at a dead end
Turn a genealogy dead end into a specific search plan. Use historical date estimates, family clues, collection coverage and documented outcomes to choose the next check.
How to build a useful family history timeline
Build a sourced family history timeline. Historical screenshots show family context, dated occupations, uncertain dates and gaps that can guide your next search.
How to read a death record for family history
Read a historical death record one claim at a time. Distinguish death and registration dates, assess earlier-life statements and investigate informants.
How to research witnesses and other associates
Use witnesses and informants as genealogy research leads. Historical examples distinguish named relatives, officials and relationships a record does not establish.
How to review a family tree you inherited
Review inherited genealogy without losing the original research. Inventory files, sample source claims, check parent links and plan verification with historical screenshots.
How to back up your family history research
Back up genealogy data, original media and research notes. Learn what Leaves GEDCOM, GEDZIP and task companions preserve, and how to check a recovery copy.
How to share your family tree with relatives
Share a family tree with deliberate roles and living-person access. Screenshots show an unsent Viewer invitation and a historical research question for collaboration.
How to organise old family photographs
Preserve old family photographs with useful captions, careful identifications, portrait crops and a plan for sharing and backing up the originals.
How to make a family history book
Turn researched family history into a readable book. Choose a scope, check sources, compose Leaves report sections and proofread a dated PDF before sharing.
How to use AI for genealogy with Leaves MCP
Use Leaves MCP for AI-assisted genealogy: select a project, compare cited evidence, verify conclusions and review proposed changes before saving them.
Room for your family history. Free.
Build your tree, keep the evidence beside it, and follow the questions that matter to you. Start with one person or bring your existing GEDCOM.
Free gives you one project, up to 20,000 people, 250 MB for scans and photographs, and two viewer collaborators. It is not a trial and it does not expire.
The shoebox is not getting any better organised
The public beta is open. Create a free account, begin with one person or import your existing research, and tell us what could work better. No card needed, and your research is always yours to export.
Every name in a tree was once somebody's whole life.