FAQ & Troubleshooting

Does my family's data go to the AI company?

No real identities do. With any cloud backend, every person, surname, place, and group is replaced by a token before sending, and an outbound guard blocks any request that still contains a real value. You can verify exactly what was sent in the What the AI sees tab. For total offline privacy, use a local AI.

Will DGAI change my GDAT database?

Never. DGAI opens your database read-only, so it can't modify anything — and you can keep GDAT or DB Browser open at the same time.

What database does DGAI need?

A GDAT v3 database (a SQLite .db), or the DNAGedcom Client's gather database — the format is detected automatically. Build one with GDAT 4 or the DNAGedcom Client.

A request was “blocked” — what happened?

That's the safety net doing its job. DGAI detected a real identity value in the outgoing payload and refused to send it (“Blocked outbound request… Nothing was sent.”). Rephrase and try again; if it keeps happening on ordinary questions, please report it — it helps us tighten the scrubber.

The AI gives poor answers or ignores my data

Local models: make sure you're using a tool-capable model (e.g. llama3.1, qwen2.5). Models without tool support can't query your data.
Ground it first: start with “Summarize this database” so the AI orients itself before you drill in.
Be specific: narrow by cM, chromosome, surname, or a named person.

“Real names” is greyed out

Real-names mode is allowed only for a local AI (Ollama / LM Studio / a localhost custom endpoint). It's disabled for cloud providers by design, and refused for any non-local endpoint at send time.

My cloud key isn't working

Paste the key in Privacy & Debug → Settings (or set the provider's environment variable, which wins over a stored key), then press Open again so it takes effect. Check you selected the matching backend.

Where are tokens stored? Can I reset them?

The token map is a sidecar file at ~/Library/Application Support/DGAI/maps/ (macOS) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\DGAI\maps\ (Windows), one per database. It never leaves your machine. Removing it simply causes DGAI to mint fresh tokens next time.

How do I get help or report a bug?

DGAI is in beta — feedback is welcome. Post in the DNAGedcom User Group or email support@dnagedcom.com. Mention your platform and what you asked (never paste real names or your API key).