How to Use MatchFetch

🛠️ Before You Start

✅ Python 3.8+ (recommended: latest 3.x version)
✅ Flet (for the UI) — install with pip install flet
✅ requests (for web requests) — install with pip install requests
✅ Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Tip: After you have installed Python, you can install all required packages at once with: pip install flet requests

If you don't have Python yet, download it from python.org and install it first.

🔒 Your Data Stays Private: We do not store or have access to your data. All processing happens locally on your computer. Your Ancestry account information and DNA matches never leave your device.

How to Use MatchFetch

🌐

Prepare Your Ancestry.com Cookies

Log in to Ancestry.com DNA Matches in your browser.
Open your browser's developer tools (usually F12), go to the Network tab, and reload the page.
Click any network request and find the cookie header under Request Headers.
Copy the entire cookie string and paste it into a file named cookie.txt in the MatchFetch folder.
The format should be: name1=value1; name2=value2; ...

Click to enlarge. Example: Copy the cookie header from your browser's Network tab.

Tip: Update your cookie.txt if you log out or your session expires.

💻

Start the App

Run python matchfetch.py in your terminal.
The MatchFetch UI will open.

🧬

Select a DNA Test

Use the dropdown to choose the DNA kit you want to fetch matches for.

🔎

Choose Match Filters

Select match type: All, Close, Distant, or Custom cM range.
(Optional) Set minimum/maximum cM for custom filtering.
(Optional) Select specific communities (journeys) or parental side.
(Optional) You can also change the maximum number of matches to fetch for faster downloads or smaller exports.

⬇️

Fetch Matches

Click Fetch Matches. The app will download your matches in batches.
Progress is saved automatically. If interrupted, you can resume later.

📄

Export and Open CSV

When finished, the app saves a CSV file in the project folder.
Click Open CSV file to view the results.

Privacy Mode

Privacy mode is always enabled: sensitive columns (Name, Parent, cM) are removed from exports.
IDs are anonymized using SHA-256 hashes.
Export files use the most common journey name as the filename.

Troubleshooting & Support

Need help? Join our Discord community for support and updates.
Tip: If you get errors, double-check your cookie.txt and make sure your session is still valid.

Invalid cookie: Make sure you copied the full cookie string and your session is active.
No matches found: Check your filters and try again.
App won’t start: Ensure Python and all requirements are installed.