Single-File GENEALOGIX Example

This example demonstrates a complete GENEALOGIX archive in a single file.

Structure

All entities are in one file: archive.glx

single-file/
├── archive.glx    # All entities in one file
└── README.md

File Contents

The archive.glx file contains all entity types:

persons (2): John Smith, Mary Brown
relationships (1): Marriage
events (2): John's birth, marriage event
places (3): England, Yorkshire, Leeds (hierarchical)
sources (1): Parish register
citations (1): Birth certificate citation
repositories (1): Leeds Library
assertions (1): Birth date assertion

Benefits of Single-File Format

Simple: One file to manage and backup
Portable: Easy to share via email or file transfer
Quick: See entire archive structure at a glance
Good for: Personal research, small families, quick exports

When to Use

Use single-file format when:

Working solo on personal research
Archive has fewer than 50-100 entities
Don't need fine-grained version control
Want simple backup/sharing

Validation

bash

glx validate archive.glx

Should validate successfully with all cross-references intact.

Migration to Multi-File

To split this into multiple files:

Create entity-type directories (persons/, sources/, etc.)
Extract each entity into its own file
Keep the same entity type key structure

Example:

yaml

# persons/person-john-smith.glx
persons:
  person-john-smith:
    properties:
      given_name: "John"
      family_name: "Smith"