Gathering from A*

Overview

A* data is gathered using a browser-based approach. You log in to A* through an embedded browser in the Client, and data is captured automatically as the Client navigates through your match pages. This approach handles A*'s security without requiring you to manage cookies or authentication tokens.

A* provides match data, ICW (In Common With) relationships, family trees, and ethnicity estimates. A* does not provide chromosome segment data.

Available Data

Data Type	Available	Notes
Matches	Yes	Match name, shared cM, segments, relationship estimate
ICW (In Common With)	Yes	Three gathering modes: All, Fast, None
Family Trees	Yes	Match ancestor trees and your own tree
Ethnicity	Yes	Ethnicity estimates for matches
Chromosome Segments	No	Not available from A*
Haplogroups	No	Not available from A*

Getting Started

Navigate to Gather > A* Browser
Log in to A* in the embedded browser
The Client will detect your profile and available kits
Optional: use A*'s built-in filter and sort controls inside the embedded browser (cM range, group, unread, etc.) to shape the match list before you start. The Client will gather whatever the filtered list contains.
Configure your gather options (see below)
Click Gather to begin data collection
The Client navigates through your match pages automatically, capturing data

A progress bar shows gathering status. The gather saves your data into the local database; to produce CSV files from it, run a report afterward (see Reports & CSV Files below).

Gather Options

ICW Mode

Controls how In Common With (shared match) data is gathered. Three modes are available:

All (Complete) — For every match, pages through every shared match A* will return. Most thorough but slowest. Best for a final or follow-up pass.
Fast (Essential) — For each match, the Client reads its shared-match list only until the shared matches drop below that match's own cM value, then stops. This is the default, and it relies on the fact that ICW is symmetric: if person A shares with person B at 25 cM, you don't need to capture that pairing while gathering A's smaller shared matches — you'll capture it again later when gathering B's larger shared matches. Fast is the right choice for the first pass on a kit. Switching to All on a follow-up pass closes any gaps. Note: at roughly 30 cM and below, the difference between Fast and All shrinks, because most matches at that level only have a single page of shared matches.
None (Skip) — Skips ICW gathering entirely. Use this when you only need match data.

Tree

Default: On. Gathers family tree data for matches that have linked trees. This data is used by the Common Ancestors tool and the ancestor overlay in clustering tools.

My Tree

Default: On. Captures your own family tree from A* in addition to match trees.

Ethnicity

Default: Off. Gathers ethnicity estimate data for matches.

Gathering Delay

Default: 10 seconds. Controls the pause between page requests. Available options: 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 15s, 30s, 1m, 2m.

A* enforces rate limiting in two ways. The most visible is the “Pretty Print” page, which appears when you've requested too many pages too quickly. A* also sends back-end signals telling the Client to slow down even when no Pretty Print page is shown, and the Client adjusts its pace automatically to comply. Short bursts at faster delays may work, but our goal is to be a good steward of A*'s servers and avoid overloading them, so the default of 10 seconds is recommended for sustained gathering.

Force Refresh

Default: Off. When enabled, the Client re-fetches data for every match in the current gather, regardless of when it was last gathered. Use this when you want fresh data immediately for all matches.

Re-gather After (Days)

Default: 365 days. When greater than zero, matches gathered more recently than this number of days are skipped on subsequent gathers; older matches are re-fetched. Set to 0 to disable automatic re-gathering entirely — matches that already exist in the database will be skipped no matter how old they are. To force a refresh of everything, use the Force Refresh option above instead.

cM Range Filtering

For A*, cM range and other match filters are set on A*'s match list inside the embedded browser, not in the Client's gather options. Use A*'s own filter and sort controls (cM range, group, unread, parent side, etc.) to shape the match list before you click Gather — the Client gathers exactly what the filtered list contains, in the order A* presents it.

While gathering, a filter info display in the Client shows the cM and date range A* is currently returning, so you can confirm the filter you set is the one in effect.

Start with 30+ cM for your first gather. This focuses on close, reliable matches and completes quickly. Lower the threshold later (in A*'s filter) to capture more distant matches.

About gathering filtered subsets: the Client doesn't currently track which A* filter was active when each match was gathered, so you can't later isolate “just the matches I gathered with the Mother's-side filter on” from inside the Client. If you need to work with a filtered subset after gathering, you currently have to filter the exported CSV in Excel or query the database directly with SQL. In-Client filtering of gathered subsets is on the roadmap. We don't generally recommend gathering filtered subsets into separate database files for this purpose — one combined database is simpler.

Additional Features

Gather / Stop button — Once a gather is running, the Gather button changes to Stop. Click it to pause the current gather; collected data is preserved and you can resume later with Continue.
Continue — Resume a previously interrupted gather from where it left off.
Progress tracking — Real-time progress bar showing gather status.
Filter display — Shows active cM/date range filters during gathering.

Reports & CSV Files

Gathering saves your data into the local database (the .db file in your database folder). It does not create CSV files on its own. CSV files are produced by the report step, which reads the data already in your database and writes it out in the universal CSV format used by other genealogy tools.

For A*, you produce the CSV files by running a report manually — right-click the kit in the kit list and choose Run Reports. This generates a fresh set of CSV files from the data already in the database without re-fetching from A*, so you can run it any time after a gather — for example after changing your cM range or updating the data — without repeating the collection process.

If you've just finished a gather and don't see any CSV files yet, that's expected — your data is safe in the database. Right-click the kit and choose Run Reports to create the CSVs. There is no need to gather again.

Output Files

The CSV files are saved directly in your database folder, alongside the .db file — the same folder the Open Folder button on the home page opens. You do not need to look inside the BrowserData subfolders; those hold the embedded browser's session cache, not your gathered data. The exported files are compatible with DNAPainter, the Genealogical DNA Analysis Tool (GDAT), RootsFinder DNATools, and spreadsheet programs such as Excel and Google Sheets.