WikipediaScraper

A Swift toolkit that converts Wikipedia biography articles into standards-compliant GEDCOM 7.0 genealogy files. The toolkit ships in three forms that share the same parsing engine:

Tool	What it is
Wikipedia to GEDCOM (macOS app)	Point-and-click GUI — paste Wikipedia URLs, review and edit all parsed data, then export
Wikipedia to GEDCOM (iPadOS app)	Same editor experience on iPad — touch-friendly URL bar, exports via iOS document picker
WikipediaScraper (CLI tool)	Scriptable command-line tool — batch processing, automation, advanced options

macOS App — Wikipedia to GEDCOM

Installation

Option A — Xcode (recommended for debugging and development)

git clone https://github.com/psteinauer/WikipediaScraper.git
cd WikipediaScraper
make xcode                  # opens WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace in Xcode

Select the Wikipedia to GEDCOM (macOS) scheme, choose your Mac as the run destination, and press Run (⌘R).

Option B — command-line release build

git clone https://github.com/psteinauer/WikipediaScraper.git
cd WikipediaScraper
make app-release
# app lands at: build/Build/Products/Release/WikipediaScraperApp.app
cp -r build/Build/Products/Release/WikipediaScraperApp.app /Applications/

On first launch macOS may show an unidentified-developer warning — right-click → Open → Open to dismiss it once.

How to use it

Paste Wikipedia URLs into the address bar at the top. Each URL becomes a chip; add as many people as you like, then press ⌘↩ (or click the fetch button) to load them all at once. The app fetches automatically when a URL is added if no fetch is already running.
The app fetches each article, parses the infobox, and populates all fields. Fetched people appear in the People list in the sidebar. On launch, if URLs are saved from a previous session and the people list is empty, the app re-fetches all URLs automatically.
Set fetch options in the sidebar panel before (or after) fetching:
- AI Analysis — enriches data with Claude AI (requires an Anthropic API key).
- Notes — appends Wikipedia article sections as GEDCOM NOTE records.
- All Images — downloads every article image into the ZIP export.
- Main Person Only — exports only the explicitly-fetched people; no family stubs.
Select a person from the sidebar to review and edit their data in the detail panel.
Export using the toolbar Export button or the File menu:
- Export as GEDCOM… (⌘E) — saves a plain .ged text file.
- Export as ZIP… (⌘⇧E) — saves a GEDZIP archive containing gedcom.ged plus all portrait and media images.
- Open in MacFamilyTree 11 — exports a ZIP and opens it directly in MacFamilyTree.
- View GEDCOM… — previews the raw GEDCOM text in a scrollable sheet with copy and save options.

Share to app

The macOS app installs a Share Extension (WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac). To send a Wikipedia page directly from Safari or Chrome:

Click the Share button in the browser toolbar (or use the Share menu item).
Choose Wikipedia to GEDCOM from the sharing destinations.
A small confirmation sheet appears showing the URL. Click Add to send it to the app, or Cancel to dismiss.
The app opens (or comes to the front) and begins fetching the article immediately.

The macOS app also registers as a Services provider. Any application that supports the macOS Services menu can send a selected URL to the app via Services > Add to Wikipedia to GEDCOM.

Settings

Click the gear icon (or wand icon when AI Analysis is enabled) in the toolbar to open the settings popover. This is where you configure the Claude AI API key. The fetch options (Notes, All Images, Main Person Only) are always visible in the sidebar.

Person detail view

The detail panel shows the selected person's data organised into eight collapsible sections:

Section	Contents
Name and Gender	Wikipedia title (read-only), given name, surname, sex. The person's primary image appears to the right of this card when available.
Events	Birth, Death, Burial, Baptism (date/place/note/cause); Spouses; Titled Positions; Custom Events. AI-generated events appear inline in blue — same edit controls as standard events.
Facts	Honorifics; Custom facts (type + value); Occupations; Attributes (nationality, religion). AI-generated titles and facts appear inline in blue.
Additional Names	Birth name. AI-generated alternate names appear inline in blue, each individually editable.
Media	Primary image URL with live preview; additional media items with captions
Notes	Wikipedia article sections (populated when Notes is enabled)
Sources	Wikipedia article citation; AI Analysis citation (shown when AI Analysis has run)
Other	Parents (father, mother); Children. AI-identified influential people appear inline in blue with name, relationship, and note fields.

When AI Analysis is enabled, all Claude-enriched items are integrated directly into the relevant sections and shown in blue text to distinguish them from infobox-parsed data. They are fully editable and deletable — identical in behaviour to standard items. When AI Analysis results arrive, sections containing new data automatically expand so results are immediately visible.

Expand and collapse shortcuts:

Click	Effect
Plain click on section header	Toggle that section only
⌥ click on section header	Toggle the section and all its sub-sections
⌘⌥ click on section header	Toggle all other top-level sections (sub-section states unchanged)

All sections except Name and Gender start collapsed by default.

iPadOS App — Wikipedia to GEDCOM

Installation

Option A — Xcode (recommended)

make xcode      # opens WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace in Xcode

Select the Wikipedia to GEDCOM (iPadOS) scheme, choose a connected iPad or simulator, and press Run (⌘R).

Option B — simulator from the command line

make ipad-sim                                    # iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) simulator
make ipad-sim IPAD_SIM_NAME="iPad Air 13-inch (M2)"  # different simulator

Option C — device release build

make ipad       # builds for a connected device; use Xcode to install the .ipa

How to use it

Paste Wikipedia URLs into the address bar at the top and tap Return (or the fetch button). The app fetches the article immediately when a URL is added.
The app fetches each article and populates the People list. On launch, saved URLs are re-fetched automatically if the people list is empty.
Set fetch options in the strip below the URL bar: AI Analysis, Notes, All Images, Main Person Only.
Select a person from the sidebar to review and edit their data.
Export using the toolbar button (top-right):
- Export as GEDCOM… — opens the iOS document picker to save a .ged file.
- Export as ZIP… — downloads all media, then opens the document picker to save a .zip GEDZIP archive.

Tap the gear icon in the toolbar to configure the Claude AI API key.

Share to app

The iPadOS app installs a Share Extension (WikipediaToGEDCOMShare). To send a Wikipedia page directly from Safari or another browser:

Tap the Share button and choose Wikipedia to GEDCOM.
The extension immediately routes the URL to the app via the wikipedia-gedcom:// URL scheme — no confirmation sheet is shown.
The app opens (or comes to the front) and begins fetching the article.

The iPadOS app supports all four orientations and multi-window (Stage Manager) on supported hardware.

CLI Tool — WikipediaScraper

Installation

make install          # builds release binary → /usr/local/bin/WikipediaScraper

Or install to a custom location:

make install INSTALL_PREFIX=~/.local/bin

Usage

WikipediaScraper [options] <URL> [<URL> ...]

Arguments

Argument	Description
`<URL> ...`	One or more full Wikipedia article URLs

Options

Flag / Option	Short	Description
`--output <path>`	`-o`	Override output file path
`--verbose`	`-v`	Print progress to stderr
`--preflight`	`-p`	Write GEDCOM to stdout (no file written)
`--zip`	`-z`	Create GEDZIP archive (`.zip` default; use `--output` for `.gdz`)
`--mappings`	`-m`	Print field-mapping table; no GEDCOM produced
`--notes`	`-n`	Append Wikipedia article sections as NOTE records
`--allimages`	`-a`	Download all article images into GEDZIP (implies `--zip`)
`--nopeople`		Only create records for the URLs passed; skip referenced-person fetching
`--config <path>`		Use a specific `.wikipediascraperrc` file
`--help`	`-h`	Show help
`--version`		Show version

Output modes (mutually exclusive)

Mode	Default output
Default	`<ArticleTitle>.ged` in current directory
`--preflight`	stdout
`--zip` / `--allimages`	`<ArticleTitle>.zip` (or `.gdz` via `--output`)
`--mappings`	stdout (diagnostic table, no GEDCOM)

When multiple URLs are provided, the default output filename is <FirstTitle>_et_al.ged / .zip.

Examples

# Single person, default .ged output
WikipediaScraper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington

# Custom output path
WikipediaScraper --output ~/genealogy/washington.ged \
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington

# GEDZIP archive with portrait image
WikipediaScraper --zip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

# GEDZIP with .gdz extension
WikipediaScraper --zip --output royals/elizabeth.gdz \
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

# Inspect GEDCOM output without writing a file
WikipediaScraper --preflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

# Include full article text as notes
WikipediaScraper --preflight --notes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

# Download all article images into the archive
WikipediaScraper --allimages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria

# Diagnostic field-mapping table
WikipediaScraper --mappings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

# Multiple people in one file (deduplicated, shared FAM records)
WikipediaScraper --zip \
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria \
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert

# Verbose output
WikipediaScraper --verbose --zip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

Requirements

Target	Minimum version
macOS app	macOS 13 (Ventura)
iPadOS app	iOS / iPadOS 16
CLI tool	macOS 13 (Ventura)
Build tools	Swift 5.9+ (Xcode 15+)

An internet connection is required to fetch Wikipedia articles and images.

Features (all tools)

Parses Wikipedia infoboxes (royalty, officeholder, biography, military person templates) into structured genealogy data
Outputs GEDCOM 7.0 with full compliance: correct xrefs, UTF-8, CONT line-splitting, proper tag hierarchy
Accepts multiple Wikipedia URLs — all persons land in one GEDCOM file; the macOS and iPadOS apps show each person in a sidebar list
Automatically fetches Wikipedia data for referenced people (spouses, parents, children) one level deep
Persons referenced by multiple input URLs are deduplicated — one INDI record, one FAM record, shared across all contexts
Downloads portrait images from Wikimedia and packages them into a GEDZIP archive
Optionally downloads every article image into the archive (--allimages / All Images option)
AI Analysis via Claude API (Anthropic) — enriches each article with alternate names, titles, facts, events, and influential people; results appear inline in blue within the relevant editor sections and are stored separately in the GEDCOM output cited as "Claude AI (Anthropic)"
MacFamilyTree 11 integration (macOS app) — one-click export and open
GEDCOM preview (macOS app) — scrollable, selectable, monospace view of the raw GEDCOM output with copy and save options
Share Extension (macOS and iPadOS) — send a Wikipedia URL from Safari or Chrome directly to the app
Emits titled positions (reign, office) as GEDCOM EVEN with TYPE "Nobility title"
Predecessor/successor links use ASSO + RELA (Influential Persons)
Source citations use SOUR.WWW (top-level domain) + PAGE (specific article URL) + DATA.TEXT (article extract)
Field-mapping diagnostic report shows exactly how each infobox field was interpreted (CLI --mappings)

Configuration file — `.wikipediascraperrc`

WikipediaScraper supports a plain-text configuration file that customises how Wikipedia infobox fields are mapped to GEDCOM facts and events.

File locations

The tool searches in this order:

Path supplied with --config <path>
.wikipediascraperrc in the current working directory
~/.wikipediascraperrc in your home directory

File format

# ~/.wikipediascraperrc

[facts]
# field_name = FACT TYPE display name
party         = Political Party
house         = Royal House
awards        = Honour
religion      = Religious Affiliation
alma_mater    = Education

[events]
# field_name = EVEN TYPE display name
coronation          = Coronation
inauguration_date   = Inauguration

Built-in fields you can rename

Section	Infobox field	Default display name
`[facts]`	`party`	`Political party`
`[facts]`	`house` / `dynasty` / `royal_house`	`House`
`[facts]`	`awards`	`Award`
`[facts]`	`branch`	`Military branch`
`[facts]`	`rank`	`Military rank`
`[facts]`	`allegiance`	`Allegiance`
`[facts]`	`service_years`	`Service years`
`[facts]`	`battles` / `battles/wars`	`Battle`
`[events]`	`coronation`	`Coronation`

GEDZIP archive structure

archive.zip (or .gdz)
├── gedcom.ged              GEDCOM 7.0 file (FILE tags use relative paths)
└── media/
    ├── Person_Name.jpg     Portrait downloaded from Wikimedia
    └── Image_Caption.jpg   Additional images (--allimages / All Images option)

GEDCOM 7.0 output

Name records

NAME record	Source	Notes
Primary `NAME`	Wikipedia article title	`GIVN` + `SURN` subrecords; `NPFX` for honorific prefix
Additional `NAME`	Infobox structured name	Added when it differs from the article title
`NAME TYPE birth`	`birth_name`	Birth / maiden name
`NAME TYPE aka`	Alternate names	From infobox and AI Analysis

INDI record tags

GEDCOM tag	Source
`NAME`	Wikipedia article title with `GIVN`/`SURN`/`NPFX`
`SEX`	`gender`, `sex`, `pronouns`
`BIRT` / `DEAT` / `BURI` / `BAPM`	Date + place + note; `DEAT` adds `CAUS`
`TITL`	Simple honorifics (no date range)
`EVEN TYPE "Nobility title"`	Reign / office with `DATE FROM … TO`
`FACT TYPE "<name>"`	House, party, branch, rank, awards, battles
`OCCU`	One tag per occupation
`NATI` / `RELI`	Nationality, religion
`ASSO RELA Predecessor/Successor`	Predecessor/successor links
`NOTE`	Wikipedia article sections (`--notes` / Notes option)
`FAMS` / `FAMC`	Family links
`SOUR`	Wikipedia article with `PAGE` + `DATA.TEXT`
`OBJE`	Portrait + additional images

Date handling

Input	GEDCOM output
`24 May 1819`	`24 MAY 1819`
`{{birth date\|1819\|5\|24}}`	`24 MAY 1819`
`c. 1066` / `circa 1066`	`ABT 1066`
`before 1200`	`BEF 1200`
`after 1400`	`AFT 1400`
`20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901`	`FROM 20 JUN 1837 TO 22 JAN 1901`

Referenced-person expansion

By default the tool extracts Wikipedia article links from family fields (spouses, children, father, mother) and automatically fetches each referenced person, including them as full INDI records — one level deep, without recursion.

Use --nopeople (CLI) or the Main Person Only option (apps) to include only the explicitly-specified URLs. Referenced people not on the list become minimal stub records. Two explicitly-fetched people who are married to each other still share a FAM record.

Opening in Xcode

The recommended way to open the project in Xcode is the workspace, which combines all targets:

open WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace

Individual Xcode projects are also available:

Project	Contents
`WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj`	macOS app (`WikipediaScraperApp`), macOS Share Extension (`WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac`), CLI tool (`WikipediaScraper`)
`WikipediaScraperIPad.xcodeproj`	iPadOS app (`WikipediaScraperIPad`), iPadOS Share Extension (`WikipediaToGEDCOMShare`)

Xcode schemes

Project / Workspace	Scheme	Builds
`WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj`	Wikipedia to GEDCOM (macOS)	macOS app + Share Extension
`WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj`	WikipediaScraper CLI	CLI tool only
`WikipediaScraperIPad.xcodeproj`	Wikipedia to GEDCOM (iPadOS)	iPadOS app + Share Extension
`WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace`	Build All	All three top-level targets

Build targets

Command	Description
`make all`	Build every target (macOS app + extensions + CLI + iPadOS app) via the workspace
`make build`	CLI debug binary via SPM → `.build/debug/WikipediaScraper`
`make release`	CLI optimised release binary via SPM → `.build/release/WikipediaScraper`
`make install`	CLI release binary installed to `/usr/local/bin`
`make install INSTALL_PREFIX=<dir>`	CLI installed to a custom directory
`make app`	macOS app + Share Extension (Debug) → `build/Build/Products/Debug/WikipediaScraperApp.app`
`make app-release`	macOS app + Share Extension (Release) → `build/Build/Products/Release/WikipediaScraperApp.app`
`make ipad-sim`	iPadOS app + Share Extension built for iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) simulator, then launched
`make ipad-sim IPAD_SIM_NAME="<name>"`	Same, targeting a named simulator
`make ipad-sim-reset`	Erase and reboot the iPad simulator (fixes stale-state crashes)
`make ipad`	iPadOS app + Share Extension (Release) built for a connected device
`make xcode`	Open `WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace` in Xcode
`make icons`	Regenerate all app icon PNGs (macOS + iPadOS) from `make_icon.swift`
`make clean`	Remove `./build/` and SPM build artefacts
`make test`	Smoke-test CLI against the George Washington Wikipedia article

Source code layout

WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace/          Xcode workspace — opens all targets together
WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj/         Xcode project: macOS app + Share Extension + CLI
WikipediaScraperIPad.xcodeproj/        Xcode project: iPadOS app + Share Extension
WikipediaScraperMac.entitlements       macOS app entitlements (outgoing URL scheme, etc.)
WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac.entitlements macOS Share Extension entitlements
WikipediaScraperIPad.entitlements      iPadOS app entitlements
WikipediaToGEDCOMShare.entitlements    iPadOS Share Extension entitlements

Sources/
├── WikipediaScraperCore/          Shared library (CLI + macOS app + iPadOS app)
│   ├── PersonModel.swift          Data model — PersonData, GEDCOMDate, SpouseInfo, …
│   ├── WikipediaClient.swift      Wikipedia REST + MediaWiki API calls
│   ├── InfoboxParser.swift        Wikitext infobox → PersonData extraction
│   ├── DateParser.swift           Wikipedia date strings → GEDCOMDate
│   ├── GEDCOMBuilder.swift        PersonData → GEDCOM 7.0 text
│   ├── GEDZIPBuilder.swift        GEDCOM + media files → ZIP/GEDZIP archive
│   ├── MappingsReporter.swift     Diagnostic field-mapping table (--mappings)
│   └── ScraperConfig.swift        .wikipediascraperrc loader
│
├── WikipediaScraperSharedUI/      Shared SwiftUI library (macOS + iPadOS)
│   ├── EditableTypes.swift        Editable model types — EditablePerson, EditableEvent, …
│   ├── PersonEditorView.swift     PersonEditorView, EditorSection, SubGroup, FieldRow,
│   │                              EventSectionContent, MediaThumbnail
│   ├── FetchOptionsView.swift     Fetch options card (macOS sidebar) / chip strip (iPad)
│   ├── LLMSettings.swift          Persistent Claude AI settings (API key, enabled flag)
│   ├── AIProgressSheet.swift      AI analysis progress modal sheet
│   ├── GEDCOMPreviewSheet.swift   GEDCOM preview modal (monospace, copy, save)
│   ├── SourceInfo.swift           SourceInfo type — name, icon, URL for sources list
│   ├── SourceDetailView.swift     Source detail panel
│   └── URLListBar.swift           Shared URL chip utilities
│
├── WikipediaScraper/              Command-line tool target
│   └── WikipediaScraperCommand.swift  Entry point, argument parsing, orchestration
│
├── WikipediaScraperApp/           macOS SwiftUI app target
│   ├── WikipediaScraperApp.swift  @main, @NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor, FocusedValues,
│   │                              menu bar commands; WindowGroup.handlesExternalEvents(matching:[])
│   ├── AppDelegate.swift          NSApplicationDelegate — routes wikipedia-gedcom:// URLs
│   │                              via URLRouter; handles reopen; registers Services provider
│   ├── URLRouter.swift            @MainActor singleton — delivers URL-scheme events to the
│   │                              active window's handler; queues URLs on cold launch
│   ├── ContentView.swift          URL chip bar, sidebar, detail panel, toolbar
│   ├── PersonViewModel.swift      ObservableObject ViewModel — fetch, export, AI, preview;
│   │                              handleOpenURL, addURL, removeURL, fetchOnLaunch
│   ├── LLMSettingsView.swift      Settings popover — Claude AI API key
│   ├── Info.plist                 macOS bundle metadata
│   └── Assets.xcassets/           macOS app icon (7 PNG sizes)
│
├── WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac/     macOS Share Extension target
│   ├── ShareViewController.swift  NSViewController confirmation sheet (title label,
│   │                              URL label, Add / Cancel buttons); opens app via
│   │                              wikipedia-gedcom://add?url=<encoded>
│   └── Info.plist                 Extension metadata (NSExtension, NSServices)
│
├── WikipediaToGEDCOMShare/        iPadOS Share Extension target
│   ├── ShareViewController.swift  UIViewController that immediately routes the shared URL
│   │                              to the containing app via wikipedia-gedcom://add?url=…
│   └── Info.plist                 Extension metadata
│
└── WikipediaScraperIPad/          iPadOS SwiftUI app target
    ├── WikipediaScraperIPadApp.swift  @main (iOS) + macOS stub for swift build;
    │                                  onOpenURL → handleOpenURL → addURL
    ├── iPadContentView.swift      Touch-optimised URL bar, .fileExporter modifiers
    ├── iPadPersonViewModel.swift  ViewModel — fetch + iOS document picker export
    ├── Info.plist                 iPadOS bundle metadata
    └── Assets.xcassets/           iPad app icon (9 PNG sizes)

make_icon.swift                    Icon generator — regenerates macOS + iPadOS PNGs

Dependencies

Package	Version	Purpose
swift-argument-parser	≥ 1.3.0	CLI argument / flag / option parsing
ZIPFoundation	≥ 0.9.19	GEDZIP archive creation

Limitations

English Wikipedia only (en.wikipedia.org)
Infobox parsing covers the most common templates; unusual or highly customised infoboxes may produce incomplete data — use --mappings to diagnose
Date parsing handles the most common Wikipedia date formats; highly non-standard formats fall back to an empty date
Referenced-person expansion is one level deep; it does not recursively follow the family trees of fetched persons
--allimages / All Images skips small images (< 100×100 px), icons, flags, logos, and other decorative images based on filename heuristics
AI Analysis requires a valid Anthropic API key; usage is billed to your Anthropic account

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 67 Commits
Sources		Sources
Tests/WikipediaScraperTests		Tests/WikipediaScraperTests
WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace		WikipediaScraper.xcworkspace
WikipediaScraperIPad.xcodeproj		WikipediaScraperIPad.xcodeproj
WikipediaScraperIPhone.xcodeproj		WikipediaScraperIPhone.xcodeproj
WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj		WikipediaScraperMac.xcodeproj
docs/images		docs/images
.gitignore		.gitignore
DOCUMENTATION.md		DOCUMENTATION.md
Makefile		Makefile
Package.resolved		Package.resolved
Package.swift		Package.swift
README.md		README.md
WikipediaScraperIPad.entitlements		WikipediaScraperIPad.entitlements
WikipediaScraperIPhone.entitlements		WikipediaScraperIPhone.entitlements
WikipediaScraperMac.entitlements		WikipediaScraperMac.entitlements
WikipediaToGEDCOMShare.entitlements		WikipediaToGEDCOMShare.entitlements
WikipediaToGEDCOMShareIPhone.entitlements		WikipediaToGEDCOMShareIPhone.entitlements
WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac.entitlements		WikipediaToGEDCOMShareMac.entitlements
make_icon.swift		make_icon.swift

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WikipediaScraper

macOS App — Wikipedia to GEDCOM

Installation

How to use it

Share to app

Settings

Person detail view

iPadOS App — Wikipedia to GEDCOM

Installation

How to use it

Share to app

CLI Tool — WikipediaScraper

Installation

Usage

Arguments

Options

Output modes (mutually exclusive)

Examples

Requirements

Features (all tools)

Configuration file — .wikipediascraperrc

File locations

File format

Built-in fields you can rename

GEDZIP archive structure

GEDCOM 7.0 output

Name records

INDI record tags

Date handling

Referenced-person expansion

Opening in Xcode

Xcode schemes

Build targets

Source code layout

Dependencies

Limitations

License

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Configuration file — `.wikipediascraperrc`

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