ankinote

AI-powered Anki card generator — vocabulary, phrases, sentences, and STEM concepts

📖 About

ankinote is an automated Anki flashcard generator that uses litellm to support a wide range of AI providers — Gemini, GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, and more — for generating definitions, examples, mnemonics, and images, then syncs directly with Anki through AnkiConnect.

✨ Features

• 🤖 Multi-Provider AI - Powered by litellm, supporting Gemini, GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, and more for text and image generation
• 🔊 Audio Generation - Text-to-Speech using Google Cloud TTS API
• 🖼️ AI Image Generation - Automatic image generation via Google AI (Gemini)
• 🔄 Direct Anki Sync - Seamless integration with Anki through AnkiConnect plugin
• 📝 Dual-Direction Cards - Supports both word→definition and definition→word learning modes
• 🎨 Beautiful Templates - Built-in Light/Dark mode responsive card templates
• ⚡ Batch Processing - Generate multiple cards from word lists efficiently
• 🌐 Multi-Language - Japanese, English (US), and extensible for more languages
• 🧮 STEM Concepts - Math, science, and programming concept cards with MathJax rendering

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.14+
• uv package manager
• Anki with AnkiConnect plugin installed
• An API key for at least one AI provider (see Configuration below)

Installation

# Install from PyPI
uv pip install ankinote-ai

# Or install the CLI as an isolated uv tool
uv tool install ankinote-ai

# Configure API credentials
# Create a .env file in your working directory and add your API keys

Configuration

Create a .env file with your API keys. At minimum, you need one AI provider key and the Google TTS key:

# At least one AI provider (for text and image generation)
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your_deepseek_key
# GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_key
# OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
# XAI_API_KEY=xai-...          # for xAI image models

# Google Cloud TTS (for audio generation)
GOOGLE_TTS_KEY=your_tts_api_key

# AnkiConnect (defaults to http://localhost:8765)
ANKI_CONNECT_URL=http://localhost:8765

The in-process backend requires ankinote-ai[headless], ANKI_BACKEND=collection, and ANKI_COLLECTION_PATH pointing to a collection file (for example /data/collection.anki2). Set both ANKIWEB_USERNAME and ANKIWEB_PASSWORD to configure AnkiWeb externally. These override a saved login; the password is never written to the credential file. The default backend remains AnkiConnect.

The direct backend synchronizes at startup, after each note save or note-type setup batch, and every five minutes. A fresh collection blocks writes until its initial collection sync completes. An initialized collection remains writable when offline; collection and media sync outcomes are tracked separately. A required full sync blocks writes until an explicit upload/download choice is resolved. The Settings page has an AnkiWeb sync panel for login/logout, status, manual sync, the sync interval, and the upload/download choice; the ankinote anki login|logout|status|sync commands cover the same from the CLI.

Beside the collection file, .sync.json stores credential-free status, .credentials.json stores saved login credentials with mode 0600, .account retains an account binding after logout, and .backups/ holds recoverable collection backups made before full sync. Logout removes the saved credential and pauses synchronization without deleting the collection or media. Externally configured credentials apply again on process restart. Use a different data directory to switch accounts. Open a collection from only one process at a time.

Fal images in the web UI

For Word and STEM cards, select a Fal image provider profile with base URL https://fal.run and your Fal API key (or set FAL_AI_API_KEY). These profiles call Fal's model endpoints directly. Use a full endpoint such as fal-ai/z-image/turbo; z-image/turbo and the LiteLLM-style fal_ai/fal-ai/z-image/turbo are also accepted. image_size controls the maximum edge of the downloaded image, preserving its aspect ratio.

The provider editor's refresh button lists active text-to-image endpoint IDs from Fal's Platform API. It works without a key and uses the saved Fal key for a higher rate limit when one is available; inference still uses https://fal.run.

Run the web GUI with Docker

Published images (multi-arch amd64 + arm64): ghcr.io/ignity21/ankinote-ai and ignity21/ankinote-ai (Docker Hub), tags latest, <major>.<minor>, and the exact version.

Two ready-made compose stacks under deploy/:

cd deploy/standard        # GUI + an AnkiConnect you already run
# or: cd deploy/headless  # GUI with the in-process Anki backend, syncs to AnkiWeb
cp .env.example .env      # set ANKINOTE_STORAGE_SECRET (+ AnkiWeb login for headless)
docker compose up -d      # http://localhost:8080

AI provider keys are added in the web UI (Settings page), not .env. See deploy/README.md for the difference between the stacks, the AnkiConnect host setup, and building locally.

Container env vars:

The published image bundles the anki library, so both backends work without a custom build. ANKI_CONNECT_URL is also honoured when running ankinote outside Docker (e.g. a remote Anki).

ankinote CLI - Usage Guide

Overview

The ankinote CLI is a powerful command-line tool for generating AI-powered Anki flashcards with automatic definitions, examples, pronunciations, audio, and images.

Commands

The CLI currently provides four collection entrypoints. Run ankinote <type> --help or ankinote <type> <command> --help for the complete, current option list.

Word cards

# Create the word note type and deck in Anki
ankinote word init

# Add one word
ankinote word add serendipity

# Add multiple words, either as arguments or from a file
ankinote word batch serendipity ephemeral eloquent
ankinote word batch --file words.txt

Phrase cards

ankinote phrase init
ankinote phrase add "look after"
ankinote phrase batch "focus on" "call off"
ankinote phrase batch --file phrases.txt

Sentence cards

The sentence argument should be in the native language; the target-language version is generated for the card back.

ankinote sentence init
ankinote sentence add "我今天起晚了。"
ankinote sentence batch --file sentences.txt

STEM cards

ankinote stem init
ankinote stem add "What is a derivative?"
ankinote stem add "State Newton's second law" --type formula
ankinote stem add "How do I invert a matrix?" --type procedure
ankinote stem add "Solve the problem in this photo" --type example --image problem.png
ankinote stem batch --file topics.txt
ankinote stem batch --file problems.txt --type example

STEM uses four independent note types: AINote STEM Concept, AINote STEM Formula, AINote STEM Procedure, and AINote STEM Example, all in the AINote::STEM deck. Each has its own fields and templates, with front first for duplicate detection and default sorting. Formula variables, solution steps, and images are stored in dedicated fields; tags use Anki's native tag store.

--type auto (the default) first classifies the request, then generates with the selected type's schema and prompt. Choosing a type skips that extra AI request. stem init initializes all four types; stem init --type concept initializes only Concept. The GUI supports the same type selection and previews every type for editing before saving, including variables, steps, tags, and diagram prompts.

The old AINote STEM type is no longer managed. Existing test notes are left untouched; this change does not migrate or delete them. Initialize the new types using ankinote stem init or the GUI's Card Types page.

Common options

Language-learning commands accept --native, --target, and --llm. Batch commands also accept --file and --rpm. STEM commands accept --llm, and can additionally configure diagram generation with --image-model and --image-size.

--llm and --image-model take any model id LiteLLM recognizes; the provider is inferred from the id and its key is read from the matching environment variable. Examples:

• --llm: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash, gemini/gemini-2.5-pro, gpt-4.1, claude-sonnet-4-20250514
• --image-model: gemini/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image, gpt-image-1, xai/grok-2-image

For example:

ankinote word add serendipity --native English --target 'Chinese(Simplified)'
ankinote word batch --file words.txt --rpm 30
ankinote stem add "State Bayes' theorem" --image-model gpt-image-1 --image-size 1024

Troubleshooting

Error: "AnkiConnect not available"

• Make sure Anki is running
• Check that AnkiConnect add-on is installed
• Verify AnkiConnect is listening on port 8765

Error: "No images found"

• Some STEM topics may not need a generated diagram
• Check the configured image model with ankinote stem add --help

Error: "API key not found"

• Check your configuration file
• Ensure environment variables are set
• Verify API keys are valid

Getting Help

# General help
ankinote --help

# Command-specific help
ankinote word --help
ankinote phrase --help
ankinote sentence --help
ankinote stem --help
ankinote word batch --help

📦 Tech Stack

• Language: Python 3.14+
• Package Manager: uv
• AI/ML: litellm (Gemini, GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, etc.)
• TTS: Google Cloud Text-to-Speech API
• Image Generation: Google AI (Gemini)
• Anki Integration: AnkiConnect
• Card Templates: HTML + CSS

🔧 API Services

AI Provider (via litellm)

• Text generation for definitions, examples, and mnemonics
• Image generation (Gemini) for card visuals
• Supports Gemini, GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Qwen, and more

Google Cloud TTS

• High-quality audio generation
• Multiple voice options

AnkiConnect

• Direct communication with Anki
• Real-time card creation
• Deck management

📝 Usage Examples

Single Word

from ankinote import CardGenerator

generator = CardGenerator()
card = generator.generate("ephemeral")
generator.add_to_anki(card, deck="Vocabulary")

Batch Processing

words = ["ephemeral", "serendipity", "eloquent"]
for word in words:
    card = generator.generate(word)
    generator.add_to_anki(card)

🛠️ Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ignity21/ankinote-ai.git
cd ankinote-ai

# Install the project and development dependencies
uv sync

# Run tests
make test

# Format code
make format

# Type checking
make check

Documentation

• Note Types
• Skill — for using ankinote with AI coding assistants

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details