Memory Forest

A forest that grows from your Anki study history. Every day you learn new cards plants a tree below your deck list. Trees grow as those cards settle into memory, and turn a little yellow when you start to forget them. There is nothing to click and nothing to manage: just study, and watch it grow.

<p align="center"><img src="docs/forest.png" alt="A forest of a few hundred days, at golden hour by the lake"></p>

Get it on AnkiWeb · add-on code 1255432496

How it works

<p align="center"><img src="docs/growth.png" alt="The same forest after a week, a month, four months and four years"><br> <i>After a week, a month, four months and four years.</i></p>

Every day you learn new cards, a tree is planted. It starts as a seedling and grows as you come to know those cards: within a few weeks it is a young tree, and the days you know best keep growing for years, into ancient giants. If you start forgetting a day's cards, its tree gets a few yellow leaves, and they turn green again once you relearn them. Trees never die. Days when you only review don't plant a tree, but they keep the ones you have healthy.

So the forest is a picture of what you know: its size is how much you have learned, and its colour is how well you remember it. Take a week off and a pond appears where the missing days would be. Keep studying and animals move in, and after a year a little cabin appears at the edge of the woods.

<p align="center"><img src="docs/hover.png" alt="The tooltip on a yellowing tree: its day, its cards, how much is remembered, and how many are being relearned"><br> <i>Point at any tree to see its day, and how well you remember it.</i></p>

Pick your scenery

<table align="center"> <tr> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/golden_lake.gif" alt="Golden hour by the lake, animated"><br>_{Golden hour by the lake}</td> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/misty_valley.gif" alt="Misty mountain valley, animated"><br>_{Misty mountain valley}</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/aurora.gif" alt="Aurora night, animated"><br>_{Aurora night}</td> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/lanterns.gif" alt="Lanterns at night, animated"><br>_{Lanterns at night}</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/bamboo.gif" alt="Rainy bamboo grove, animated"><br>_{Rainy bamboo grove}</td> <td align="center"><img src="docs/animated/synthwave.gif" alt="Synthwave, animated"><br>_Synthwave</td> </tr> </table>

How you study

The forest notices how you study, not just what you learn. Good days leave something behind for you to find. Whether bad habits leave a mark too is up to you: pick a Nature on the General tab of the settings.

<p align="center"><img src="docs/nature/peaceful.gif" alt="A calm forest by the lake, with a pond where days were missed"><br> <b>Peaceful</b> (the default): only the good things. Days away cost you nothing.</p>

<p align="center"><img src="docs/nature/wild.gif" alt="Part of the forest on fire, smoke rising from it"><br> <b>Wild</b>: bad habits leave marks until you fix them. Miss a day and smoke rises from the forest as a warning; miss the next one too and a fire breaks out, spreading while you stay away. A week of study puts it out.</p>

<p align="center"><img src="docs/nature/merciless.gif" alt="An asteroid on its way down, over the forest"><br> <b>Merciless</b>: a single day without reviews brings down an asteroid on the whole forest, and a new one grows from there. Bad habits leave their marks too.</p>

Change your mind at any time: switch back and your forest is just as it was.

On your phone

Turn on "Show my forest on my phone" on the General tab, and after your next sync a Memory Forest deck appears in AnkiDroid: open it to see your forest. It updates each time Anki syncs on your computer.

Compatibility and privacy

• Anki 2.1.50 or later, on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux). Your forest can also be shown on your Android phone, in AnkiDroid.
• Everything is computed on your computer from your own review history. The only thing that leaves it is your city's name, and only if you turn on the real weather: it is sent to Open-Meteo (free, no account) to look up the forecast.
• The forest for your phone travels as a note in your own collection, through your usual AnkiWeb sync, like any other card.

Support

If you enjoy Memory Forest, please give it a thumbs up on AnkiWeb and share it with friends who study with Anki. It is what helps other people find it.

Feedback

Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.

License

MIT. Developing it yourself? See DEVELOPMENT.md.