🤖 Anki AI Helper

Ever wished you had a personal tutor inside Anki?

Anki AI Helper is a simple, powerful add-on that brings Artificial Intelligence directly to your flashcards. Whether you need a quick explanation, a catchy mnemonic, or a detailed translation, this tool acts as your personal study buddy!

🌟 What to Expect (How it Works)

Using Anki AI Helper is completely effortless:

• Works with EVERYTHING: It works universally with all your existing decks and card types out-of-the-box. You do not need to create special cards or change your templates!
• Safe & Non-Destructive: It never modifies or permanently alters your actual cards in the database. The AI response is simply injected visually onto the screen underneath your normal card back.
• Instant Explanations: You just review your cards normally. When you press "Show Answer," the AI instantly reads the card and generates a helpful explanation right below your usual answer.

🚀 Getting Started in 3 Simple Steps

Even if you've never used an add-on before, setup takes less than a minute:

1. Install the Add-on: Download the latest .ankiaddon file from the Releases page. Open Anki and go to Tools → Add-ons → Install from file.... Select the .ankiaddon file and restart Anki.
2. Get an API Key: To use AI, you need a "key" from an AI provider (like OpenAI/ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Claude). Google Gemini offers a free tier that works perfectly for this!
3. Plug it in: In Anki, go to Tools → Anki AI Helper Settings. Paste your API key in the box, select your provider, and click Save.

That's it! Start reviewing your cards and watch the AI magic happen. ✨

⚙️ Customize Your Tutor (Advanced)

Want the AI to do something specific? You can fully customize exactly how it talks to you!

In the settings (Tools → Anki AI Helper Settings), you can edit the Prompt Template. For example, you can tell the AI:

Example 1: Language Learning

You are a native language teacher.
Please provide 2 simple example sentences using the vocabulary word on this flashcard:

FRONT: {front}
BACK: {back}

Example 2: Medical School / Heavy Memorization

You are my medical school tutor. 
Based on this flashcard, give me a funny mnemonic to help me memorize the answer:

FRONT: {front}
BACK: {back}

The add-on will automatically replace {front} and {back} with your actual card text before asking the AI!

🛠️ Development

Built with modern Python tooling and Anki Add-on Developer Tools (AADT).

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/malarau/anki-ai-helper.git
cd anki-ai-helper

# Install dependencies using uv
uv sync

# Link and launch a local Anki test instance
uv run aadt test

# Build release package (.ankiaddon)
uv run aadt build

❓ Troubleshooting

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.