Gloss: Ask Claude about the card you're studying

Press G during review and a small chat window opens with Claude already looking at your current card. Ask for an explanation, check it against how it's tested on boards, or have Claude fix the card or write new ones.

What it does

• Context-aware chat: Claude sees the card's fields, note type, deck, tags, which cloze you're on, and any images (histology, ECGs, imaging).
• Quick prompts: one-click Explain, Fact-check, Mnemonic, and Improve card. Add your own with + (e.g. "Spell check"); right-click one of yours to edit or delete it.
• Edits you approve: when Claude suggests a fix, you see the real card as Anki renders it, Current | Proposed side by side, with a Front/Back toggle and a cloze picker. Click Apply to save it, or Edit to tweak the wording first.
• New cards: Claude can propose one or more new notes. Each is shown as a rendered card with an Add button, and goes into the same deck. Duplicates and missing clozes are flagged before you add.
• Nothing changes until you click. Everything Gloss adds or edits is tagged gloss (search tag:gloss to find it), and Edit → Undo works as usual.
• Model choice: Sonnet 5.5 (default, fast and inexpensive) or Opus 5.5 (strongest).

Requirements

• An Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) running Anki 26 or newer. Gloss bundles Anthropic's SDK, which includes compiled code for that setup. On other systems it shows a message explaining this instead of opening.
• An Anthropic API key.

Setup

1. Install the add-on and restart Anki.
2. Press G while reviewing. The first time, Gloss asks for a key.
   • Your own key: click Open the Claude Console, create an account, add credits, create an API key, and paste it in.
   • An invite code someone sent you: paste the gloss-invite: code instead.
3. Gloss checks the key with Anthropic before saving it. To change it later, use Tools → Gloss: API key… or the 🔑 button in the chat window.

Privacy

• When you send a message, the current card's fields, note type, deck name, tags, and images are sent to Anthropic's API, along with your conversation about that card. Nothing is sent until you send a message.
• Your API key is stored only on your computer, in Anki's add-on settings.
• Gloss has no server of its own and collects nothing.
• Gloss keeps a local activity log (actions and errors only, no message contents or keys) in the add-on's user_files/gloss.log.

Settings

All settings are in Tools → Add-ons → Gloss → Config:

• Default model: Sonnet 5.5 or Opus 5.5.
• Effort: how hard Claude thinks before answering, from low to max.
• About you: a short note Claude sees in every chat, e.g. "MS2, Step 1 in March".
• Images: whether to send card images.
• Shortcut: the key that opens the chat during review (default G).
• Bottom-bar button: show or hide the Ask Claude button.

Tips

• Open the chat with G, the Ask Claude button next to Edit, a right-click on the card, or from the Browser (right-click a card).
• A− / A+ (or ⌘− / ⌘=) resize the chat text.
• Each card gets its own conversation. New chat starts over.