- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates6
Write flashcards naturally in Obsidian and study them in Anki.
Anki Forge finds cards in your Markdown notes, shows you what will change, and sends them to Anki. You can keep your explanations, images, tags, headings, and source material together in Obsidian while Anki handles review scheduling.
Why Anki Forge?
- Write cards without leaving your notes.
- Preview every create, update, and deletion before it reaches Anki.
- Edit cards in Obsidian or Anki and safely bring changes back.
- Include images, audio, Markdown formatting, math, code, and embedded notes.
- Keep cards organized with note tags, folder-based decks, and frontmatter.
What you need
- Obsidian 1.5.0 or newer on desktop
- Anki
- The AnkiConnect Anki add-on
Anki must be open while syncing. Anki Forge connects to AnkiConnect at http://127.0.0.1:8765 by default.
Installation
When Anki Forge is available in Obsidian's community plugin directory:
- Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
- Search for Anki Forge.
- Select Install, then Enable.
- Open Anki and make sure AnkiConnect is installed.
For a manual installation, download main.js and manifest.json from the latest GitHub release. Put them in <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/anki-forge/, then reload Obsidian.
Release files include signed GitHub build-provenance attestations. After downloading them, you can verify each file with the GitHub CLI:
gh attestation verify main.js --repo keptan/obsidian-anki
gh attestation verify manifest.json --repo keptan/obsidian-anki
Your first cards
The simplest card uses two colons:
What is the powerhouse of the cell?::The mitochondrion
For a card that should be tested in both directions, use three colons:
bonjour:::hello
Highlights and braces create cloze cards:
The ==mitochondrion== is the powerhouse of the cell.
Water freezes at {0°C}.
The heart has {1:four} chambers and {2:two} atria.
You can also write a longer answer beneath a tagged prompt:
Why do leaves look green? #card
Chlorophyll absorbs mostly red and blue light, while reflecting green light.
Before its first sync, a blank line ends a multiline card. The first sync adds
the card's ^af-... block ID, which then becomes its authoritative endpoint.
That lets later edits pulled from Anki safely contain multiple lines or
paragraphs:
Why do leaves look green? #card
Chlorophyll absorbs mostly red and blue light.
Leaves reflect more green light than other visible wavelengths.
^af-k3f8x2m1qz
Keep the generated block ID directly beneath the complete answer and avoid editing or copying it by hand.
Add ordinary Obsidian tags anywhere on the card and Anki Forge will carry them into Anki:
What does DNA stand for?::Deoxyribonucleic acid #biology #genetics
Choosing a deck
Add an anki-deck property to the top of a note:
---
anki-deck: Biology
tags: [school]
---
This chooses the Anki deck and opts the note into automatic syncing. Notes without anki-deck are left alone unless you sync them manually.
By default, Anki Forge can also turn Obsidian folders into nested Anki decks. You can change this and the fallback deck in the plugin settings.
Syncing
Open the command palette and choose one of these commands:
- Sync current note to Anki
- Sync opted-in notes in current folder
- Sync all opted-in notes
Before anything changes in Anki, you will see a preview with the number of cards to create, update, or delete. Nothing is applied until you approve it.
Anki Forge can also sync an opted-in note when you leave it and check for Anki edits when you open it. Both behaviors can be turned off in settings.
Editing cards later
On the first sync, Anki Forge adds a small block ID below each card:
What is the powerhouse of the cell?::The mitochondrion
^af-k3f8x2m1qz
That ID connects the Markdown card to the correct Anki note. It is normal Obsidian block-ID syntax. You can move the card around, but avoid editing or copying its ^af-... line by hand.
If only Obsidian changed, the next sync updates Anki. If only Anki changed, Anki Forge can update the Markdown. If both changed, it shows both versions and asks which one you want to keep.
If a tracked note was deleted in Anki, Anki Forge keeps your Markdown text and visually strikes it through instead of silently deleting it.
Media and formatting
Cards can contain common Markdown formatting, links, code blocks, math, images, and audio. Local media is copied into Anki's media collection during sync.
Embedded Markdown notes are expanded into the card. You can embed a whole note or one section:
![[Cell biology]]
![[Cell biology#Mitochondria]]
Missing media or failed cards appear in a report. One bad card does not stop unrelated cards from syncing.
Settings
You can configure:
- The AnkiConnect address
- The default deck and folder-based decks
- Default Anki tags
- Inline and reversed-card separators
- Heading context on cards
- Automatic sync when leaving a note, independently toggleable
- Automatic pulling of Anki edits when opening a note, independently toggleable
Privacy
Anki Forge sends card text and media only to the AnkiConnect endpoint in its settings. It has no accounts, telemetry, analytics, advertising, or payment features. Its card mappings and settings stay in Obsidian's local plugin data.
Development
npm ci
npm run check
npm run check runs the test suite, TypeScript checks, and the production build. The finished plugin files are written to dist/.