anki-mcp-addon

Talk to your Anki collection. Point Claude (or any MCP client) at your flashcards and study, edit, and analyze your deck in plain conversation. No AnkiConnect, no Node.js, no external dependencies. It's a small Python add-on that runs an MCP server inside Anki itself.

Why

Anki is powerful but manual: browsing, tagging, and reviewing all happen through the desktop UI. This add-on turns your collection into something an LLM can actually work with, so you can ask for things instead of clicking through them:

• "Quiz me on today's due cards, one at a time."
• "Turn these notes into 15 flashcards and put them in my Spanish deck."
• "How's my retention been this month? Which decks am I falling behind on?"
• "Find every card tagged hard, move them into a Review deck."
• "I got that one wrong, mark it Again."

Everything runs locally. Your collection never leaves your machine except through whatever MCP client you're already using.

Prerequisites

• Anki 23.10 or later (Python 3.9+ bundled)
• An MCP-compatible client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, etc.)

Installation

Via AnkiWeb (recommended)

1. Anki → Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons
2. Paste this code: 593632040
3. Restart Anki

Add-on page on AnkiWeb

Manual (for development or the latest unreleased code)

1. Find your Anki add-ons directory: Anki → Tools → Add-ons → View Files (opens %APPDATA%\Anki2\addons21\ on Windows)
2. Copy (or symlink) this repo's root folder (the one containing __init__.py and manifest.json) into that add-ons directory
3. Restart Anki

Either way, the MCP server starts automatically when you open a profile. It listens on http://127.0.0.1:8766.

Optional: change port

Tools → Add-ons → anki-mcp → Config opens a settings dialog. Change the port and click "Save and restart"; no need to restart Anki.

Client setup

Claude Code

claude mcp add anki --transport sse http://127.0.0.1:8766/sse

Restart Claude Code. Anki must be open whenever you use it.

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anki": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8766/sse"
    }
  }
}

Other MCP-compatible clients

Use SSE transport URL: http://127.0.0.1:8766/sse

Refer to each client's MCP documentation for where to configure SSE servers.

Available tools

Notes

Tool	Description
create_notes	Create Basic or Cloze notes. Supports batch.
search_notes	Search with Anki browser syntax. Returns up to limit notes (default 50).
update_note	Edit note fields in place by note ID. Preserves scheduling data.
add_tags / remove_tags	Tag notes by ID. Supports :: hierarchy.
delete_notes	Delete notes by ID (also deletes associated cards).
move_notes	Move notes to another deck.

Decks

Tool	Description
create_deck	Create deck or subdeck (Parent::Child::Grandchild).
list_decks	List all decks with due/new/learn counts.
delete_decks	Delete decks by name.

Study

Tool	Description
get_due_cards	Get cards due for review (default limit 20, max 100).
submit_answer	Record answer for a card: 1=Again, 2=Hard, 3=Good, 4=Easy.
reschedule_cards	Postpone cards by N days.
suspend_cards	Suspend or unsuspend cards.
forget_cards	Reset cards to new state. Preserves note content and tags.

Insights & sync

Tool	Description
get_insights	Retention stats, overdue count, mature/young cards for a deck or all decks.
sync	Trigger AnkiWeb sync.

Development

pip install pytest
pytest

Tests run without Anki. The aqt and anki modules are mocked via tests/conftest.py.

License

MIT