Anki Cloze Deletion for Obsidian

A lightweight Obsidian plugin that brings Anki-style cloze deletion shortcuts ({{cN::text}}) to your markdown notes, scoped specifically to individual flashcard blocks.

Concept & Benefits

A cloze deletion is a fill-in-the-blank flashcard. Instead of formulating explicit question-and-answer pairs, you mask key terms inside a coherent statement or definition.

• Faster Creation: Mask key concepts directly without inventing artificial question/answer pairs.
• Contextual Learning: Learn facts embedded within their natural context.
• Efficiency: Generate multiple flashcards from a single block of text by incrementing the cloze index.

Card Structure Requirement

Cards must be enclosed between horizontal rules (---):

---
Cloze
This is an example {{c1::cloze}} card. You can {{c2::hide}} different text parts {{c2::with ease}}.

---
ADDED: Cloze %%3l99il%%
This is another {{c1::example}} cloze card.

---

• Scoped Indexing: Cloze numbers (c1, c2, ...) are counted independently within each --- ... --- block. Every new card block starts at c1.
• Boundary Validation: Triggering a cloze shortcut outside a card block displays a warning notice and leaves text unchanged.
• Frontmatter Safety: YAML frontmatter (the --- block at the start of a note) is automatically detected and protected.
• Nested Cloze Protection: Multi-layer protection prevents creating nested clozes (e.g. {{c1::can {{c2::{{c3::happen}}}}}}), which are invalid in Anki.

Syntax & Shortcuts

Syntax: {{cN::Text}} where N is the card index.

Both commands support selected text (wraps the selection) and empty selection (inserts {{cN::}} with the cursor placed inside ready to type).

1. Cloze Deletion (new card)

• Default Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + C (or Cmd + Shift + C on macOS)
• Behavior: Increments the highest existing cloze number inside the current card block by 1 (e.g., from c1 to c2, or starts at c1 if none exist).
• Result: Wraps the text in {{cN+1::...}}, generating a separate flashcard in Anki.

2. Cloze Deletion (same card)

• Default Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + C (or Cmd + Option + C on macOS)
• Behavior: Reuses the highest existing cloze number inside the current card block (defaults to c1 if none exist).
• Result: Wraps the text in {{cN::...}}. All clozes sharing the same number in a card block are tested together.

Settings & Customization

Shortcuts are registered natively with Obsidian. You can customize them anytime in Settings -> Hotkeys by searching for Anki Cloze.

Installation

Community Plugins (Recommended once listed)

1. Open Settings -> Community plugins and turn off Restricted mode.
2. Search for Anki Cloze Deletion and click Install, then Enable.

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js and manifest.json from the latest GitHub Release.
2. Create the folder <Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/anki-cloze/ in your Obsidian vault.
3. Place manifest.json and main.js inside that folder.
4. Reload Obsidian or reload plugins under Settings -> Community plugins, then toggle Anki Cloze Deletion on.