Anki Exporter

Anki Exporter is an Obsidian plugin for synchronizing Markdown flashcards with Anki through AnkiConnect.

Write flashcards directly inside your Obsidian notes:

What is an array? :: A contiguous collection of elements.

Then analyze and synchronize them with an Anki deck without maintaining the same content manually in both applications.

Features

• Export Markdown flashcards directly to Anki
• Simple Question :: Answer syntax
• Search and select existing Anki decks
• Create new Anki decks directly from Obsidian
• Smart synchronization of existing flashcards
• Update changed Anki cards instead of creating duplicates
• Detect unchanged flashcards
• Recreate flashcards whose Anki note was deleted
• Configurable duplicate handling
• Preview changes before synchronization
• Before/after comparison for updated flashcards
• Configurable AnkiConnect URL

Flashcard Syntax

Flashcards use the following format:

Question :: Answer

There must be exactly one space before and after ::.

Example:

# Data Structures

Array :: A contiguous collection of elements.

Stack :: A LIFO data structure.

Queue :: A FIFO data structure.

Normal Markdown content is ignored.

Smart Sync

When a new flashcard is created in Anki, its Anki note ID is stored inside the Markdown document:

<!-- anki-note-id:123456789 -->
What is an array? :: A contiguous collection of elements.

During future synchronizations, the plugin uses this ID to determine whether the flashcard should be:

• created
• updated
• skipped
• left unchanged
• recreated if the corresponding Anki note no longer exists

This allows the Obsidian note to remain the primary source of the flashcard content.

Sync Preview

Before synchronizing, Anki Exporter can analyze all flashcards in the current note.

The preview groups flashcards into:

• Created – new cards that will be added to Anki
• Updated – existing cards whose content changed
• Skipped – cards that will not be added, for example because of duplicate handling
• Unchanged – cards that are already synchronized

Updated flashcards include a before/after comparison so changes can be reviewed before they are applied.

Requirements

The following applications are required:

• Obsidian
• Anki Desktop
• AnkiConnect

Anki must be running while synchronizing flashcards.

By default, AnkiConnect is expected at:

http://127.0.0.1:8765

The URL can be changed in the plugin settings.

Installing AnkiConnect

1. Open Anki.
2. Go to Tools → Add-ons.
3. Select Get Add-ons.
4. Enter the AnkiConnect add-on code:

2055492159

5. Restart Anki.

Usage

1. Open Anki.
2. Open a Markdown note in Obsidian.
3. Add flashcards using the Question :: Answer syntax.
4. Open Anki Exporter using the ribbon icon or Command Palette.
5. Select an Anki deck.
6. Configure duplicate handling if necessary.
7. Optionally analyze the flashcards before synchronizing.
8. Export the flashcards to Anki.

Architecture

The project separates parsing, synchronization, Anki communication and UI logic.

Obsidian Markdown
        │
        ▼
Flashcard Parser
        │
        ▼
Sync / Analysis
        │
        ▼
Anki Client
        │
        ▼
AnkiConnect
        │
        ▼
Anki

Project structure:

src/
├── anki/         # AnkiConnect integration
├── flashcards/   # Parsing and Markdown handling
├── sync/         # Synchronization and change analysis
├── ui/           # Obsidian user interface
├── main.ts       # Plugin orchestration
└── settings.ts   # Plugin settings

Development

Install dependencies:

npm install

Start the development build:

npm run dev

Run the test suite:

npm test

Run tests with coverage:

npm run test:coverage

Run ESLint:

npm run lint

Create a production build:

npm run build

Testing and CI

The project contains unit and integration tests covering areas such as:

• Markdown parsing
• AnkiConnect requests
• Smart synchronization
• Duplicate handling
• Missing Anki notes
• Flashcard analysis
• Export modal behavior
• Error handling
• Plugin orchestration

GitHub Actions automatically runs:

Lint
  ↓
Automated Tests
  ↓
Coverage
  ↓
Production Build

Coverage reports are uploaded to Codecov.

Technology

• TypeScript
• Obsidian Plugin API
• AnkiConnect
• Vitest
• jsdom
• esbuild
• ESLint
• Docker
• GitHub Actions
• Codecov

Contributing

Contributions, bug reports and feature suggestions are welcome.

Before opening a pull request, run:

npm run lint
npm test
npm run build

License

MIT