Anki Link for Obsidian

Turn your Obsidian notes into synced Anki flashcards for better retention.

Why this plugin?

• Write flashcards inline in your notes using callouts.
• Obsidian is treated as a single source of truth for generated flashcards, which are kept up-to-date with their obsidian sources.
• Support rich card bodies including:
  • Markdown formatting (lists, emphasis, tables, etc.)
  • Code blocks
  • Inline and block math with Latex

Setup

1. Install the plugin in Obsidian
2. Install Anki Connect Plus in Anki
3. In Anki, navigate to Tools -> Addons -> AnkiConnect -> Config, and add app://obsidian.md to the webCordOriginList like this:

{
    "apiKey": null,
    "apiLogPath": null,
    "webBindAddress": "127.0.0.1",
    "webBindPort": 8765,
    "webCorsOrigin": "http://localhost",
    "webCorsOriginList": [
        "http://localhost",
        "app://obsidian.md"
    ]
}

Each flashcard starts with a callout line and continues with quoted body lines:

> [!flashcard] Explain Big-O for binary search.
> Binary search runs in **O(log n)** time.
>
> At each step, it halves the search space:
> ```text
> n -> n/2 -> n/4 -> n/8 ...
> ```
>
> Approximate steps:
> $$
> \text{steps} \approx \log_2(n)
> $$

Notes

• Every flashcard body line must start with >.
• The plugin writes %%<anki-note-id>%% after the flashcard title after first sync. This won't be visible in Obsidian unless you're editing the flashcard callout.
• Removing a flashcard from your notes removes the linked Anki note on sync.

Commands

• Sync cards - Syncs all vault flashcards to Anki, updating, creating, moving, and deleting as needed.
• Add flashcard - Inserts the flashcard preamble template at the cursor.

How deck mapping works

• Deck is read per file from frontmatter key: anki deck.
• If the deck does not exist in Anki, it is created automatically.
• Existing cards are moved to the configured deck if needed.

Custom Anki note type

The plugin targets a model named AnkiLink Basic and ensures it exists.
On sync, it updates that model's templates/CSS so formatting stays consistent across cards.