anki-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables LLMs to interact with your Anki flashcard collection. Read decks, search notes, view card contents, and update fields directly from your LLM tool of choice.

Features

• Deck Management: List all available Anki decks
• Note Search: Search notes using Anki's powerful search syntax
• Note Viewing: View note contents and field values
• Note Editing: Update note fields programmatically

Setup

Prerequisites

1. Anki - Desktop application must be installed and running
2. AnkiConnect - Add-on for API access (code: 2055492159)
3. Bun 1.2.16 or later

Installation

# Install AnkiConnect in Anki
# Go to Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons... → Enter: 2055492159

# Clone and setup this project
git clone git@github.com:mybuddymichael/anki-mcp.git
cd anki-mcp
bun install

Usage

With Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anki": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/path/to/anki-mcp/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

With Other MCP Clients

This server works with any MCP-compatible client. Look up the respective documentation for how to configure it.

Available tools

Tool	Description	Parameters
get-decks	Lists all available Anki decks	None
search-notes	Search notes using Anki syntax	query (string)
get-note-fields	Get note field contents	noteIds (number[])
get-model-names	List note types/models	None
get-model-field-names	Get field names for a model	modelName (string)
update-note-fields	Update note field contents	noteId (number), fields (object)
add-notes	Add new notes to decks	notes (array)
list-media-files	List all media files	None
check-media-exists	Check if media file exists	filename (string)
store-media	Store media file to Anki media collection	filePath (string)

Usage examples

Adding new cards

"Add a card with 'bonjour' on the front and 'hello' on the back to my French deck"

"Create a flashcard for the Spanish word 'biblioteca' meaning 'library' with the tag 'places'"

"Add these vocabulary words to my German deck: Haus (house), Auto (car), Buch (book)"

Finding cards

"Search for all cards in my Biology deck, then show me their contents"

First: Search returns note IDs → Second: Get field contents for those IDs

"Find my Spanish vocabulary cards tagged with 'food', then show me what they contain"

Updating cards

"Update the back of card #1234567890 to include pronunciation: 'biblioteca [bee-blee-oh-TEH-kah]'"

"Fix the typo on the front of that card - change 'recieve' to 'receive'"

Deck info

"What decks do I have available?"

"What note types exist in my Anki collection?"

"Show me the field names for my Cloze note type"

Related Links

• Model Context Protocol Documentation
• AnkiConnect Documentation
• Anki Manual

License

MIT