Install anki with Homebrew Cask

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

No executable aliases were found in the local package database.

Project history

Anki was created in 2006 by Damien Elmes as an open-source, cross-platform spaced-repetition program. It addressed limitations the official manual associates with proprietary, Windows-only SuperMemo while retaining scheduling ideas derived from the SM-2 algorithm.

Over time, Anki expanded from a desktop flashcard program into a synchronized multi-device platform. Its architecture evolved into a mixed Rust, Python, Qt, TypeScript, and web stack, while its collection format and add-on interfaces continued to support a large customization ecosystem.

Modern Anki integrates the Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler as an alternative to its legacy SM-2-derived scheduler. FSRS uses review history to optimize parameters for a user's memory patterns and desired retention.

Adoption history

Anki developed into a cross-platform ecosystem comprising the desktop application, AnkiWeb synchronization, the official AnkiMobile client, the community-developed AnkiDroid client, shared decks, and a large add-on culture.

Its open-source code, accessible collection data, media support, customizable card templates, and extension system made it especially common among language learners and students preparing for medicine, law, and other knowledge-intensive fields.

How it is used

Users create or import notes, generate cards from note templates, organize them into decks, and rate each review so Anki can schedule the next appearance. Cards can contain text, images, audio, video, and scientific markup.

AnkiWeb can synchronize collections and media across devices. Advanced users commonly customize HTML/CSS templates, install add-ons, import or export package and text formats, inspect statistics, and maintain multiple profiles.

The manual warns against modifying or copying a collection while Anki is running. Each profile stores its collection in `collection.anki2`, with media in `collection.media`; program-level and profile-level preferences are held in `prefs.db`.

Why package nerds care

Anki is a canonical power-user desktop package: it combines a long-lived open-source application, cross-platform data formats, SQLite-backed collections, extensive add-ons, HTML/CSS card templates, synchronization, and user-controlled local files.

For package maintainers and advanced users, the distinction between the application binary, `prefs.db`, profile collections, media directories, add-ons, and AnkiWeb synchronization is operationally important. Its move from legacy SM-2 scheduling toward optional FSRS also shows how a mature application can modernize a central algorithm while preserving years of user data.

Timeline

• 2006: Damien Elmes created Anki.
• Later: AnkiWeb, official mobile support, community clients, shared decks, and an add-on ecosystem broadened the project beyond the desktop application.
• 2023: Compatible Anki clients began supporting integrated FSRS scheduling alongside the legacy SM-2-derived scheduler.

Related projects

• AnkiWeb
• AnkiMobile
• AnkiDroid
• SuperMemo
• FSRS

Sources

• Official manual background: https://docs.ankiweb.net/background.html
• Official manual deck options and FSRS guidance: https://docs.ankiweb.net/deck-options.html
• Official manual file locations: https://docs.ankiweb.net/files.html
• Official product site: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
• Official source repository: https://github.com/ankitects/anki