Anki MCP Server

npm

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for managing Anki flashcards. Connects to AnkiConnect to enable AI assistants to create, read, and update flashcards.

Prerequisites

• Anki with AnkiConnect add-on installed

• Node.js 24+ (Download)

• Anki running, with AnkiConnect on http://127.0.0.1:8765 (default)

Installation in Claude Desktop

• Open Claude Desktop

• Go to: "Claude" / "Settings..."

• Tab "Developer"

• Click "Edit Config"

Edit your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json), and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anki": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "stefanwille-anki-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop to activate.

Troubleshooting

"Failed to spawn process" / "command not found: npx" on macOS

Claude Desktop launches with a restricted PATH that doesn't include Node.js when installed via version managers like Volta or nvm. You'll see errors like:

Failed to spawn process: No such file or directory

or

node: command not found

Fix: Use the full path to npx and add the Node.js bin directory explicitly via env:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anki": {
      "command": "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.volta/bin/npx",
      "args": ["-y", "stefanwille-anki-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "PATH": "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.volta/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your macOS username and adjust the path if you use nvm (~/.nvm/versions/node/vX.X.X/bin/) or another version manager.

Find your actual npx path by running in a terminal:

which npx

Example Prompts

• "What decks do I have in Anki?"

• "Show the cards in my Spanish vocabulary deck"

• "Check all cards in deck 'Italiano::Capitulo 3' for grammatical errors and correct them"

• "Create a card in my Italian deck with 'ciao' on the front and 'hello' on the back"

• "Extract the vocabulary from the photo and add it to my Italian deck with Italian on the front and German on the back: ..."

• "Create a new deck called 'Physics::Quantum Mechanics'"

• "Rename my 'Math' deck to 'Mathematics'"

• "Give me an exercise that requires me to use the Italian words in the deck 'Italienisch::Capitulo 6::Italienisch 38 - 2025-08-01'"

Tools

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24+

• pnpm (Installation)

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/stefanwille/anki-mcp-server.git
cd anki-mcp-server
pnpm install
pnpm build

Watch Mode

pnpm watch

Rebuilds automatically on file changes.

Install Locally

Update Claude Desktop config to point directly to the built file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "anki": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/anki-mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Replace /absolute/path/to/anki-mcp-server with your actual clone location.

Publish to npm

Create a GitHub release to trigger the npm publish workflow:

pnpm login 
# If pnpm login produces a 404 page, try pnpm login again
pnpm version patch  # or minor, major
git push && git push --tags
gh release create v$(node -p "require('./package.json').version") --generate-notes

This triggers the GitHub Actions workflow that publishes to npm automatically using trusted publishing (OIDC), not access tokens.

License

MIT