AnkiMCP Server MCP server

AnkiMCP Server (Addon)

Seamlessly integrate Anki with AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol

An Anki addon that exposes your collection to AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What is this?

AnkiMCP Server runs a local MCP server inside Anki, allowing AI assistants like Claude to interact with your flashcard collection. This enables AI-powered study sessions, card creation, and collection management.

Part of the ankimcp.ai project.

Note on First Run

On first run, this addon downloads pydanticcore (~2MB) from PyPI. This is required because pydanticcore contains platform-specific binaries (Windows/macOS/Linux) that cannot be bundled in a single addon file.

A second native dependency, rpds (from rpds-py), is handled the same way — but it is almost never downloaded: Anki already ships rpds as a transitive dependency of its own jsonschema, so the addon just imports it. The download only kicks in on the rare install where that import fails. Both downloads are cached under Anki's own data folder (outside the addon's own folder, so it survives addon updates cleanly on every OS), falling back to the addon's _cache/ directory when that location isn't available — so either way they happen once, not on every launch. The old in-folder fallback cache is only ever removed once the outside-the-folder cache has proven itself usable (a successful load from it) and is never touched while a native module is still loaded from it — a failed first attempt (e.g. offline) leaves the old cache untouched rather than destroyed.

Features

• Local HTTP server - Runs on http://127.0.0.1:3141/ by default
• Remote tunnel - Access your collection from anywhere via a public HTTPS URL
• MCP protocol - Compatible with any MCP client (Claude Desktop, etc.)
• Auto-start - HTTP server starts automatically when Anki opens
• Tunnel-friendly - Works with Cloudflare Tunnel, ngrok, or the built-in tunnel (exposing the HTTP server this way also requires extending the allowed hosts/origins)
• DNS-rebinding protection - The HTTP server validates Host/Origin headers against a loopback allowlist by default; extend it for tunnel/reverse-proxy exposure
• Optional API key - Require an Authorization: Bearer token on the HTTP transport via httpapikey (AnkiConnect-style; empty = disabled)
• Toolbar indicator - A ● AnkiMCP item in the top toolbar shows tunnel connection state at a glance (opt out via showtoolbarindicator)
• Diagnostic logging - Opt-in logtofile writes a rotating, secret-redacted log to userfiles/ankimcp.log, with Open log folder / Copy diagnostics** buttons in settings
• Field management - Add, rename, and reposition note-type fields via the model_fields tool (with an opt-in destructive remove)
• Bulk card stats - The read-only cards_stats tool returns compact per-card scheduling metrics (type/queue/interval/tags/dueToday) for a whole deck including subdecks, FSRS-independent — a lean bulk read for analytics
• Cross-platform - Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux (x64 and ARM)

Installation

From AnkiWeb (recommended)

1. Open Anki and go to Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons...
2. Enter code: 124672614
3. Restart Anki

From GitHub Releases

1. Download ankimcpserver.ankiaddon from Releases
2. Double-click to install, or use Tools → Add-ons → Install from file...
3. Restart Anki

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.