MichaelPrutkowMichaelPrutkow/anki-mcp-server/skills/improve-cards/SKILL.md

improve-cards

Skill3 starsChanged 19 days agoMITView on GitHub

Works on the user's existing Anki cards - searches the collection, finds the cards they struggle with from their review history (again rate, lapses, FSRS difficulty, leeches, red flags), works out why each one fails and fixes it without losing its review history, deletes cards and undoes earlier changes. Use when the user asks what is in their collection, wants cards corrected, improved, cleaned up or removed, asks which cards are hard for them, or wants to undo something this plugin did.

1 other project uses a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

MichaelPrutkow/anki-for-claudeword for word, first seen Oct 17, 2026

Other versions1 project uses a version of this.
Word for word · 1
MichaelPrutkow/anki-for-claude★ 3100% same
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 0
None found.
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
In this repository4 other files it gives its agents.
- check-setupSkill
- create-cardsSkill
- exam-prepSkill
- visualsSkill

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

4 rules. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 3 are very specific to this project.

≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈1
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
3
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

Common
Distinctive
Very specific

Distinctive:
No hits usually means the query is malformed, not that nothing matches.
line 37
Very specific:
Call sync, so reviews from the phone count.
line 41
Very specific:
Call stats, with scope set to the deck the user cares about (for example deck:"Analysis 2").
line 42
Very specific:
Delete a card only when it should not exist at all, and ask the user first.
line 67

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.

Files

SKILL.md

Improving existing cards

If overview and the other anki tools are not among your tools, call get_device_info (search for it if it is not loaded) and search for the anki tools again. In the Claude app, a chat reaches the tools on the user's computer reliably only if the user added a folder to it before sending the first message. If the tools are still missing, ask the user to start a new chat, add a folder with the Add folder button (for example the folder with their study material) and send the request again. Only if that does not help either, follow the check-setup skill.

Finding cards

search_notes takes Anki's search syntax, and the query has to follow it exactly:

Syntax	Meaning
`dog cat`	both words (a space means AND)
`dog or cat`	either word
`-cat`	without cat
`dog (cat or mouse)`	grouping
`"a dog"`	exact phrase; also needed for spaces in names: `deck:"French Words"`
`d*g`	wildcard: dog, dug, dg
`deck:Name`, `deck:Name::Sub`	a deck, including its subdecks
`tag:Name`, `tag:none`	a tag; tags are hierarchical, `tag:mcp::batch::*` matches every batch
`note:Basic`	a note type
`Front:dog`	the whole field is exactly "dog"; `Front:dog` finds it anywhere in the field
`Front:` / `Front:_*`	field empty / not empty
`nid:123,456`	notes by id
`is:new`, `is:due`, `is:learn`, `is:review`, `is:suspended`	card state
`prop:lapses>3`, `prop:ivl>=21`	numeric card properties
`rated:7:1`	answered "again" in the last 7 days
`added:7`, `edited:7`	added or edited in the last 7 days
`flag:1`	red flag
`\*`, `\_`, `\"`, `\:`	a literal `*`, `_`, `"` or `:`

Cards created by this plugin have the tag mcp::created, and each commit adds mcp::batch::<id>.

No hits usually means the query is malformed, not that nothing matches.

Finding the cards that do not work

Call sync, so reviews from the phone count. If it fails, go on without it.
Call stats, with scope set to the deck the user cares about (for example deck:"Analysis 2").
For each weak note, read its fields (search_notes with nid:<id> and a higher max_chars shows all of it) and pick the most likely cause:

Signal	Likely cause	Fix
LONG_ANSWER, LIST_LIKE, MANY_CLOZES	the card asks for several facts	split it: rewrite the card into the first part and add the others as new cards
high again rate, short answer	the question is ambiguous, or a similar card interferes	add the qualifier that pins the answer down
SLOW	the answer is worked out, not recalled	add an example card or a picture (`visuals` skill)
LEECH, many lapses	the concept is not understood	add a prerequisite card or a small worked example
FLAGGED	the user marked it while studying	the strongest signal; read the card carefully
none of the above	the material is hard	leave it and say so

Propose the fixes in the chat, note by note: what is wrong and the new text. New cards from splits, examples and prerequisites go into one draft with draft_add, written by the rules of the create-cards skill.
Change nothing until the user approves. Then apply the approved rewrites with update_notes, add the approved new cards with draft_commit, and report the batch ids.

Changing cards

update_notes changes fields and keeps the review history. Prefer it to deleting and adding a new card.
Send only the fields that change, each with its full new content.
Notes without the tag mcp::created were written by the user. Ask before changing them, then call update_notes again with force=true.
The formatting rules of the create-cards skill apply to every field you write.
To add a picture to an existing card, make it with the tools from the visuals skill and put its <img> tag into the field.

Deleting

Delete a card only when it should not exist at all, and ask the user first. delete_notes removes only notes this plugin created, takes their review history with them and cannot be undone.

Undoing

draft_commit and update_notes return a batch id. undo with that id deletes the notes a commit added, or restores the fields an update changed.
A note the user edited since is left alone and reported.
Deleting cannot be undone.

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