audrey.feldroy.com

Genanki and fastcore

By Audrey Roy Greenfeld • Sun, Jan 19, 2025

Genanki and fastcore

Working with Anki flashcard decks in Python, with genanki to work with the decks and fastcore for ease of use.

import genanki
from fastcore.utils import *

Model

First I define a model with Q&A fields and a card template:

my_model = genanki.Model(
  1607392319,
  'Simple  Model',
  fields=[
    {'name': 'Question'},
    {'name': 'Answer'},
  ],
  templates=[
    {
      'name': 'Card 1',
      'qfmt': '{{Question}}',
      'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}',
    },
  ])

Notes

I create a note:

note_gm = genanki.Note(model=my_model, fields=['Magandang umaga', 'Good morning'])
note_gm

Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang umaga', 'Good morning'], sort_field='Magandang umaga', tags=_TagList([]), guid='d?PmHtKm}t')

It's nice to bulk-create notes like this:

notes = L(['Magandang hapon', 'Good afternoon'],
    ['Magandang gabi', 'Good evening'],
    ['Paalam', 'Goodbye'])
notes

(#3) [['Magandang hapon', 'Good afternoon'],['Magandang gabi', 'Good evening'],['Paalam', 'Goodbye']]

Recall before that in my_model the first field goes into Question and the second goes into Answer.

Then to actually turn those list items into notes:

def add_note(qa): return genanki.Note(model=my_model, fields=qa)

gn = notes.map(add_note)
gn

(#3) [Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang hapon', 'Good afternoon'], sort_field='Magandang hapon', tags=_TagList([]), guid='l!E%BkZ4ir'),Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang gabi', 'Good evening'], sort_field='Magandang gabi', tags=_TagList([]), guid='lB:)1uVms#'),Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Paalam', 'Goodbye'], sort_field='Paalam', tags=_TagList([]), guid='n5_IDz@c|$')]

Deck

Let's create a deck and add 1 starter note:

my_deck = genanki.Deck(
  2059400110,
  'Tagalog Greetings')

my_deck.add_note(note_gm)

We can see the note's in the deck:

my_deck.notes

[Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang umaga', 'Good morning'], sort_field='Magandang umaga', tags=_TagList([]), guid='d?PmHtKm}t')]

We extend it with the rest of the notes we bulk-created:

my_deck.notes.extend(gn)

my_deck.notes

[Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang umaga', 'Good morning'], sort_field='Magandang umaga', tags=_TagList([]), guid='d?PmHtKm}t'),
 Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang hapon', 'Good afternoon'], sort_field='Magandang hapon', tags=_TagList([]), guid='l!E%BkZ4ir'),
 Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Magandang gabi', 'Good evening'], sort_field='Magandang gabi', tags=_TagList([]), guid='lB:)1uVms#'),
 Note(model=Model(model_id=1607392319, name='Simple  Model', fields=[{'name': 'Question'}, {'name': 'Answer'}], templates=[{'name': 'Card 1', 'qfmt': '{{Question}}', 'afmt': '{{FrontSide}}<hr id="answer">{{Answer}}'}], css='', model_type=0), fields=['Paalam', 'Goodbye'], sort_field='Paalam', tags=_TagList([]), guid='n5_IDz@c|$')]

Packaging the Deck for Anki

This writes out an Anki package file that we can import:

genanki.Package(my_deck).write_to_file('tagalog_greetings.apkg')

!ls *.apkg

tagalog_greetings.apkg

Opening the Deck in Anki

In Anki Desktop:
  1. I went to File > Import
  2. I chose tagalog_greetings.apkg
  3. I was able to go through the cards like any other deck!

Resources

  • Genanki: https://github.com/kerrickstaley/genanki
  • fastcore: https://fastcore.fast.ai/