Anki Miner

Turn native Japanese content into Anki vocabulary cards.

Please leave a ⭐ star if Anki Miner helped you - it helps others find it :).

Mining Demo

⬇️ Full demo with sound (MP4)

Example cards

⬇️ MP4 (sound)	⬇️ MP4 (sound)	⬇️ MP4 (sound)

Installation

Requirements

• Anki with the AnkiConnect add-on (code 2055492159)
• ffmpeg + libmpv (video preview only) - needed only when installing via pip/pipx, .deb, or source.

Grab the download for your platform from the latest release:

Platform	Download
Windows	AnkiMiner-*-Setup.exe
macOS (Apple Silicon / M1-M4)	AnkiMiner-macOS-arm64.tar.gz
macOS (Intel)	AnkiMiner-macOS-x86_64.tar.gz ¹
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)	anki-miner_*_amd64.deb
Linux (other)	AnkiMiner-*-Linux-x86_64.AppImage

¹ Excludes local Whisper subtitle generation and AVIF screenshots. For full functionality: pipx install "anki-miner[asr]".

First-run notes (unsigned builds)

• macOS: Gatekeeper blocks the app. Extract first, then xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine AnkiMiner/
• Windows SmartScreen: More info -> Run anyway.
• Windows Defender false positive: restore from Protection history or report to Microsoft.

Install from PyPI (Python 3.11+)

pipx install anki-miner   # or: pip install anki-miner
anki_miner_gui

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner.git
cd anki_miner
pip install -e .
anki_miner_gui

For full development setup, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Tabs

• Video - mine a single video/subtitle pair, a batch folder, or YouTube URLs.
• Deck Builder - mine a whole series into one frequency-ranked deck.
• Audio - mine audiobooks, podcasts, radio, songs (audio + subtitle/transcript pairs).
• Reading - mine manga (mokuro), novels (.epub, .txt; single book or a whole folder), or standalone subtitle files.
• Analytics - mining history, difficulty rankings, milestones, undo.
• Tools - generate subtitles (local Whisper), retime subtitles (alass), condense media to dialogue-only audio, and backfill fields on existing cards.
• Settings - everything configurable.

Other Features

• Extensive filtering: i+1, frequency limits, blacklist, regex, wordsets, and more.
• Offline Yomitan dictionary import - definitions, pitch accent, frequency - chained by priority.
• Multiple frequency lists chained by priority.
• Word audio on cards from local audio packs, JapanesePod101, or Google TTS.
• Per-dictionary glossary styling, Yomitan-style.
• Subtitle timing preview with adjustable offset.
• Animated screenshots (see example cards above).

Built-in themes (29)

• Ayu - Light, Mirage, Dark
• Catppuccin - Latte (light); Frappé, Macchiato, Mocha (dark)
• Dracula - Dracula, Alucard
• Everforest - Light, Dark
• GitHub - Light; Dark, Dark Dimmed
• Gruvbox - Light Medium, Dark Medium
• Kanagawa - Lotus (light), Wave (dark)
• Rosé Pine - Dawn (light); Main, Moon (dark)
• Solarized - Light, Dark
• Standalone - Light, Dark, Sakura, Nord, One Dark, Tokyo Night

Theme licenses: LICENSE-THEMES.md. Want another theme added? Suggest in a GitHub Issue.

How It Works

1. Read the subtitles and split Japanese into individual words.
2. Filter to content words you don't already know.
3. Grab a screenshot and audio clip from the video for each line.
4. Look up definitions in your configured offline dictionaries, optionally falling back to Jisho online if enabled (slower, rate-limited).
5. Send the finished cards to Anki.

Recommended Resources

Type	Resource	Download	Add via
Dictionary	JMdict	Yomitan zip	Add Dictionary…
Dictionary	Jitendex	Yomitan zip	Add Dictionary…
Dictionary	Bee's Character Dictionary	Generated on site	Add Dictionary…
Pitch	Kanjium	TSV	Dictionary -> Pitch Accent File
Pitch	アクセント辞典v2	Drive	Dictionary -> Pitch Accent File
Frequency	JPDB v2.2 Kana	Yomitan zip	Filtering -> Frequency List File
Frequency	BCCWJ SUW+LUW	Yomitan zip	Filtering -> Frequency List File

JMnedict License

Uses bundled name wordsets derived from JMnedict (JMdict/EDICT project, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"Cannot connect to Anki"	Start Anki and ensure AnkiConnect is installed.
"Deck not found"	Pick an existing deck in Settings -> Anki. Decks are not created for you; make it in Anki first if you need a new one.
"Note type not found"	Configure your note type's field names in Settings -> Anki.
"ffmpeg not found"	Install ffmpeg and add it to PATH.
No definitions found	Add a Yomitan dictionary in Settings -> Add Dictionary… (recommended), or enable the Jisho fallback (slower, rate-limited).
Windows installer will not open / SmartScreen warning	See First-run notes: select More info -> Run anyway; restore Defender false positives from Protection history.
Fresh install has no definitions	Run Tools -> Setup Wizard or Tools -> Download Recommended Resources. For manual import, keep the Yomitan ZIP intact (do not unzip it).
Add Dictionary stalls or fails	Note the last visible stage and attach logs (see "Where are the logs?" below). Include the dictionary ZIP name, source, and size in the report.
Where are the logs?	Use Help -> Open Log Folder, or open %USERPROFILE%\.anki_miner\anki_miner.log on Windows or ~/.anki_miner/anki_miner.log on macOS/Linux. Rotated logs use the .1 through .5 suffixes.
Audio is wrong language	The tool tries Japanese audio tracks first, then falls back to the default.
Subtitles out of sync	Use the subtitle offset control in the GUI (range ±300 seconds).

Roadmap

List of ideas for future versions of Anki Miner. Not in priority order. Feature requests take precedence.

• Suggest a feature - Open an issue.

• Discuss the roadmap - Discussions.

• Features:

  • UI language selection.
  • Local subtitle creation tab: Opt-in tab to locally generate subtitles.
  • Reading tab: Mine manga and books.
  • Backfill tool.
  • Media library: Expand Analytics tab to display local media library across all media forms.
  • Automatic subtitle downloading.

• Long-term:

  • Android port -- https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner_android
  • Beyond Japanese: Mining other languages.
  • Anki Miner browser extension.

Contributing

Contributions of any kind are welcome. If you want to support the project, please share it with others who may benefit from it.

• New here? Start with CONTRIBUTING.md.
• Architecture overview: ARCHITECTURE.md.
• Testing strategy: TESTING.md.
• Code of Conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.
• Security: SECURITY.md.

Bug reports and feature requests -> Issues. General questions and discussion -> Discussions or Discord.

Special Thanks

Sincere thanks to people who made exceptional contributions to the project:

★ StyraxBenzoin - Brilliant feature suggestions, new release testing, community building

See CONTRIBUTORS.md for everyone who has made any kind of contribution to the project.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE.