Flashly - Spaced Repetition Flashcards for Obsidian

Flashly is a powerful Obsidian plugin that transforms your notes into flashcards using spaced repetition learning powered by FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler).

Features

Multiple Flashcard Formats

Flashly supports four different flashcard formats to match your note-taking style:

1. Q::A Format (Inline)

What is the capital of France::Paris
What is 2+2::4

2. ?? Format (Multi-line)

What is photosynthesis?
??
The process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.

3. {Cloze} Format

The {mitochondria} is the powerhouse of the cell.
Paris is the capital of {France}.

4. Header Format

## What is a cell?
The basic structural unit of all living organisms.

## What is the function of mitochondria?
Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, responsible for producing ATP.

Audio Support

Flashly supports audio files in flashcards for enhanced learning:

• Audio in flashcards: Embed audio files using Obsidian wikilinks (![[audio.mp3]])
• Audio playback: Audio controls in review sessions and quiz questions
• Supported formats: MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, FLAC, AAC
• Audio transcription: Optional AI transcription for quiz generation (transcribes audio content to help AI generate better questions)

Example with audio:

What is the Spanish word for "hello"?
![[hello-spanish.mp3]]
??
Hola

Listen to the pronunciation::![[pronunciation.mp3]]

Audio settings (Settings → Flashly → Review):

• Auto-play audio: Automatically play audio when card is shown (disabled by default)
• Stop on flip: Stop audio playback when flipping to answer side

Smart Deck Organization

• Automatic deck creation from note filenames
• Custom deck names via frontmatter deck: property
• Subtag-based decks: #flashcards/biology creates a "biology" deck
• Flexible deck hierarchy based on your tag structure

FSRS Algorithm

Flashly uses the modern FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) algorithm for optimal learning efficiency:

• 20% fewer reviews compared to traditional SM-2
• Adaptive scheduling based on your performance
• SM-2 fallback option available in settings

Flashcard Browser

A powerful browser view to manage your flashcards:

• Deck overview with statistics
• Search and filter by deck, status, or content
• Study directly from the browser
• Track progress for each deck

Review Sessions

• Keyboard shortcuts for quick reviews (Space, 1-4, Esc)
• Card flipping animation for better UX
• Progress tracking during sessions
• Session summaries with detailed statistics

Getting Started

When you first activate Flashly, an interactive tutorial will guide you through:

• Creating flashcards (Q&A, cloze, header-based)
• Scanning your vault for flashcards
• Starting review sessions
• Using the Flashcard Browser

You can replay the tutorial anytime:

• From Settings: Flashly → Tutorial → "Start Tutorial"
• From Command Palette: "Flashly: Replay Tutorial"

1. Tag Your Notes

Important: Flashly only parses notes that are explicitly tagged for flashcard parsing.

Add the flashcards tag to your note's frontmatter:

---
tags: [flashcards]
---

Without this tag, your note will be ignored during scanning, even if it contains flashcard syntax.

2. Create Flashcards

Once your note is tagged, you can use any of the supported flashcard formats:

---
tags: [flashcards]
deck: Spanish Vocabulary
---

# Spanish Study Notes

Hola::Hello
Adiós::Goodbye

## What does "gracias" mean?
Thank you

3. Scan Your Vault

Use the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P) and run:

• "Flashly: Scan vault for flashcards"

This will find all flashcards in tagged notes and add them to your collection.

4. Review Your Cards

Click the flashcard icon in the ribbon or use the command:

• "Flashly: Open Flashcard Browser"

Browse your decks and start reviewing!

Custom Configuration

Custom Flashcard Tags

You can configure custom tags in Settings → Flashly → Header-Based Flashcards.

Default tags: flashcards, cards

Custom Deck Names

Control how your flashcards are organized into decks:

Option 1: Frontmatter deck property

---
tags: [flashcards]
deck: My Custom Deck
---

Option 2: Subtags

---
tags: [flashcards/biology]
---

This creates a "biology" deck.

Option 3: Auto-naming (Default) If no custom deck is specified, cards use the note's filename as the deck name.

Scheduler Settings

Choose between FSRS (default) and SM-2 algorithms in the settings:

• FSRS: Modern, adaptive, 20% more efficient
• SM-2: Traditional, reliable fallback option

Configure daily limits:

• Review limit: Maximum due cards per day
• New cards limit: Maximum new cards introduced per day

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community Plugins
2. Search for "Flashly"
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/flashly/
3. Copy the files into that folder
4. Reload Obsidian
5. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Development

Install Dependencies

npm install

Development Build (Watch Mode)

npm run dev

Production Build

npm run build

Run Tests

npm test

Troubleshooting

My flashcards aren't being found

Make sure your note has the flashcards tag in frontmatter:

---
tags: [flashcards]
---

Without this tag, the note will not be scanned.

Cards appear from unintended notes

If you're seeing flashcards from notes you didn't intend to parse, check if those notes have the flashcards tag. Remove the tag from notes you don't want parsed, then re-scan your vault.

How do I remove unwanted flashcards?

1. Remove the flashcards tag from the note
2. Run "Scan vault for flashcards" again
3. The cards from that note will be automatically deleted

Review session not showing cards

Check your settings:

• Make sure you have cards due for review
• Check if deck filters are limiting which cards appear
• Verify that daily limits haven't been reached

Examples

See the examples/ folder for comprehensive demonstrations of all features:

• complete-example.md - Full feature showcase
• inline-tag-example.md - Inline format examples

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the development section above for setup instructions.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Support

• Support on Ko-fi - If you find Flashly useful, consider supporting development
• Report a Bug
• Request a Feature
• Documentation

Quiz Generation

Flashly includes powerful quiz generation capabilities with optional AI enhancement.

Traditional Quiz Generation

Generate quizzes automatically from your flashcards using rule-based algorithms:

Question Types:

• Multiple Choice: Uses other cards from the same deck as plausible distractors
• Fill-in-the-Blank: Extracted from cloze deletions {text}
• True/False: Creates statements to validate understanding

How to Use:

1. Run command: "Generate Quiz"
2. Configure:
   • Number of questions
   • Question types to include
   • Deck filter (optional)
3. Click "Generate Quiz"
4. Take your quiz!

AI-Powered Quiz Generation 🤖

NEW! Use AI to generate creative, contextual quiz questions from your flashcards.

Supported AI Providers

OpenAI (GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-3.5)

• Most capable and widely used
• Great for creative question generation
• Requires OpenAI API key

Anthropic (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Opus, Haiku)

• Excellent at educational content
• Strong reasoning capabilities
• Requires Anthropic API key

Google Gemini (Gemini 1.5 Pro, Flash, Flash-8B)

• Fast and efficient
• Strong multimodal capabilities
• Requires Google AI Studio API key
• Cost-effective option

Custom API

• Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
• Local models (Ollama, LM Studio, etc.)
• Complete control over your data

Setting Up AI Quiz Generation

1. Enable AI in Settings → Flashly → Quiz Generation
2. Choose Provider: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Custom
3. Configure API Key and model
4. Adjust Settings (optional):
   • Temperature (creativity level)
   • Max tokens (response length)
   • Custom system prompt

API Key Setup

For OpenAI:

1. Get API key from OpenAI Platform
2. Paste in Settings → Quiz Generation → OpenAI Configuration

For Anthropic:

1. Get API key from Anthropic Console
2. Paste in Settings → Quiz Generation → Anthropic Configuration

For Google Gemini:

1. Get API key from Google AI Studio
2. Paste in Settings → Quiz Generation → Gemini Configuration

For Custom/Local Models:

1. Set base URL (e.g., http://localhost:11434/v1 for Ollama)
2. Add API key if required
3. Specify model name

Using AI Quiz Generation

1. Run "Generate Quiz" command
2. Configure your quiz
3. Toggle "Use AI to generate questions" ✨
4. Click "Generate Quiz"
5. AI will create contextual, creative questions!

Benefits of AI Generation:

• More natural question phrasing
• Better context understanding
• Creative variations on concepts
• Explanation generation
• Adaptive difficulty
• Audio transcription support (AI can understand audio content in flashcards when generating questions)

Privacy Note: When using cloud providers (OpenAI/Anthropic), your flashcard content is sent to their servers. Use local models if you need complete privacy.

AnkiConnect Integration

Sync your Flashly cards directly to Anki without exporting CSV files!

What is AnkiConnect?

AnkiConnect is an Anki add-on that provides an API for external applications to communicate with Anki.

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Install AnkiConnect Add-on

1. Open Anki
2. Go to Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons
3. Enter code: 2055492159
4. Click OK and restart Anki

Step 2: Configure AnkiConnect for Obsidian

AnkiConnect needs to allow requests from Obsidian. Edit the AnkiConnect configuration:

1. In Anki, go to Tools → Add-ons
2. Select AnkiConnect → Click Config
3. Find the webCorsOriginList setting
4. Add "app://obsidian.md" to the list:

{
    "apiKey": null,
    "apiLogPath": null,
    "webBindAddress": "127.0.0.1",
    "webBindPort": 8765,
    "webCorsOriginList": [
        "http://localhost",
        "app://obsidian.md"
    ]
}

5. Click OK and restart Anki

Important: Without adding app://obsidian.md to the CORS list, you'll get CORS errors and syncing will fail.

Step 3: Enable in Flashly Settings

1. Open Obsidian Settings → Flashly → Export
2. Toggle "Enable AnkiConnect" on
3. (Optional) Change URL if Anki is running on a different port
4. Click "Test connection" to verify setup

Using AnkiConnect

Once configured, you have two ways to sync:

Method 1: Export Modal

1. Run command: "Export flashcards"
2. Select decks to sync
3. Click "Sync to Anki" button (requires Anki running)

Method 2: Export as CSV

• Use format "Anki (CSV file)" to export a file
• Import manually into Anki via File → Import

Features

• Direct sync: No CSV files needed
• Media support: Automatically uploads images and audio files
• Duplicate detection: Skips cards that already exist
• Deck creation: Creates decks automatically if they don't exist
• Progress feedback: Shows success/failure counts

Troubleshooting

CORS Error:

Access to fetch has been blocked by CORS policy

Solution: Make sure you added "app://obsidian.md" to AnkiConnect's webCorsOriginList (see Step 2 above)

Connection Refused:

Failed to connect to AnkiConnect

Solution:

• Make sure Anki is running
• Verify AnkiConnect add-on is installed
• Check that the URL in settings matches (default: http://127.0.0.1:8765)

Media Upload Fails:

• Files over 10MB are skipped
• Check that media files exist in your vault
• Verify file paths in your flashcards are correct

Statistics Dashboard

Track your learning progress with comprehensive statistics:

• Overview Cards: Total cards, due today, new cards, review cards
• Deck Breakdown: Detailed stats per deck with progress bars
• Activity Heatmap: 30-day review activity visualization
• Card Distribution: Visual breakdown by learning state
• Quiz Statistics: Quiz history and performance metrics

Access via command: "View Statistics"

Roadmap

Upcoming Features

• Export flashcards to various formats
• AI quiz customization
• Deck and quiz sharing and collaboration