anki-apkg-export

Generate Anki .apkg decks in Node.js or a browser. Supports front/back, reversed and cloze cards, custom note types, tags and media.

Install

npm install anki-apkg-export

Node.js 22.12 or newer. TypeScript declarations are included. For v4 users, see Migrating to v5.

Node.js

import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
import AnkiExport from 'anki-apkg-export';

const apkg = await AnkiExport.create('Japanese');
try {
  apkg.addCard('東京', 'Tokyo', { noteId: 'tokyo', tags: ['city'] });
  apkg.addCard('日本', 'Japan', { noteId: 'japan' });
  await writeFile('japanese.apkg', await apkg.save());
} finally {
  apkg.close();
}

For CommonJS: const { AnkiExport } = require('anki-apkg-export').

Browser

Try the browser demo.

With Vite, import the bundled WASM asset and request a Blob:

import AnkiExport from 'anki-apkg-export';
import wasmUrl from 'anki-apkg-export/sql-wasm.wasm?url';

const apkg = await AnkiExport.create('Japanese', {
  locateFile: () => wasmUrl,
});
try {
  apkg.addCard('東京', 'Tokyo');
  const blob = await apkg.save({ type: 'blob' });
  // Download with an <a download> link and URL.createObjectURL(blob).
} finally {
  apkg.close();
}

Other bundlers can serve sql-wasm.wasm as a static asset and return its URL from locateFile. No webpack loaders or Node polyfills are needed. See the browser example for downloads and file attachments.

Card types

const reversed = await AnkiExport.create('Vocabulary', { kind: 'reversed' });
reversed.addCard('東京', 'Tokyo'); // two cards
reversed.close();

const cloze = await AnkiExport.create('Geography', { kind: 'cloze' });
cloze.addCloze('The capital of {{c1::Japan}} is {{c2::Tokyo}}'); // two cards
cloze.close();

addCloze() also works on a basic deck; it adds a cloze note type to the package. Use custom models for more fields or templates.

Media, batches and subdecks

apkg.addMedia('photo.png', imageBytes); // Buffer, Uint8Array, Blob or File
apkg.addCard('<img src="photo.png">', 'Tokyo');
apkg.addCard('Listen', '[sound:audio.mp3]'); // add audio.mp3 with addMedia()

apkg.addCards([
  { front: '東京', back: 'Tokyo', noteId: 'tokyo', deck: 'Japanese::Cities' },
  { front: '京都', back: 'Kyoto', noteId: 'kyoto', deck: 'Japanese::Cities' },
]);

Batches are transactional. Keep noteId unchanged when editing a note so a later export can update it on import. Deck and model IDs are stable by default; set them explicitly if their names will change.

Development

corepack enable
pnpm install
pnpm check
pnpm demo

pnpm test:package checks the packed npm module in a clean project. pnpm test:browser runs Playwright after pnpm demo:build. pnpm test:anki uses uv to check imports with Anki 26.09.3. pnpm benchmark 10000 reports batch insertion, export time and RSS change.

See Releasing for versioning and npm publication.

Exports use the legacy collection.anki2 package format. Import, media and re-import behavior are tested against Anki 26.09.3; other clients are not yet covered by the integration test.

License

MIT © ewnd9. Originally ported from anki2.