Ankiweb CLI

The only terminal-native way to search, rank, and download AnkiWeb shared decks — and read your cloud-synced decks — with an offline catalog no other Anki tool has.

Every existing Anki CLI wraps the desktop AnkiConnect add-on; none touches ankiweb.net. AnkiWeb CLI talks directly to the website's service layer, decodes its protobuf responses, and keeps a local SQLite catalog so you can rank decks by approval rate, filter by audio coverage, compare candidates side by side, and watch for new decks since your last sync.

Learn more at AnkiWeb.

Created by @paulbockewitz (Paul Bockewitz). Contributors: @tmchow (Trevin Chow).

Authentication

AnkiWeb uses a session cookie, not an API key. Run auth login --chrome to import your logged-in ankiweb.net session, or set ANKIWEB_COOKIES. Public shared-deck search and info need no login.

The editor commands (notetypes, notes add) run on ankiuser.net, which AnkiWeb authenticates with a separate session cookie from ankiweb.net. Set it via ANKIUSER_COOKIES (or the config ankiuser_cookies key): open https://ankiuser.net while logged in and copy that domain's ankiweb cookie. The ankiweb.net cookie does not work for these commands (the editor returns HTTP 404).

Quick Start

# Search the public shared-deck catalog — no login needed.
ankiweb-pp-cli shared search spanish

# Rank results by approval rate to find the best deck.
ankiweb-pp-cli shared rank spanish --min-votes 20

# See full detail and reviews for one deck.
ankiweb-pp-cli shared info 241428882

# Import your ankiweb.net session for your own decks.
ankiweb-pp-cli auth login --chrome

# List your cloud-synced decks and card counts.
ankiweb-pp-cli decks list

Known Gaps

• sync command is a catalog-only sync — ankiweb-pp-cli sync populates the local SQLite catalog with shared-deck data. Your personal card data (cards search, decks list) comes directly from AnkiWeb's live API on each call and is not cached locally. This is a structural limitation of AnkiWeb's API, which does not expose a bulk-export endpoint for personal card data.
• drift command reports unsupported — The drift command tracks download-count changes on decks you've published, but AnkiWeb's available endpoints do not expose per-owner download history. The command returns a clear supported: false response rather than fabricated data.
• AnkiWeb rate limits unauthenticated shared-deck searches — Repeated rapid searches against /svc/shared/list-decks trigger HTTP 429 with a "please log in" message. Run ankiweb-pp-cli auth login --chrome to use an authenticated session, or add a --rate-limit 0.5 flag to slow requests.

Unique Features

These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.

Catalog intelligence the website can't do

• shared rank — Rank shared decks by approval rate (upvotes vs downvotes) with a minimum-vote floor, instead of the raw vote counts the website shows.

  Pick the highest-quality deck for a topic in one command instead of eyeballing vote counts deck by deck.

  ankiweb-pp-cli shared rank spanish --min-votes 20 --agent
  

• shared search — Filter shared decks by whether they include audio or images, critical for language learners.

  Surface only media-rich decks when audio matters (language study) without opening each deck.

  ankiweb-pp-cli shared search japanese --has-audio --agent
  

• compare — Compare multiple shared decks in one table: approval rate, note count, audio/image coverage, and freshness.

  Decide between near-duplicate decks at a glance instead of flipping between tabs.

  ankiweb-pp-cli compare 241428882 815543631 --agent
  

• shared fresh — Rank or filter shared decks by last-modified date to surface actively maintained decks.

  Avoid stale abandoned decks by finding the ones updated recently.

  ankiweb-pp-cli shared fresh anatomy --since 2024-01-01 --agent
  

Local state that compounds

• watch — Show shared decks that are new or changed for a search term since your last sync.

  Re-run a weekly topic search and see only what's new instead of re-scanning the whole list.

  ankiweb-pp-cli watch spanish --since-last-sync --agent
  

• drift — Track download-count changes on the decks you've published, between syncs.

  See whether your published decks are gaining traction over time without manual note-taking.

  ankiweb-pp-cli drift --agent
  

• brief — One digest for a topic: top decks by approval rate, audio coverage, the freshest deck, and how many are new since last sync.

  Get a complete read on a topic's deck landscape in one call instead of running four commands.

  ankiweb-pp-cli brief spanish --agent
  

Recipes

Find the best audio-rich Spanish deck

ankiweb-pp-cli shared rank spanish --has-audio --min-votes 20 --agent --select decks.title,decks.approval,decks.notes

Ranks audio-bearing Spanish decks by approval rate and narrows the JSON to just title, approval, and note count.

Compare three anatomy decks

ankiweb-pp-cli compare 241428882 815543631 1713698257 --agent

One table of approval rate, notes, audio/image coverage, and freshness across the three deck ids.

What anatomy decks are new this week

ankiweb-pp-cli watch anatomy --since-last-sync --agent

Diffs the current catalog against your last sync and lists only new or changed decks.

Topic briefing

ankiweb-pp-cli brief japanese --agent

Top decks by approval, audio coverage percentage, the freshest deck, and new-since-sync count in one digest.

Usage

Run ankiweb-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.

Commands

decks

Your cloud-synced decks and study stats (requires AnkiWeb login)

• ankiweb-pp-cli decks - List your synced decks with card counts and study stats (protobuf response; 200 with session cookie, 403 without)

shared

Browse, search, and download public shared decks (no login required)

• ankiweb-pp-cli shared download - Download a shared deck .apkg. NOTE: requires a signed ?t= token minted client-side (op=sdd); without it the endpoint returns 400/503.
• ankiweb-pp-cli shared info - Full detail + reviews for one shared deck (protobuf response)
• ankiweb-pp-cli shared search - Search the shared-deck catalog by keyword (protobuf response)

Output Formats

# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
ankiweb-pp-cli decks

# JSON for scripting and agents
ankiweb-pp-cli decks --json

# Filter to specific fields
ankiweb-pp-cli decks --json --select id,name,status

# Dry run — show the request without sending
ankiweb-pp-cli decks --dry-run

# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
ankiweb-pp-cli decks --agent

Agent Usage

This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:

• Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
• Pipeable - --json output to stdout, errors to stderr
• Filterable - --select id,name returns only fields you need
• Previewable - --dry-run shows the request without sending
• Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
• Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
• Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless --human-friendly is set

Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.

Health Check

ankiweb-pp-cli doctor

Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/ankiweb-pp-cli/config.toml

Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.

Environment variables:

Name	Kind	Required	Description
ANKIWEB_COOKIES	per_call	Yes	ankiweb.net session cookie (ankiweb=…). Used by all commands except the editor.
ANKIUSER_COOKIES	per_call	For editor	ankiuser.net session cookie, required by notetypes and notes add. Distinct from ANKIWEB_COOKIES.

Troubleshooting

Authentication errors (exit code 4)

• Run ankiweb-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
• Verify the environment variable is set: echo $ANKIWEB_COOKIES Not found errors (exit code 3)
• Check the resource ID is correct
• Run the list command to see available items

API-specific

• decks list returns 403 / not authenticated — Run ankiweb-pp-cli auth login --chrome to import your ankiweb.net session cookie, or set ANKIWEB_COOKIES.
• notetypes / notes add say "no ankiuser.net session cookie configured" — These run on ankiuser.net, which needs a separate cookie. Open https://ankiuser.net while logged in, copy that domain's ankiweb cookie, and set ANKIUSER_COOKIES='ankiweb=…'.
• shared download fails with a token error — Deck download requires a signed token AnkiWeb mints in-browser; this is a known limitation — download the deck from ankiweb.net directly for now.
• search returns nothing — An empty search term returns no results; provide a keyword, e.g. shared search spanish.

Discovery Signals

This CLI was generated with browser-captured traffic analysis.

• Target observed: https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks
• Capture coverage: 5 API entries from 6 total network entries
• Reachability: standard_http (85% confidence)
• Protocols: protobuf (95% confidence), sveltekit_spa (90% confidence)
• Auth signals: cookie — cookies: has_auth
• Generation hints: protobuf_responses_require_handwritten_decoders, cookie_auth_validated, download_requires_signed_token
• Candidate command ideas: search — GET /svc/shared/list-decks?search= returns repeated deck protobuf {id,title,upvotes,downvotes,modified,notes,audio,images}; info — GET /svc/shared/item-info?sharedId= returns full deck detail + reviews protobuf; download — GET /svc/shared/download-deck/{id}?t= requires client-minted signed token (op=sdd); token generation unresolved; list — POST /svc/decks/deck-list-info returns user's synced decks; cookie-gated

Warnings from discovery:

• : All API responses are protobuf, not JSON; generated JSON decoding will not work without hand-written wire-format readers.
• : Shared-deck download needs a signed ?t= token minted by AnkiWeb client JS; not reproducible from captured traffic alone.

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