Why Sync Obsidian Notes to Anki
Obsidian is where you write things down, and Anki is where you make sure they stay. Retyping a note into a flashcard by hand kills most of the reason you took the note at all, and it is the step people quietly stop doing after a couple of weeks. The obsidian to anki plugin deletes that step: notes sync straight into your Anki decks, so you write once and review on a schedule.
The plugin started life as a Python script before it became an Obsidian community plugin, and the setup still carries some of that DIY character. Once it runs, note-taking and active recall stop being two separate chores competing for the same hour.
How Anki’s Spaced Repetition Works
Spaced repetition resurfaces material right around the point you would lose it, and Anki handles that timing without being asked. Cramming buys you a day; the schedule keeps handing the card back long after the exam would have wiped it. The plugin pipes your Obsidian notes into that same engine, so whatever you capture in the vault joins the queue with everything else.
Download and Install Anki
Anki desktop comes from ankiweb.net and costs nothing on desktop or on Android. The iPhone app is the exception, and that purchase price is what funds the open-source project. Install the desktop app first, because the plugin needs a running copy of Anki on the same machine to talk to.
Install and Configure AnkiConnect
The plugin has no direct line into Anki. It works through AnkiConnect, an add-on that sits inside Anki and listens for requests, so that piece goes in before anything else.
In Anki, open Tools > Add-ons and press Get Add-ons. Copy the add-on code from the AnkiConnect page on GitHub, paste it into the box, and press OK. Anki installs the add-on and asks for a restart.
After the restart, go back to Tools > Add-ons, right-click AnkiConnect and choose Config. You need one extra webCorsOriginList line here so Obsidian is allowed to connect, and AnkiConnect’s documentation gives the exact format. Copy it verbatim rather than typing it out, save the config, and close Anki.
Install the Obsidian-to-Anki Plugin
In Obsidian, open Settings, go to Community Plugins and turn off safe mode if it is still on. Browse for “Obsidian to Anki”, install it, then enable it.
Switch every other plugin off while you set this up. Conflicts are a common reason the sync refuses to run, and with a clean slate any error you see belongs to this plugin. Restart both Obsidian and Anki after the install, and bring your other plugins back one at a time once the first sync goes through.
Format Notes for Deck Assignment
Every note that produces cards has to say where they land. Put this at the very top of the file:
Target Deck: MyDeckNameSwap MyDeckName for the deck you want. All cards from that note go there, Anki creates the deck if it does not exist yet, and if it already does, the new cards merge in alongside what is sitting there.
Choose and Configure Card Format
Two formats do the job. The default wraps each card in START and END markers:
START
Front of card
END
Back of cardThe Neuro cache style puts the question on one line with a #flashcard tag and the answer underneath:
Front text #flashcard
Back textNeuro cache syntax is the cleaner of the two and worth its one extra setup step: open the plugin settings, find the Note Type Table, and paste in the regex from the plugin wiki. That regex teaches the plugin to read the tag. Both formats behave the same once configured, so pick based on how much markup you want living in your notes.
Run the Sync
With the notes formatted and AnkiConnect configured, open the command palette and run scan vault, or click the scan icon in the sidebar. The plugin reports whether it reached Anki and how many cards went across.
Each new card comes back with a generated ID written into the note:
Front text #flashcard <!--ID: 12345-->
Back textThat ID is the thread connecting a line in your vault to a card in Anki. Leave it alone. Edit or delete one and the plugin loses track of which note owns which card, which is the messiest way to break an obsidian to anki setup.
Manage and Delete Cards
Deleting a card from Anki does not mean deleting the note. Write DELETE above its ID:
Front text #flashcard <!--DELETE-->
Back textSync the vault again and the card leaves Anki. Clean the DELETE marker and the leftover ID out of the note afterwards, or you are carrying dead syntax around. Ordinary edits need no marker at all: change the text in Obsidian, sync, and the card updates itself.
Troubleshooting Connection Issues
A connection error from scan vault almost always traces back to one of three things. Check that the AnkiConnect config actually saved with the webCorsOriginList line intact. Confirm Anki is open. Then restart both programs, because the handshake occasionally needs a clean start before Obsidian gets let through.
If it still refuses, go back to disabling other plugins until the culprit shows itself. Re-enable them one by one once the sync works again.
How This Plugin Compares to Neuro Cache
Neuro cache does the same job: notes out of Obsidian, cards into Anki. On overall workflow and features this plugin comes out ahead, which is why it is the one to set up first. Its card syntax is the weaker half of the bargain, and the regex setting lets you borrow Neuro cache’s format anyway, so you can have both. If you cannot decide, run each of them for a week and keep whichever syntax you stop noticing.
Getting the Review Without Maintaining the Pipeline
The chain above works as long as you keep it fed. You still author every card by hand in the vault, the IDs have to survive your editing, and a plugin update or a stray config line can quietly cut the link between the two apps until you go looking for it. That is real maintenance for something whose only job is moving text across a gap.
The version without the plumbing reads differently: you write the note, and the questions come out of it already scheduled. No IDs to protect, no add-on config buried two apps deep.
Fluxo sits on that side of the line. Your notes live in spaces and topics you write yourself, and it generates flashcards, quizzes, and summaries out of that material, then schedules the review so each piece comes back before it fades, with streaks and a companion mascot keeping the sessions light.