Anki Desktop

This is inspired by the work of https://github.com/pnorcross/anki-desktop-docker , with a couple of modifications. This repo provides a Dockerfile using as a base image https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-baseimage-kasmvnc for the desktop version of Anki, which is useful for automating anki using addons like Anki-Connect and much needed when using the FSRS algorithm and also AnkiDroid, which does not support it. The app is accessible via a web interface bound to port 3000. The anki configuration is bound to a volume mounted at /config/app in the container.

REQUIREMENTS

• docker
• docker-compose (does come bundled with newer versions of docker, no need to install it)
• ubuntu (this repo is linux focused, docker can work in windows as well but the installation of it, as well as other software might be different)
• cron (for scheduling)
• AnkiConnect addon (to curl into port 8765)
• FSRS4Anki Helper addon (to reschedule cards)

Files

Dockerfile

Used to build the container. Here we install Anki 23.10 (if you would like you can change the version of anki at the Dockerfile, but compatibility is not guaranteed)

docker_installation file

This file provides the commands to install docker in an ubuntu distro.

cleanup file

This file provides a way to clean up resources, because apparently Anki has a memory leak and after one day of the app being up, a machine containing only 1gb of RAM should halt and stop working. So we can use something like cron to schedule a cleanup every 12h.

backup file

This file uses curl into the port 8765 of the container to extract a backup. We can then use cron and schedule daily backups.

sync file

This file uses curl into the port 8765 of the container to force a sync and reschedule cards if using something like the FSRS algorithm and AnkiDroid, which does not support this algorithm and so we need to reschedule the cards every once in a while.

Docker Compose Examples

You should create a docker-compose.yml file at the root of the repository containing something like this:

services: 
  anki-desktop: 
    build: 
      context: ./
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    volumes:
      - ~/.local/share/Anki2:/config/app/Anki2
      - ~/backups:/config/app/backups
    ports: 
      - 3000:3000
      # Anki Connect port
      - 8765:8765

In this docker-compose file, the first volume provides anki with the configuration, which in linux normally resides in the ~/.local/share/Anki2 directory. This way, all the cards and addons will be there when you run the container, and any changes will persist to the host. The second volume provides a way to get backups out of the container and into the host machine, using something like curl posting to ankiconnect at port 8765. Clone the repository, edit the docker-compose.yml file to your needs (point to the right directory for the anki configuration files, which are normally at ~/.local/share/Anki2 at an ubuntu distroand use the following command in the terminal:

docker compose up --build -d

You now should be able to open anki at a browser with the following URL:

localhost:3000

If you also want to use AnkiConnect, make sure your AnkiConnect config looks something like this:

{
    "apiKey": null,
    "apiLogPath": null,
    "ignoreOriginList": [],
    "webBindAddress": "0.0.0.0",
    "webBindPort": 8765,
    "webCorsOrigin": "http://localhost",
    "webCorsOriginList": [
        "*"
    ]
}

Cron example

Using the following command:

crontab -e

and pasting the following:

# Edit this file to introduce tasks to be run by cron.
# 
# Each task to run has to be defined through a single line
# indicating with different fields when the task will be run
# and what command to run for the task
# 
# To define the time you can provide concrete values for
# minute (m), hour (h), day of month (dom), month (mon),
# and day of week (dow) or use '*' in these fields (for 'any').
# 
# Notice that tasks will be started based on the cron's system
# daemon's notion of time and timezones.
# 
# Output of the crontab jobs (including errors) is sent through
# email to the user the crontab file belongs to (unless redirected).
# 
# For example, you can run a backup of all your user accounts
# at 5 a.m every week with:
# 0 5 * * 1 tar -zcf /var/backups/home.tgz /home/
# 
# For more information see the manual pages of crontab(5) and cron(8)
# 
# m h  dom mon dow   command
0 8 * * * (~/anki-desktop-docker/sync && date) >> ~/sync.log 2>&1
0 9 * * * (~/anki-desktop-docker/backup && date) >> ~/backup.log 2>&1
0 10,22 * * * (~/anki-desktop-docker/cleanup && date) >> ~/cleanup.log 2>&1

should provide the following schedule:

• the sync command at 8h UTC
• the backup command at 9h UTC
• the cleanup command at 10h and 22h UTC