Markdown to Anki Flashcards
Paste your Markdown notes and get an Anki-importable deck file — headings, Q/A lines, tables and cloze deletions all supported, with deck, tag and note-type controls. Runs entirely in your browser, no sign-up.
What this tool does
Paste Markdown notes and get back a flashcard deck file you can import into Anki — or into any app that reads tab/comma-separated cards (Quizlet, RemNote, Mochi, Memrise). It runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, it works offline once loaded, and there's no account.
The parser understands the shapes real notes are already written in:
| Card format | What it reads |
|---|---|
| Headings | ## Question on one line, the text underneath is the answer. Nested headings become the answer's context. |
| Q: / A: blocks | Q: … starts a card, A: … starts its answer (multi-line answers welcome). Question: / Answer:, **Q:** and bulleted variants work too. |
| One card per line | term :: definition, term - definition, term => definition, term; definition, term: definition or a tab. Bullets and numbering are stripped. |
| Table rows | | question | answer | rows; the | --- | row and the header above it are dropped, and an optional third column becomes tags. |
| Cloze | Every **bold** or ==highlighted== span becomes {{c1::…}}, {{c2::…}}, … on one cloze note. |
Auto-detect picks the format for you (and tells you which one it chose in the Readable preview output), so most notes convert with a single paste.
Worked example
Input — Markdown notes:
## What is mitosis?
Cell division that makes **two identical** cells.
## What is meiosis?
Cell division that makes gametes.
Output — the Anki import file (tab-separated, HTML fields):
#separator:Tab
#html:true
#notetype:Basic
#columns:Front Back
What is mitosis? Cell division that makes <b>two identical</b> cells.
What is meiosis? Cell division that makes gametes.
Save that as a .txt file and use File → Import in Anki. The # lines are
Anki's own header directives, so the separator, note type, deck and tags are set
for you — you don't have to configure the import dialog by hand.
A vocabulary list works the same way. gato :: cat on each line, deck name
Spanish::Week 1, and every line becomes one card in that subdeck.
Options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Card format | Auto-detect (default), or force headings / one-card-per-line / Q:-A: / table / cloze. |
| Line delimiter | One-card-per-line mode only. auto picks whichever of ::, =>, tab, |, ;, -, : splits the most lines; or pass a name (tab, colon, dash, arrow, …) or any literal text. |
| Heading level | 0 (default) auto-picks the level with the most answers under it; 1–6 pins #…###### as the question. |
| Field separator | Tab (default — what Anki recommends), Comma, Semicolon or Pipe. Fields containing the separator, a quote or a newline are quoted RFC-4180 style. |
| Field formatting | HTML (default) converts bold, italics, code, links, lists and fenced code blocks to HTML and line breaks to <br>; Keep raw Markdown leaves the source untouched; Plain text strips all markup. |
| Note type / Deck / Tags | Written as #notetype:, #deck: and #tags: header lines. Use :: in a deck name for a subdeck (Biology::Cells). |
| Tag from heading path | Heading mode: each card is tagged with its parent headings as one hierarchical tag, e.g. Biology::Cell_Parts. |
| Include Anki #header lines | On by default. Turn it off for a bare CSV/TSV for another app — deck-wide tags then move into each row's Tags column instead of being dropped. |
| Drop duplicate questions | On by default; keeps the first card when a question repeats (case-insensitive). |
| Output | The import file (default), a readable numbered preview (shows the detected format and card count), or JSON. |
Limits & edge cases
- Up to 1,000,000 characters and 5,000 cards per run — past either limit you get a clear error asking you to split the notes, not a truncated deck.
- Answers must have text. A heading with nothing under it, a
Q:with noA:, or a table row with an empty cell is skipped rather than exported blank. - Cloze needs emphasis. In cloze mode a line with no
**bold**or==highlighted==span produces no card; if nothing in the notes has emphasis you get an error explaining that. - HTML formatting is deliberately small — bold, italic,
code, links, images, bullet/numbered lists and fenced code blocks. Tables, blockquotes and nested lists inside an answer are kept as text, not rebuilt as HTML. - Import HTML on. With HTML field formatting, tick Allow HTML in fields in
Anki's import dialog (the
#html:trueheader sets this automatically in recent Anki versions). - Images are referenced, not bundled.
becomes<img src='cell.png'>; copy the file into Anki'scollection.mediafolder yourself. This tool exports text, never a.apkgarchive.
FAQ
How do I import the result into Anki?
Copy the output (or use the download link), save it as a .txt file, then in
Anki choose File → Import and pick that file. The #separator:, #notetype:,
#deck: and #tags: header lines configure the import dialog for you, so you
normally just press Import.
Can it export a .apkg deck file?
No — a .apkg is a zipped SQLite collection, which a browser-local tool can't
build safely. The tab-separated text file this tool produces is Anki's own
documented import format and covers the same job: it carries the deck name, note
type, tags and HTML flag with it.
How do cloze deletions work?
Choose Cloze from bold text. Each **bold** or ==highlighted== span in a
line becomes a numbered deletion, so The **mitochondrion** is the **powerhouse** of the cell. exports as The {{c1::mitochondrion}} is the {{c2::powerhouse}} of the cell. — one note with two cards. The note type is switched to Cloze
automatically.
My notes use `-` or `=>` between term and definition. Does that work?
Yes. In one-card-per-line mode the delimiter defaults to auto, which tries
::, =>, tab, |, ;, - and : and uses whichever splits the most lines.
If your notes mix several, set Line delimiter explicitly — you can type a
name (dash, arrow, tab, colon) or any literal string.
Why did it pick the wrong card format?
Auto-detect prefers Q:/A: blocks, then tables, then whichever of headings or
line-splitting yields more cards — so a vocabulary list under a # Title still
converts line by line. When a document is ambiguous, set Card format
explicitly and, for headings, pin the Heading level.
Can I put every card in a specific deck with tags?
Yes. Fill in Deck name (use :: for subdecks, e.g. Biology::Cells) and
Tags (space- or comma-separated). Both are written as header lines, so they
apply to every card in the file. In heading mode you can also tag each card with
its own heading path.
Is it free, and do my notes leave my device?
It's free and your notes stay local. The conversion runs in your browser through WebAssembly — nothing is uploaded, there's no account, and the page keeps working offline once it has loaded.
Developer & Automation Access
Run it from the terminal
Same engine as this page, headless — via the gizza CLI:
gizza tool markdown-flashcards "## What is mitosis?
Cell division that makes two identical cells.
## What is meiosis?
Cell division that makes gametes."New to the CLI? Get gizza →
Open it by URL
Pre-fill and auto-run this tool with query parameters — the names match the API/CLI:
https://gizza.ai/tools/markdown-flashcards/?markdown=%23%23%20What%20is%20mitosis%3F%0ACell%20division%20that%20makes%20two%20identical%20cells.%0A%0A%23%23%20What%20is%20meiosis%3F%0ACell%20division%20that%20makes%20gametes.&mode=auto&separator=auto&heading_level=0&field_separator=tab&field_format=html¬etype=Basic&deck=Biology%3A%3ACells&tags=exam%20week1&tags_from_headings=true&include_headers=true&dedupe=true&output=ankiMachine-readable descriptor: tool.json — title + parameters JSON Schema for agents.