gakuon (学音)

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学音 (Gakuon) is an AI-powered audio learning system for Anki that transforms your flashcard reviews into an immersive audio experience. It automatically generates contextual sentences, explanations, and natural speech for your cards, allowing you to maintain your Anki reviews through passive listening.

Features

• Generates natural example sentences using OpenAI
• Creates explanations in both target and native languages
• Converts text to high-quality speech using OpenAI's TTS
• Caches generated content in Anki cards for reuse
• Supports configurable card ordering and review patterns
• Provides keyboard-driven interface for efficient reviews
• Works with existing Anki decks and card types

Perfect for:

• Language learners who want to maintain their Anki reviews while multitasking
• Users who prefer audio-based learning
• Anyone looking to enhance their Anki cards with AI-generated content
• Learners who want to practice listening comprehension

Warning

This program would add extra fields to your card type! Understand what you're doing

Note

Project status: Alpha, with a working CLI program

Prerequisite

• Setup Anki with AnkiConnect locally
• ffplayer (installed along with ffmpeg)

Installation

npm install -g gakuon

Usage

gakuon learn

Commands

Gakuon provides several commands to help you manage and use your audio learning system:

learn

Start an audio-based learning session:

gakuon learn              # Use default or select deck interactively
gakuon learn --deck NAME  # Use specific deck
gakuon learn --debug     # Enable debug logging

init

Initialize deck configuration interactively:

gakuon init              # Generate config interactively
gakuon init --write      # Save generated config to file
gakuon init --debug      # Enable debug logging

serve

Start the Gakuon HTTP server:

gakuon serve                # Start server on default port 4989
gakuon serve -p 3000        # Use custom port
gakuon serve --debug        # Enable debug logging
gakuon serve --serve-client # Also serve builtint PWA client app

Development

bun install

bun run start
# start server with development mode
bun run start serve -d

# start pwa client development mode
bun run dev:client

Example config

~/.gakuon/config.toml

[global]
ankiHost = "http://localhost:8765"

# Set environment variable OPENAI_API_KEY or use other key
openaiApiKey = "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
# or openaiApiKey = "$OPENAI_API_KEY"
# or openaiApiKey = "sk-proj-123123123123"
# gakuon will perform a variable substitution for you
# So you can safely commit this config file into your git repo
ttsVoice = "alloy"

# optional setup
# defaultDeck = "Core 2k/6k Optimized Japanese Vocabulary with Sound Part 01"

[global.cardOrder]
queueOrder = "learning_review_new"
reviewOrder = "due_date_random"
newCardOrder = "deck"

[[decks]]
name = "Core 2k/6k Japanese"
pattern = "Core 2k/6k.*Japanese"
fields.word = "Vocabulary-Kanji"
fields.meaning = "Vocabulary-English"
fields.context = "Expression"

prompt = """
Given a Japanese vocabulary card:
- Word: ${word}
- Meaning: ${meaning}
- Context: ${context}

Generate helpful learning content.
"""

[decks.responseFields]
example.description = "A natural example sentence using the word"
example.required = true
example.audio = true

explanation_jp.description = "Simple explanation in Japanese"
explanation_jp.required = true
explanation_jp.audio = true

explanation_en.description = "Detailed explanation in English"
explanation_en.required = true
explanation_en.audio = true

usage_notes.description = "Additional usage notes"
usage_notes.required = false
usage_notes.audio = false

References

• Thanks to ThisIsntTheWay/headless-anki for providing the Dockerized Anki implementation that powers our headless Anki server setup