https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner
Automated Japanese vocabulary mining from anime subtitles.
https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner
anime anki ankiconnect flashcards immersion-learning japanese japanese-dictionary japanese-language japanese-language-learners japanese-learning japanese-study jisho-dictionary jmdict mecab python subs2srs yomitan yt-dlp
Last synced: 16 days ago
JSON representation
Automated Japanese vocabulary mining from anime subtitles.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner
- Owner: 0xzerolight
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2026-02-12T22:48:01.000Z (4 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-24T19:21:20.000Z (19 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-24T21:17:51.989Z (19 days ago)
- Topics: anime, anki, ankiconnect, flashcards, immersion-learning, japanese, japanese-dictionary, japanese-language, japanese-language-learners, japanese-learning, japanese-study, jisho-dictionary, jmdict, mecab, python, subs2srs, yomitan, yt-dlp
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 15.6 MB
- Stars: 18
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- Codeowners: .github/CODEOWNERS
- Security: SECURITY.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Anki Miner
[](https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://pypi.org/project/anki-miner/)
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0)
[](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
[](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)
[](https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner/stargazers)
Turn native Japanese content into Anki vocabulary cards - with screenshots, sentence audio, furigana, pitch accent, and frequency data.
Please leave a ⭐ star if Anki Miner helped you - it helps others find it.
## Showcase
### Example cards
| | | |
|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |
## Installation
### Requirements
- **ffmpeg** on PATH.
- macOS: `brew install ffmpeg`
- Ubuntu/Debian: `sudo apt install ffmpeg`
- Windows: [download from ffmpeg.org](https://ffmpeg.org/download.html) and add to PATH.
- **Anki** with the [AnkiConnect](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2055492159) add-on. In Anki: **Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons**, paste code `2055492159`, restart.
### Download
Grab the installer for your platform from the [latest release](https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner/releases/latest):
| Platform | Installer | Portable |
|----------|-----------|----------|
| Windows | `AnkiMiner-*-Setup.exe` | `AnkiMiner-Windows-x86_64.zip` |
| Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) | `anki-miner_*_amd64.deb` | `AnkiMiner-*-Linux-x86_64.AppImage` |
| Linux (other) | — | `AnkiMiner-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz` |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | — | `AnkiMiner-macOS-arm64.tar.gz` |
No Python required. Installers and portable archives bundle all dependencies.
Install from PyPI (Python 3.10+)
```bash
pipx install anki-miner # or: pip install anki-miner
```
Install from source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner.git
cd anki_miner
pip install .
```
## Quick Start
After installing, launch **Anki Miner** from your Start Menu, Applications folder, or app menu. If you installed from PyPI or source, run `anki_miner_gui` from a terminal. A desktop shortcut is created on first launch; re-run it from **Tools → Create Desktop Shortcut…** inside the app.
Anki must be running with AnkiConnect installed before mining starts.
Tabs:
- **Episode Mining**: mine one video/subtitle pair with file selectors and progress tracking.
- **Batch Mining**: queue a folder of episode/subtitle pairs for sequential processing.
- **YouTube**: paste one or more URLs, then mine the queue.
- **Analytics**: history, series difficulty rankings, milestones, undo.
- **Settings**: Anki, Media, Dictionary, Filtering, YouTube, Themes. Saved to `~/.anki_miner/gui_config.json`.
## Features
- Anki cards with furigana, pitch accent, and word frequency.
- **Bold the target word** in the sentence so it stands out on the card front.
- **Glossary field** that combines every enabled dictionary into one card field, compatible with the Senren dictionary-toggle template.
- Load any Yomitan dictionaries you like, reorder them, and optionally enable Jisho as a slower, rate-limited online fallback (offline dictionaries are recommended for speed).
- YouTube queue: paste a list of URLs, mine the whole list in one click.
- Batch a folder of episode/subtitle pairs for unattended processing.
- Review and edit the word list before any cards are created.
- Audio in MP3 or Opus, at the bitrate you choose — Opus produces much smaller files for the same listening quality.
- Animated screenshots in AVIF or WebP for cards that show a moment of motion instead of a still frame.
- Analytics dashboard with history, undo, milestones, and series difficulty rankings.
- Four built-in themes (Light, Dark, Sakura, Tokyo Night) with a favorites list, `Ctrl+T` to cycle, and custom themes from a JSON file.
How It Works
1. **Read the subtitles** and split Japanese into individual words.
2. **Filter** to content words you don't already know.
3. **Grab a screenshot and audio clip** from the video for each line.
4. **Look up definitions** in your configured offline dictionaries, optionally falling back to Jisho online if enabled (slower, rate-limited).
5. **Send the finished cards to Anki.**
## Dictionaries
Anki Miner looks up definitions through a **provider chain** you configure. Each lookup tries the providers in order; the first hit wins. Load any number of offline Yomitan-format dictionaries — these are recommended for speed. Jisho is available as an online fallback but is disabled by default because every lookup waits ~0.5s on the API and slows mining substantially.
Add a dictionary in **Settings → Add Dictionary…** by pointing at a Yomitan `.zip` archive. Drag entries to reorder the chain. Installed dictionaries are indexed once into `~/.anki_miner/dicts//index.sqlite` and loaded on startup. Structured-content entries are rendered to HTML on import, so card definitions preserve the source dictionary's formatting (definition lists, examples, tags).
**Recommended Japanese → English dictionaries** — both are JMdict-derived; pick whichever fits your cards, or load both and order them as you like:
- **[Jitendex](https://github.com/Jitendex/Jitendex)** — modern JMdict successor with structured-content formatting, example sentences, and richer tags. Best for visually rich cards. Grab the Yomitan archive from the [Jitendex releases page](https://github.com/Jitendex/Jitendex/releases).
- **[JMdict](https://www.edrdg.org/jmdict/edict.html)** — the original community JMdict project. Plain-text glosses, smaller index, faster to add. Yomitan builds are available from the [Yomitan dictionary list](https://learnjapanese.moe/yomichan/#dictionaries) or you can rebuild from the EDRDG source.
Install via **Settings → Add Dictionary…** in either case.
## YouTube Mining
Paste one or more URLs into the YouTube tab. Each row shows its title, length, and subtitle source as you add it; click **Mine** to process the whole list. Transient download errors are retried once before a row is marked failed. Cancel is safe at any point.
Manual Japanese subtitles are used when available. Auto-captions are accepted only when YouTube generated them natively from Japanese audio — captions that YouTube produced by machine-translating from another language are skipped, because they don't make usable cards. Even native auto-captions are rougher than manual subtitles, since they lack sentence boundaries.
Gotchas:
- **Bot-detection prompts**: if YouTube asks "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot", open **Settings → Cookies → Browser** and pick Firefox or Chrome. Anki Miner pulls cookies from that browser's profile on every fetch.
- **Age-restricted videos**: same fix.
- **Max duration**: defaults to 120 minutes. The probe aborts before downloading if the video is longer. Adjust in Settings.
## Updates
Anki Miner checks GitHub for new releases on startup (toggle in Settings). When an update is available, a banner offers a one-click download of the asset that matches your install: `.deb` for Debian/Ubuntu, `.AppImage` for AppImage, the Inno installer on Windows, the macOS arm64 archive, or the release page for pip/source installs. "Skip this version" suppresses the prompt for that release; the next release prompts again.
## Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|--------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| "Cannot connect to Anki" | Start Anki and ensure AnkiConnect is installed. |
| "Deck not found" | Create the deck in Anki or update the deck name in Settings. |
| "Note type not found" | Configure your note type's field names in Settings → Anki. |
| "ffmpeg not found" | Install ffmpeg and add it to PATH. |
| No definitions found | Add a Yomitan dictionary in Settings → Add Dictionary… (recommended), or enable the Jisho fallback (slower, rate-limited). |
| Audio is wrong language | The tool tries Japanese audio tracks first, then falls back to the default. |
| Subtitles out of sync | Use the subtitle offset control in the GUI. |
## Contributing
Contributions are welcome — bug fixes, dictionary integrations, GUI polish, doc improvements, all sizes.
- New here? Start with [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
- Architecture overview: [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md).
- Testing strategy: [TESTING.md](TESTING.md).
- Code of Conduct: [CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
- Security: [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md).
Bug reports and feature requests → [Issues](https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner/issues).
General questions and discussion → [Discussions](https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner/discussions).
## Special Thanks
Sincere thanks to people who made exceptional contributions to the project:
★ **[StyraxBenzoin](https://github.com/StyraxBenzoin)** - Brilliant feature suggestions, new release testing, community building
See [CONTRIBUTORS.md](CONTRIBUTORS.md) for everyone who has made any kind of contribution to the project.
## License
GNU General Public License v3.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).