SubMiner/docs-site/anki-integration.md

Anki Integration

SubMiner uses the AnkiConnect add-on to create and update Anki cards with sentence context, audio, and screenshots. This project is built primarily for Kiku and Lapis note types, including sentence-card and field-grouping behavior.

::: tip New to these terms?

• Anki is the flashcard app where your study cards live.
• AnkiConnect is a free add-on that lets other programs (like SubMiner) talk to Anki over a local connection. SubMiner needs it installed to add or edit cards.
• A note type (also called a "model") is the template that defines what a card looks like - for example the Kiku or Lapis templates many Japanese learners use.
• A field is one labeled slot in that template, such as Sentence, Expression, or Picture. SubMiner fills these fields when it mines a card. :::

Prerequisites

1. Install Anki.
2. Install the AnkiConnect add-on (code: 2055492159).
3. Keep Anki running while using SubMiner.

AnkiConnect listens on http://127.0.0.1:8765 by default. If you changed the port in AnkiConnect's settings, update ankiConnect.url in your SubMiner config.

Auto-Enrichment Transport

When you add a word via Yomitan, SubMiner detects the new card and fills in the sentence, audio, image, and translation fields automatically. Two detection methods are available:

Proxy mode (default) - SubMiner runs a local proxy: a small middleman server that sits between Yomitan and Anki. Yomitan sends new cards to SubMiner, SubMiner enriches them, then passes them along to Anki. This makes enrichment instant.

Polling mode (fallback, when the proxy is disabled) - SubMiner asks AnkiConnect every few seconds whether any new cards were added, then enriches them. Simpler setup, but with a short delay (~3 seconds).

Use proxy mode if you want immediate enrichment. Use polling mode if your Yomitan instance is external (browser-based) or you prefer minimal configuration.

In both modes, the enrichment workflow is the same:

1. Checks if a duplicate expression already exists (for field grouping).
2. Updates the sentence field with the current subtitle.
3. Generates and uploads audio and image media.
4. Fills the translation field from the secondary subtitle or AI.
5. Writes metadata to the miscInfo field.

Polling mode uses the query "deck:<ankiConnect.deck>" added:1 to find recently added cards. If no deck is configured, it searches all decks (added:1). In Settings, the AnkiConnect deck dropdown auto-fills and persists Yomitan's current mining deck when available, then falls back to the decks reported by AnkiConnect; stats-dashboard mining also falls back to Yomitan's mining deck when ankiConnect.deck is empty. Known-word sync scope is controlled by ankiConnect.knownWords.decks.

Proxy Mode Setup (Yomitan / Texthooker)

"ankiConnect": {
  "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8765", // real AnkiConnect
  "proxy": {
    "enabled": true,
    "host": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": 8766,
    "upstreamUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8765"
  }
}

Then point Yomitan/clients to http://127.0.0.1:8766 instead of 8765.

When SubMiner loads the bundled Yomitan extension, it also attempts to update the currently active Yomitan profile's Anki server to the active SubMiner endpoint (falling back to profiles[0] if the active-profile index is invalid):

• proxy URL when ankiConnect.proxy.enabled is true
• direct ankiConnect.url when proxy mode is disabled

To avoid clobbering custom setups, this auto-update only changes the profile when its current server is blank or the stock Yomitan default (http://127.0.0.1:8765).

For browser-based Yomitan or other external clients (for example Texthooker in a normal browser profile), set their Anki server to the same proxy URL separately: http://127.0.0.1:8766 (or your configured proxy.host + proxy.port).

Browser/Yomitan external setup (separate profile)

If you want SubMiner to use proxy mode without touching your main/default Yomitan profile, create or select a separate Yomitan profile just for SubMiner and set its Anki server to the proxy URL.

That profile isolation gives you both benefits:

• SubMiner can auto-enrich immediately via proxy.
• Your default Yomitan profile keeps its existing Anki server setting.

In Yomitan, go to Settings → Profile and:

1. Create a profile for SubMiner (or choose one dedicated profile).
2. Open Anki settings for that profile.
3. Set server to http://127.0.0.1:8766 (or your configured proxy URL).
4. Save and make that profile active when using SubMiner.

This is only for non-bundled, external/browser Yomitan or other clients. The bundled profile auto-update logic only targets the active profile when its server is blank or still default.

Proxy Troubleshooting (quick checks)

If auto-enrichment appears to do nothing:

1. Confirm proxy listener is running while SubMiner is active:

ss -ltnp | rg 8766

2. Confirm requests can pass through the proxy:

curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8766 \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"action":"version","version":2}'

3. Check the log sinks in ~/.config/SubMiner/logs/:

• App runtime log: app-YYYY-MM-DD.log
• Launcher log: launcher-YYYY-MM-DD.log
• mpv log: mpv-YYYY-MM-DD.log

4. Ensure config JSONC is valid and logging shape is correct:

"logging": {
  "level": "debug"
}

"logging": "debug" is invalid for current schema and can break reload/start behavior.

Field Mapping

SubMiner maps its data to your Anki note fields. Configure these under ankiConnect.fields:

"ankiConnect": {
  "fields": {
    "word": "Expression",           // mined word / expression text
    "audio": "ExpressionAudio",    // audio clip from the video
    "image": "Picture",             // screenshot or animated clip
    "sentence": "Sentence",         // subtitle text
    "miscInfo": "MiscInfo",         // metadata (filename, timestamp)
    "translation": "SelectionText"  // secondary sub or AI translation
  }
}

Field names are matched against your Anki note type case-insensitively (an exact match wins, then a lowercase comparison). If a configured field does not exist on the note type, SubMiner skips it without error.

Two related options live alongside fields: ankiConnect.deck (target deck; empty falls back as described above) and ankiConnect.tags (tags added to mined cards, default ["SubMiner"]; set [] to disable tagging). The miscInfo content is controlled by ankiConnect.metadata.pattern (default [SubMiner] %f (%t); tokens: %f filename, %F filename with extension, %t timestamp, %T timestamp with milliseconds, <br> newline).

Minimal Config

If you only want sentence and audio on your cards:

"ankiConnect": {
  "enabled": true,
  "fields": {
    "sentence": "Sentence",
    "audio": "ExpressionAudio"
  }
}

Media Generation

SubMiner uses FFmpeg to generate audio and image media from the video. FFmpeg must be installed and on PATH.

Audio

Audio is extracted from the video file using the subtitle's start and end timestamps. Padding is opt-in; keep it at 0 when you want sentence audio to start exactly at the mined sentence.

"ankiConnect": {
  "media": {
    "generateAudio": true,
    "normalizeAudio": true,      // normalize generated clip loudness
    "mirrorMpvVolume": true,     // apply the current mpv volume level
    "audioPadding": 0,           // optional seconds before and after subtitle timing
    "maxMediaDuration": 30       // cap total duration in seconds
  }
}

Output format: MP3 at 44100 Hz. If the video has multiple audio streams, SubMiner uses the active stream. Generated sentence audio is loudness-normalized to -23 LUFS by default during extraction; set normalizeAudio to false to keep raw source loudness. When subtitle timing is missing, clips fall back to media.fallbackDuration seconds (default 3). Changing these settings applies to the next extraction without restarting SubMiner.

mirrorMpvVolume is also enabled by default. Immediately before extracting each playback-overlay card's audio, SubMiner reads mpv's numeric volume and applies mpv's cubic software-volume curve after loudness normalization. For example, mpv volume 50 produces 0.5³ = 0.125 gain. Amplified output above mpv volume 100 is limited to a -1 dBFS ceiling before MP3 encoding to prevent clipping. It ignores mpv's separate mute state. If the volume property is missing, invalid, or unavailable, extraction continues with unity scaling; disabling this option skips the query and volume filter. Changing this setting applies to the next extraction without restarting SubMiner. YouTube cards queued for a background media-cache download retain the volume captured when the card was mined. Stats-dashboard mining does not currently have access to the active mpv property client, so it does not apply mpv volume scaling.

The audio is uploaded to Anki's media folder and inserted as [sound:audio_<timestamp>.mp3].

Screenshots (Static)

A single frame is captured at the current playback position.

"ankiConnect": {
  "media": {
    "generateImage": true,
    "imageType": "static",
    "imageFormat": "jpg",        // "jpg", "png", or "webp"
    "imageQuality": 92,          // 1–100
    "imageMaxWidth": 0,          // 0 = preserve source resolution
    "imageMaxHeight": 0
  }
}

Animated Clips (AVIF)

Instead of a static screenshot, SubMiner can generate an animated AVIF covering the subtitle duration.

"ankiConnect": {
  "media": {
    "generateImage": true,
    "imageType": "avif",
    "animatedFps": 10,
    "animatedMaxWidth": 640,
    "animatedMaxHeight": 0,      // 0 = preserve aspect ratio
    "animatedCrf": 35            // 0–63, lower = better quality
  }
}

Animated AVIF requires an AV1 encoder (libaom-av1, libsvtav1, or librav1e) in your FFmpeg build. Generation timeout is 60 seconds. media.syncAnimatedImageToWordAudio (default true) prepends a frozen first frame matching the existing word-audio duration, so the motion starts together with the sentence audio.

Behavior Options

"ankiConnect": {
  "behavior": {
    "overwriteAudio": true,         // replace existing audio, or append
    "overwriteImage": true,         // replace existing image, or append
    "mediaInsertMode": "append",    // "append" or "prepend" to field content
    "autoUpdateNewCards": true,     // auto-update when new card detected
    "highlightWord": true,          // bold the mined word inside the sentence field
    "notificationType": "overlay"   // "overlay", "system", "both", or "none"
  }
}

both now means overlay + system notification. osd and osd-system are legacy config-file-only values; set notificationType to "osd-system" in config.jsonc if you previously used both and want to keep mpv OSD + system notifications. The Settings window shows osd or osd-system when already configured, but only offers overlay, system, both, and none as normal choices.

When media is available, mined-card overlay and system notifications include the same current-frame thumbnail.

overwriteAudio applies to automatic card updates and duplicate-card enrichment. Manual clipboard subtitle updates (Ctrl/Cmd+C, then Ctrl/Cmd+V) always replace generated sentence audio, while leaving the word audio field unchanged.

AI Translation

SubMiner can auto-translate the mined sentence and fill the translation field. Secondary subtitle text still wins when present. AI translation is only attempted when ankiConnect.ai.enabled is true and no secondary subtitle exists.

"ai": {
  "enabled": true,
  "apiKey": "sk-...",
  "apiKeyCommand": "",
  "baseUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/api",
  "requestTimeoutMs": 15000
},
"ankiConnect": {
  "ai": {
    "enabled": true,
    "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
    "systemPrompt": "Translate mined sentence text only."
  }
}

ankiConnect.ai controls feature-local enablement plus optional model / systemPrompt overrides. Provider credentials and request transport settings live in top-level ai.

Translation priority:

1. If a secondary subtitle is available, use it as the translation.
2. If ankiConnect.ai.enabled is true and top-level ai.enabled is true, call the shared AI provider.
3. If AI translation fails and no secondary subtitle exists, fall back to the original sentence text.

The built-in translation request asks for English output by default. Customize that behavior through ankiConnect.ai.systemPrompt.

Sentence Cards (Lapis)

SubMiner can create standalone sentence cards (without a word/expression) using a separate note type. This is designed for use with Lapis and similar sentence-focused note types.

::: warning Required config Sentence card creation and audio card marking require a non-empty ankiConnect.isLapis.sentenceCardModel naming a note type that exists in Anki (default: "Lapis"). If the model is empty or missing, the Ctrl/Cmd+S and Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+A shortcuts will not create cards. :::

"ankiConnect": {
  "isLapis": {
    "enabled": true,
    "sentenceCardModel": "Lapis" // default; point at your Lapis/Kiku note type
  }
}

Trigger with the mine sentence shortcut (Ctrl/Cmd+S by default). The card is created directly via AnkiConnect with the sentence, audio, and image filled in.

To mine multiple subtitle lines as one sentence card, use Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+S followed by a digit (1–9) to select how many recent lines to combine.

Field Grouping (Kiku)

When you mine the same word multiple times, SubMiner can merge the cards instead of creating duplicates. This is designed for note types like Kiku that support grouped sentence/audio/image fields.

"ankiConnect": {
  "isKiku": {
    "enabled": true,
    "fieldGrouping": "manual",         // "auto", "manual", or "disabled"
    "deleteDuplicateInAuto": true      // delete new card after auto-merge
  }
}

Modes

Disabled ("disabled"): No duplicate detection. Each card is independent.

Auto ("auto"): When a duplicate expression is found, SubMiner merges the new card into the existing one automatically. Both cards' sentences, audio clips, and images are preserved as grouped entries. If deleteDuplicateInAuto is true, the new card is deleted after merging.

Manual ("manual"): A modal appears in the overlay showing both cards. You choose which card to keep, preview the merge result, then confirm. The modal has a 90-second timeout, after which it cancels automatically.

What Gets Merged

Field	Merge behavior
Sentence	Both cards' sentences kept as grouped entries
Audio	Both cards' [sound:...] entries kept
Image	Both cards' images kept

Identical values from both cards are kept as separate grouped entries; the merge does not deduplicate.

Keyboard Shortcuts in the Modal

Key	Action
1 / 2	Select card 1 or card 2 to keep
Enter	Confirm selection
Backspace	Go back from the merge preview
Esc	Cancel (keep both cards unchanged)

Full Config Example

{
  "ankiConnect": {
    "enabled": true,
    "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8765",
    "pollingRate": 3000,
    "deck": "",
    "tags": ["SubMiner"],
    "proxy": {
      "enabled": true, // default
      "host": "127.0.0.1",
      "port": 8766,
      "upstreamUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8765",
    },
    "fields": {
      "word": "Expression",
      "audio": "ExpressionAudio",
      "image": "Picture",
      "sentence": "Sentence",
      "miscInfo": "MiscInfo",
      "translation": "SelectionText",
    },
    "media": {
      "generateAudio": true,
      "generateImage": true,
      "imageType": "static",
      "imageFormat": "jpg",
      "imageQuality": 92,
      "normalizeAudio": true,
      "mirrorMpvVolume": true,
      "audioPadding": 0,
      "maxMediaDuration": 30,
    },
    "behavior": {
      "overwriteAudio": true,
      "overwriteImage": true,
      "mediaInsertMode": "append",
      "autoUpdateNewCards": true,
      "notificationType": "overlay",
    },
    "metadata": {
      "pattern": "[SubMiner] %f (%t)",
    },
    "ai": {
      "enabled": false,
      "model": "", // e.g. "openai/gpt-4o-mini"
      "systemPrompt": "",
    },
    "isKiku": {
      "enabled": false,
      "fieldGrouping": "disabled",
      "deleteDuplicateInAuto": true,
    },
    "isLapis": {
      "enabled": false,
      "sentenceCardModel": "Lapis",
    },
  },
  "ai": {
    "enabled": false,
    "apiKey": "",
    "apiKeyCommand": "",
    "baseUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/api",
    "requestTimeoutMs": 15000,
  },
}