Hey Whats up ! Im Unlucky - Original Creator of Ankimon - Im thinking about creating a Website as a form of “Google” for Addons to easily filter and find addons for any purpose needed - something like: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/search?class=mc-addons&page=1&pageSize=20 => Would like some feedback what you guys think of the idea and what kind of features you would like to have integrated - Hopefully this is the right channel for my question - if not please let me know and ill move there with my question 
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Are you suggesting this would be an alternative place for people to post their add-ons? Or would you be scraping data from the add-on site and re-posting them yourself [both of which I’m sure you shouldn’t do]?
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The idea is an alternative to the current page. So no scrapping - a seperate page where users and developers can submit their addons
As someone who developed add-ons, I felt like at times that the ankiweb page was missing out on several functions and features. I would’ve wished for.
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Ideally I think such websites should be operated by the official Anki. Technically websites for add-ons could freely distribute malware so IMO downloading many add-ons through individuals or third parties is super dangerous.
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AnkiWeb could certainly use some improvements (e.g., categories and better add-on discovery). While a new add-on platform can improve some aspects, it can also cause user fragmentation as it is not a built-in part of Anki. I’d suggest instead looking into building an alternative UI for the add-ons list, maybe using something like Anki Addons Dataset: a detailed list of addons, unless if the problems you’re trying to solve are related to the add-on distribution/update mechanism and they can’t be simply fixed by contributing to Anki.
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If you’d asked permission, you’d never have created anything. There are websites that distribute software; they upload the executable files separately, but of course, they also provide a link to the original files where you can download them.
Why not have a similar website for add-ons?
The more information about the add-on, the more interest there is in Anki.
As someone who developed add-ons, I felt like at times that the ankiweb page was missing out on several functions and features. I would’ve wished for.
Yes, on the page https://ankiweb.net/shared/addons, I’d like to see a rating for, say, a year, since Anki’s version tends to be stable for about that period, and it would be interesting to see a list of add-ons that have received the most likes over the past year. Although the likes issue isn’t clear either; they don’t really get much, judging by my add-on: I updated it and got about 800 downloads in a couple of weeks. That means someone is still using it. But since I don’t force people to go and like it on the site, no one will, and there are only 4. It might be interesting to have download statistics, although that doesn’t really tell you anything. In the Anki app, they’re prompting me to update the add-on, but it would be nice to immediately display your 5-star rating for the add-on and be able to change it with each download. So, each user should have a table of their installed add-ons and the add-on’s rating (although with a low rating, there’s no point in keeping the add-on).
For each add-on that visually changes something in Anki, there should be at least one photo of the change. It would be more interesting to look at the pictures.
And of course, there could be more discussions about add-ons on the site, and so on. Basically, it’s all up to you.
And yes, probably the most important thing is that if the interface is English, at least ensure that important code isn’t translated by translation systems. Recently, on https://ankiuser.net/, they couldn’t figure out where the user’s data was coming from. And the current forum, if you enable translation, will crash, so users from other countries are required to speak English. It’s the same with add-ons; most simply don’t translate them, assuming everyone should know English.
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I think so too, but IMO the bottlenecks are server costs, security vulnerabilities, and the lack of cooperation among add-on developers.
e.g. if we somehow made the AnkiWeb add-ons page 100 times more convenient, downloads would likely increase 100 times. But this would also increase server costs 100 times. The AnkiWeb server lacks a monetization mechanism to absorb the costs resulting from such increased traffic. To reduce server costs while keeping the service free it is reasonable to reduce convenience. Also the main development efforts of Anki’s developers and contributors are focused on Anki for desktop and AnkiDroid, not add-ons. So I think they have no motivation to increase the convenience or accessibility of add-ons.
If we manage to resolve such cost issues somehow (e.g. uploading directly to GitHub), the next problem is security. If there is a new platform for add-ons where developers can upload them administrators must check whether they are safe or not, otherwise the website risks become full of dangerous malware. (AnkiWeb has recently experienced malware uploads by malicious developers.)
Such checks and deletions likely require a full time developer or employee. Typical add-on developers often go inactive for weeks or several months, so they cannot do such checks, and merely contacting them is difficult. So far only the official Anki can do this, they remove dangerous add-ons within almost one day of being reported.
One way to safely and at low cost enhance user convenience is to redevelop the features of popular add-ons and integrate them into Anki for desktop (or official Anki add-ons). By redeveloping and verifying the code through Anki and AnkiDroid developers, safety is virtually guaranteed, and more Anki users can utilize convenient features. It’s much easier than checking the code every time add-ons are updated.
For us add-on developers the disadvantage of such an approach is that it creates conflicting interests. Add-ons integrated into Anki for desktop become unnecessary for users so such add-ons will certainly be discontinued. Such conflicts of interest occur not only with Anki for desktop but also between add-ons themselves. e.g. when a more convenient and advanced add-on is developed, the older add-on becomes unnecessary. If they’re developing as a hobby it takes away the fun, and if they’re monetizing it it causes losses. Conflicts like this often occur with Anki updates because add-ons break.
For such reasons typical add-on developers are often exclusive or uncooperative (or they lack the resources to cooperate). So even if a new platform for add-ons were developed or AnkiWeb were open sourced I think it’s low probability that add-on developers would cooperate, I think they are likely to engage in activities or take actions that benefit their own add-ons. (top add-ons can be monetized so there should be a financial incentive.)
To avoid these issues and maintain a healthy platform I think the optimal approach is to leave everything to the official Anki. Since Anki is primarily run by non profit volunteers, third parties monetizing add-ons or web services almost always triggers opposition from users, or developers often leave Anki to create competing learning apps. The official Anki is the most reliable entity within the Anki ecosystem and since they are the official and bear the server costs, monetization or algorithm adjustments won’t cause problems.
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I’d also prefer enhancing the official add-on catalog.
I’m curious: why doesn’t Anki use a “bounty/fundraising platform” where users can donate directly to desired features?
Users can publish features they want to see or vote for existing ones. Then Anki maintainers can assign prices to popular ones. When the money is collected, a maintainer implements it and takes the money.
Possibly, the Anki team has such experience already and it wasn’t good, was it?
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The issue is with that anki web creators and anki developers - they don’t really see the need nor they don’t want to support add-ons or addon creators rlly with their time.
At least that is my experience now which you can see by add-ons being only integrated to the desktop version not for iOS and only in plan for android . And multiple forums talks about addons and them being almost undiscoverable.
My experience wasn’t that great.
Also community projects have the issue that almost everything takes alot longer because every feature needs to be discussed and coding style differs.
If I remember correctly they are concerned about the risk of an increase in low quality pull requests motivated by bounty. Also since they are a company, they can develop full-time and don’t need many volunteers. AnkiDroid is a volunteer group so they are seeking donations and contributors.
Users oppose exploitative monetization, not monetization itself.
They happily accept:
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paid add-ons
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Patreon-supported tools
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freemium models
as long as: -
core remains free,
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no dark patterns,
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no lock-in.
I mean you are also looking for monetization through your addons on Ankiweb (and have created lite and pro versions on there) aswell as linking all your addons to patreon - if we are being honest. So that hasnt been an issue until now.
The cooperation issue i dont see tbh - multiple new Addon developers are able to cooperate (look at through Ankimon we have creators who has thrived and learned through Ankimon development)
the Malware / Bugs issue => This is a hard issue on Ankiweb. There is not scanning for malware nor is there a bug report list on each addon on their page.
The Storage/ Server Costs - the idea was to only allow to **link! **Files and images aswell as videos - not host them ! I talked to the Anki Collab a while ago and his system is quite alike and he is hosting this under minima cost (lowest server tier).
Also the rating system isnt encouraging users to downrate or comment on a Addon (nor does Ankiweb make sure that users downloaded that addon actually). So fake rating is also a big thing - happened multiple times check Ankiforum posts.
there is no report system on Ankiweb - something i thought about adding in the webpage again - allowing to report on Ownership/ Copyright/ Malware/ Bug
Also addons tha would be verified to functiom by multiple users would get a „verified“ badge allowing a user to quickly know about the trustworthyness of an addon
And it encourages developers to open source their addon and actually link their code on github (meaning users could easily search through their addon code for malware or maliciousness)
Also all external links for reference will have a „make sure you trust this author“ and will acknowledge the risk to the user of possibly maliciousness. (Which ankiweb also currently has no checking of maliciousness, malware, spam - or a report system to admins)
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Hi there guys, so let me give my two cents on this. For context, I created Onigiri and some other small add-ons. Before reading, know that this is my personal opinion and not cardinal law.
To begin with, I’d like to draw a comparison: when we download PC games, we can choose between different platforms, such as Epic Games and Steam. Anki is also becoming a growing platform, largely thanks to add-ons, which give users much more flexibility over the app. Given this, keeping everything limited to AnkiWeb simply because it is the only official option feels, at this stage, more like a fear to embrace growth than a constructive stance. Opening space for additional, well‑run platforms would, in my view, better reflect how important add-ons have become to the ecosystem.
Anki add-ons have been growing at a very fast pace, in a way that AnkiWeb can’t really keep up with. We now have a new generation of add-ons that deserves more visibility, while others would benefit from better moderation or even being taken down. Unfortunately, AnkiWeb wasn’t originally designed for this current scale: it is still essentially a long list of add-ons that are often not maintained, sometimes low-effort copies of other projects, and occasionally even scams. On top of that, it doesn’t provide a good way to distinguish which reviews are actually useful and trustworthy, which makes it quite discouraging for developers to receive negative feedback that is not constructive or productive.
As an example, we’ve been having a lot of scam or fake Amboss add-ons (like this and this) mixed with “not free” add-ons, random add-ons like this and this (even if the Pointless Add-on is funny for the comments), obsolete add-ons, all grouped together in a single list, with very limited maintenance or filtering, which makes it much harder for users to discover and truly value the relatively few add-ons that are safe, free, actively maintained, and currently working.
When it comes to Anki being a non-profit and the relationship with users. First things first, we currently only have the “opposition” of users against paid add-ons because they are being published on AnkiWeb, which is part of the official Anki, that is known to be free for all, so promoting it there only enrages people when they see something there isn’t free, growing a generalized oposition against paid add-ons and decks for Anki. Even AnKing suffers from this, even doing very good quality products, being “forced” by the rigid system to have add-ons published like this.
An alternative website that could display both free and paid add-ons, similar to the Play Store or App Store, with proper comment moderation and better tools for developers to present their work, would open up a valuable new space: users would enter that environment already expecting to find both free and paid options. Since some add-on creators are already using Patreon or their own platforms to sell add-ons, wouldn’t it make more sense to have another “add-on store” that brings these paid projects together in a single place, where add-ons gaining traction can be highlighted in a smarter, more intentional way?
So, here are my two takes, quick TL;DR:
- I believe we should allow the creation of one or even two alternate add-on stores, allowing users to choose where they want to search for their add-ons just like we have the right to choose where to download games on pc or phone, letting users be well-aware that there are risks.
- I also do believe that the AnkiWeb store should be “reformed”, to either improve and embrace add-ons that currently are spread through Patreons and signature websites, or to be the official platform for 100% free add-ons, since AnkiWeb is FOSS.
Those are two separate issues that, in my view, should be discussed independently. That said, blocking the creation of a new store solely on the basis that everything should remain on the official AnkiWeb platform doesn’t feel right to me. If someone is willing to create and maintain a new website, support and highlight high‑quality add-ons, handle moderation, and cover the associated costs, that seems like a net positive for the community.
From the user’s perspective, the risk of downloading an add-on from AnkiWeb or from a third-party source is essentially the same — just like with Patreon add-ons. In all cases, users need to remain aware of what they choose to install.
Once again, these are just my two cents. I personally plan to create paid add-ons and decks in the future because, even though this is volunteer work, I’d like to take the quality of what I build to a higher level and offer freemium/premium options. I don’t see myself using AnkiWeb to publish those paid products, out of respect for people who rely on Anki as a completely free tool. For that reason, a reform of AnkiWeb and/or the creation of a new, officially recognized platform dedicated to this kind of ecosystem sounds very positive to me.
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I want to emphasize a few things:
- (as far as I am aware) the addons are not the primary focus of dae when maintaining AnkiWeb
- “user fragmentation” is a non-issue, as there are already established AddOn-Creators sharing their work on alternative platforms (i.e. Patreon)
- malicious code is a fundamental problem with the way that addons work (when installing an add-on, is downloading code that is executed unimpeded with the same privileges as the user — the cardinal sin of cybersecurity)
- there is a disclaimer “As add-ons are programs downloaded from the internet, they are potentially malicious. You should only download add-ons you trust.“ on every addon page
- currently, there are also no checks for malicious add-on code anywhere within AnkiWeb, so trust is either a given or earned through open-sourcing the add-on code on GitHub (although one could also check the downloaded code in the add-on folder if one wanted to)
- as seen with other platforms (e.g. AnkiHub), with a large enough user base even fully private “addons” will be integrated into the main Anki/AnkiWeb ecosystem
- when linking to GitHub downloads, server costs for this project would be minimal, as would be the load on AnkiWeb (exactly 0)
@Unlucky-life and @peacemonk basically already hit all of the points I was going to make.
Nonetheless, I wouldn’t think about this as a competing alternative, but rather as an improving alternative to the current state of things.
Personal note: Being responsible for the add-on of a large community project, there is a need for better download statistics and version information to keep track of what version people are on (are they updating or not?) and how large the user base is.
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Therefore, there’s no incentive to increase Anki’s user base, as that also puts a strain on the server. Creating a different website would reduce the load on add-ons, but wouldn’t reduce the syncing load, so they’d be against that, too. The best option would be to have a dedicated server for syncing and add-ons, but that’s a different branch of Anki’s development. If add-on developers want to collaborate on this, it’s possible, but since there’s a lot of work involved, I’m not sure they’ll find a sponsor, and it’ll likely be a paid project.
So, it’s staying as is; everything is being fixed gradually, so add-on developers have time to fix things in their free time, and it can at least last a month, rather than crashing after a day, since the Anki developers have already done something quickly.
But what I’m missing is visibility into where we’re headed, what will happen in, say, a year or two? We’ll do something like that top-tier add-on, because it’s useful, or we’ll do something like this. Otherwise, nothing changes for years, and this is both good and bad.
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I disagree with saying that Anki developers don’t want to support add-ons. The main issue with AnkiWeb is really that’s almost completely dependent on Damien’s bandwidth to maintain.
A lot of work has been done throughout the years to support add-ons and keep them working with major desktop updates where possible. I’ve been following Anki development and contributing fixes while working on dozens of add-ons for ~6 years now, and I never got this impression. There are a lot of rough edges of course, due to limited resources and this being mostly an open-source project, and maybe some lack of communication between developers on different platforms (This forum, GitHub, Reddit, Discord, etc) and preference to work alone.
It’s true that add-ons are not the top priority for Anki right now. The major focus in recent years has been better integration between the different Anki clients, but this will eventually result in a cross-platform add-on system that’s more secure, documented, and less likely to break with updates.
Nothing against an alternative add-on platform in principle (I’d probably consider using it as one more publishing platform if there are plans to support an API to push updates), and you don’t need permission for that if you don’t plan to make use of AnkiWeb’s data. I’d just encourage add-on developers to contribute improvements to core Anki where possible (which is unfortunately mostly not the case for AnkiWeb right now).
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Possibly enabling a syncing function would be an option to sync to your GitHub Repo if its public instead of an api
But based on the current feedback I have gotten, I think ill consider all the requests/implement the thoughts here properly and build the Website.
Because its only using linking primarily, i think i could build this by myself.
If anyone has special requests for features or other certain aspects im happy to implement them
For example - there isnt any notification as addon dev if a new anki version is being updated to a new pyqt version.
Which lead to ALOT of Addons being broken that imported ankis pyqt lib.
Additionally wast there already the thought of removing pyqt as ui lib for anki and possibly replacing - leading again to multiple broken addons ?
Anki had a compatibility layer to keep most add-ons working for 2 years after the transition.
Qt won’t be removed any time soon, but the trend is to move away from it gradually. This will probably cause bigger breakages than the Qt transition, but there will be a transitional period. Some discussion here:
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I always receive tons of complaints about paywalls. what can I do? Nothing, that’s normal.
Well, if such a platform were permitted by the official Anki, I suppose the challenge would be how to gather such add-ons developers. Typical add-on developers are busy and only become active about once every few months. It’s common for even a simple reply to take weeks or even months, it’s also common for them to ignore all user contact. In short basically there’s no way to contact the developers of add-ons and even if it were possible, they rarely have the development resources to release new versions. So even if the optimal platform is completed, developers and users may not gather.
Another challenge is the reliability of such platforms. The AnkiWeb Add-ons server has been developed by the official Anki for 19+ years, though not multifunctional, its reliability and stability are exceptionally high, security measures are also highly advanced, I never encountered any problems or errors on the AnkiWeb Add-on server during my development work.
In contrast your Ankimon development has likely been going on for about two years and you are a relatively new developer. Also you operate under a nickname and anonymous icon, making your identity unknown. Since you’re using AI for development and add-ons structure you’re likely not a professional programmer or security expert. Plus Ankimon on AnkiWeb is currently broken and neglected with development now handled by another developer, this likely means you already lack sufficient development resources and have no capacity to fix it.
To be frank I doubt you can develop a fair and secure platform for managing many add-ons in this state. These are not issues in general add-on development but if you become the platform administrator these become important.
If you were a highly skilled malicious developer you could technically infect all users of my add-ons with malware at once, even if you had no malicious intent there is a risk that you could be attacked and taken over by such a highly skilled malicious developer, and even without that there is a risk that critical errors could occur unintentionally. Platform administrators require such reliability, technical expertise, and sufficient time, otherwise they cannot respond when users are put at risk. Even if those things didn’t happen there’s still a possibility that you might change your policy to favor for profit competitors over Anki’s third parties due to financial circumstances. Such monetization often occurs because developers find it increases their revenue.
IMO in such cases it is preferable for the administrator to be a company rather than an individual, even if an individual developer is not anonymous there is a risk that their profile could be highly fabricated (or the account is real but compromised). e.g. if you are an official employee of Anki or Anking I think your credibility is sufficiently high, as they would have verified your identity and reliability during the interview process, for employees their salary should enable development close to full time hours.
If we can somehow resolve these issues of gathering developers and ensuring reliability (e.g. terms of use: do you agree to the above risks? → Yes), I think there are issues with platform fairness.
Your Ankimon is currently ranked at the top of the add-ons list, but this isn’t entirely due to the add-on’s own capabilities, a major factor is that it gained more ratings by improving the Popup system I caused issues with. The Popup issues have already been resolved so its use is not a problem, but this means you are maximizing the benefits for your own add-on so it’s a bit unclear whether you are truly fairing the platform’s competition, the risk that you might manipulate things slightly to favor your own add-ons or those of your developer friends seems relatively high. (even good people occasionally do such things. e.g. a sudden deterioration in financial circumstances due to illness or accidents among family members.)
Another issue is licensing. Anki is licensed under the AGPL which permits free and unlicensed copying of the code, if developers use PyQt or aqt which Anki relies on this AGPL license is enforced. But in your case you’re adding your own license to the add-ons and requiring permission for its use, such a license is incompatible with the AGPL and could be illegal, also I think such an exclusive license goes against Anki’s open source philosophy, even if closed source add-ons become possible in the future it is ideal for them to remain open source as much as possible because all past Anki developers have contributed through open source.
In normal add-on development none of these are issues because developers are kind volunteers or students working non profit, but for platform administrators there’s a risk of encouraging illegal activities among new developers or having developers unknowingly violate Anki’s terms of service, so I think it’s better to be strict about these matters.
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