# Idea for new Anki Addon Platform

**URL:** https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/idea-for-new-anki-addon-platform/68264
**Category:** Add-ons
**Created:** [January 13, 2026, 11:48pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/idea-for-new-anki-addon-platform/68264 "2026-01-13T23:48:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 14

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### Author: ![phyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7cd45c/32.png) [@phyn](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/phyn)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/idea-for-new-anki-addon-platform/68264/14 "2026-01-14T12:32:17Z")

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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](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/integrate-an-open-interface-for-collaboration-plaftorms/46372)), 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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