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Contributing

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. A few notes before you send a PR, these help me review faster and keep the plugin from drifting away from what it's meant to be.

Before you start

For bug fixes and small improvements: just send the PR.

For new features or larger changes: please open an issue first so we can talk about it. The plugin is intentionally minimalist (one single card format, no variants, no tinkering knobs) and not every feature is a good fit. Better to find out before you write the code than after.

A few things that are likely out of scope:

  • Alternative card syntaxes or formats (the whole point of the plugin is that there's exactly one way to write a card).
  • Bidirectional sync (Anki → Obsidian). This plugin syncs one direction on purpose.
  • Other Anki note types beyond Basic. Cloze, reverse, image occlusion etc. are not planned.
  • Per-card configuration options or front-matter switches.
  • Features that meaningfully expand the UI beyond the current settings tab and commands.
  • Heavy dependencies. The plugin should stay small.

If in doubt, open an issue and ask.

Pull request checklist

  • One topic per PR. If your branch fixes a bug and adds a feature and refactors a module, please split it.
  • Keep the diff focused. Reformatting unrelated files makes review much harder.
  • Test it manually with a real Obsidian vault and a real Anki instance running AnkiConnect. Describe what you tested in the PR description (which formats, sync direction, deck setup).
  • If you changed how cards are parsed or how content is sent to Anki, please include a small example markdown file (front, back, any embeds) that you tested with.
  • If you changed anything visual or added a setting, include a screenshot.
  • If you added a dependency, mention why it's necessary.

Using AI tools

Codex, Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor are all fine. But please:

  1. Mention it in the PR description.
  2. Confirm you actually ran the code and tested it against a real Anki instance.
  3. Read the diff before submitting. If you can't explain what a part of your PR does, I probably shouldn't merge it.

AI-generated PRs are not rejected on principle, but they tend to over-engineer and add code that isn't needed. Trim before you submit.

Development setup

npm install
npm run dev

npm run dev watches for changes and rebuilds main.js. Point your test vault's .obsidian/plugins/simple-anki-sync/ folder at the build output (or symlink it) and reload Obsidian to pick up changes.

For a production build:

npm run build

You'll need a working Anki + AnkiConnect setup to actually test sync behavior. Make sure Anki is running before triggering any sync commands.

Review timeline

This is a side project, so reviews can take a few days to a week. If a PR has been sitting for two weeks without a response, feel free to ping it.

Reporting bugs

Open an issue with:

  • Your Obsidian version and OS
  • Your AnkiConnect version
  • A minimal markdown example that reproduces the problem (front, back, any embeds)
  • What you expected to happen
  • What happened instead
  • Any errors from Obsidian's developer console (Ctrl+Shift+I → Console)

Thanks for contributing.