It uses your existing cards.
Your AnKing deck, school deck, or personal cards stay where they are. Vellum does not come with medical content and does not rewrite your notes.
Anki Desktop add-on · version 1.1.1
Make the filtered deck you want without fighting the Browser.
Say you want renal cards from First Aid and Pathoma, but only from AnKing. Vellum walks you through that in three screens, shows the cards it found, then lets Anki handle the studying.
AnkiWeb code
Vellum Study Builder
Native Anki window
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO STUDY?
RenalorAcid–Base
from
AnKingorMedicine
284matching
176ready
9suspended
Anki and FSRS still schedule every answer.
Not AINo generated cards or answers
Not a schedulerFSRS remains in control
Not cloud softwareNo account or telemetry
Not a deck editorNo bulk tag or card edits
What it is
Vellum is a set of study tools inside Anki Desktop.
I built it because making a precise filtered deck from a large medical collection was taking too many Browser searches and too much tag-tree clicking. The cards were already there. Getting the right ones into a study session was the annoying part.
You pick what you want.
Start with topics and then choose their source decks, or start with decks and look through the tags found inside them.
Vellum does the search.
Your choices become an Anki search. Vellum shows the result first, then creates a temporary native filtered deck if you press Build & Study.
Then it gets out of the way.
You answer with Again, Hard, Good, and Easy as usual. FSRS, due dates, review history, and syncing are still handled by Anki.
Your existing collection→A scope you understand→A temporary filtered deck→Normal Anki review→Cards return home
Study Builder
There are two ways to build a deck.
Use the first when you know the topic. Use the second when you know the deck. You do not have to type a query such as (tag:A or tag:B) deck:C.
ROUTE 1 · START WITH THE MEDICAL TOPIC
Choose one or several topics
Search “renal,” then check First Aid › Renal and Systems › Renal. Several topics here mean “any of these topics,” not the impossible requirement that every card has every selected tag.
Example: Renal or Acid–Base, from AnKing or Medicine.
Real native Qt captureExpand ↗
How the selections combine
Topics are alternatives. Decks tell Vellum where to look.
( Renal OR Cardiology )
AND
( AnKing OR Medicine )
This means: find cards about Renal or Cardiology, but only if their home deck is AnKing or Medicine. A parent deck or tag includes its children. If you choose a specific child, Vellum removes the now-redundant parent selection.
The preview
Vellum shows the result before it builds anything.
The preview does not edit cards. It shows which cards can enter the session and which ones Anki will leave out.
- Ready
- Can enter the filtered deck now.
- Suspended
- Stay excluded unless you explicitly choose to unsuspend selected cards.
- Buried
- Shown in the count, but not pulled into the deck.
- In another filtered deck
- Remain owned by that deck and are not stolen.
Your example scope
284cards match
The numbers above are an explanatory example. Vellum calculates the real numbers from your local collection when you choose a complete scope.
Collection safety
What does Vellum actually change?
It does not need to delete cards, rewrite note fields, edit tags, or replace scheduling. It does create temporary filtered decks, and it can unsuspend selected cards if you explicitly ask it to. It is still software, so keep Anki's automatic backups enabled and export important collections occasionally.
What Vellum does
- Reads deck, tag, note-type, card-state, and scheduling indexes.
- Creates a uniquely named temporary native Anki filtered deck.
- Uses rescheduling mode, so answers behave like scheduled study.
- Records a manifest of the exact deck and cards it created.
- Stores Vellum history in a separate local SQLite database under
user_files. - Returns remaining cards home and removes only the identity-checked Vellum deck when you finish.
What Vellum does not do
- Does not delete your notes or cards.
- Does not rewrite card fronts, backs, fields, or media.
- Does not rename, merge, add, or remove your tags.
- Does not modify Anki’s collection database schema.
- Does not replace FSRS, choose answer ratings, or invent due dates.
- Does not upload your collection, card text, tags, or study history.
The optional permanent action
Unsuspending selected cards
Suspended cards remain visually separate and excluded by default. If you deliberately enable Unsuspend and include, Vellum shows the exact number, asks for confirmation, and unsuspends only the limited cards selected for that run. Those cards stay active afterward.
If deck creation fails before study begins, Vellum removes only the exact newly created deck and re-suspends exactly the cards it activated during that attempt.
If a build fails
Re-check the scope→Confirm activation→Create exact deck→Build fails→Remove that deck→Re-suspend newly activated cards
Vellum also refuses to remove a deck if its saved identity no longer matches. An interrupted non-empty session stays resumable rather than being silently destroyed.
Other tools included
Study Builder is the main feature. The rest helps between sessions.
Each tool is optional and can be turned off on its own.
Context
Shows the topic path for the card you are reviewing. Useful when a fact makes more sense once you know which system or chapter it came from.
Recovery
Builds a short session for a topic that went badly. You can choose Quick, Standard, Full, or a custom size.
Study by Time
Tell Vellum how many minutes you have and which deck groups are allowed. It estimates a queue from your local answer times.
Resume + Return Ramp
Resume an interrupted Vellum deck, or pick a smaller first session after several days away.
Mind Notes
Write a private thought for your future self—such as “compare distal vs proximal RTA”—and see it when the topic returns.
Session Debrief
Shows how many cards you did, active time, answer ratings, and the topics where Again and Hard answers clustered. It is a session report, not a mastery score.
AnKing V12
Tags answer “what is this card about?” Decks answer “where should it come from?”
AnKing uses hierarchical tags because one card can belong to several topics and resources while living in only one deck. Vellum makes that structure browseable without asking you to memorize tag paths.
- Understands parent and descendant tag paths.
- Detects locally present systems, resources, yield, and Step containers instead of assuming one frozen tag snapshot.
- Collapses only deterministic duplicate Step copies and preserves their exact backing tags.
- Hides maintenance/update/duplicate tags in the ordinary view while keeping an All tags route.
- Also works with flat tags, generic hierarchical tags, ordinary decks, and custom note types.
What you see
Resourcesscope
First Aidresource
Renal284 cards
Pathomaresource
Kidney118 cards
What Vellum safely keeps underneath#AK_Step1_v12::#FirstAid::14_Renal
Privacy
Vellum does not send your collection anywhere.
Your Anki collectioncards · notes · media · scheduling
local readssupported Anki operations
Vellum
user_filessettings · session IDs · timing · recipes · text you deliberately writeThe internetno connection from Vellum
Never stored by Vellum
Card questions, answers, note fields, rendered snippets, and media.
Stored locally when needed
Identifiers, timings, ratings, topic metadata, exact temporary-deck manifests, recipe selectors, and text you deliberately write in Mind Notes or handoffs.
Sent to the author
Nothing. There is no account, telemetry, analytics SDK, cloud backend, API key, or remote crash reporter.
Read the complete data guide →Testing
What I tested before publishing v1.1.1.
✓
Locally qualifiedUnit, compilation, JavaScript, package integrity, Qt visual, disposable Anki-core, and isolated desktop startup checks on macOS.
!
Not claimedA completed real Windows 11 or Linux qualification matrix; coexistence with every third-party add-on; a guarantee that software can never contain a bug.
See CI runsRead the testsRead the qualification boundarySecurity policy
Install
Install it from AnkiWeb.
Vellum 1.1.1 targets Anki Desktop 25.09.4 or newer. The current public qualification evidence is macOS-specific.
- 1
In Anki Desktop, open Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons…
- 2
Paste and install.
- 3
Restart Anki. Read the five-step Getting Started guide; every module is optional.
- 4
Open Builder in Anki’s top bar, choose one route, inspect the cards, then Build & Study.
Updates: AnkiWeb installs are offered updates through Anki’s add-on update check. A manually installed GitHub file is not attached to the AnkiWeb listing and must be updated manually.
Feedback
Found a problem? Think a feature is missing? Say so.
Useful criticism is welcome. Please describe what you tried, what you expected, and what actually happened. Do not attach your collection, card text, Mind Notes, or private profile data.
Bug report
Something behaved incorrectly
Report a reproducible bug, confusing behavior, or performance problem.
Open a report → Collection safetySomething may have changed unexpectedly
Raise a concern about cards being moved, activated, restored, or cleaned up—even if you are asking before using the feature.
Raise a concern → Feature requestThere is a workflow Vellum should support
Explain the real study problem first. A proposed interface is helpful, but not required.
Request a feature → General feedbackYou want to discuss the idea openly
Share what is useful, what is confusing, what you do not trust yet, or how you use AnKing and filtered decks.
Join the discussion →Contains private card data or a security/privacy vulnerability? Do not post it publicly. Use GitHub's private vulnerability report.
FAQ
Things worth checking before you install it
Does Vellum change my FSRS settings or replace the scheduler?
No. Vellum builds scheduled, rescheduling-enabled filtered decks through Anki’s supported flow. Your Again/Hard/Good/Easy answer is still processed by Anki and FSRS. Vellum does not calculate replacement intervals or rewrite your scheduler configuration.
Does “temporary filtered deck” mean my cards are duplicated?
No. Anki temporarily assigns eligible cards to the filtered deck and keeps their original deck identity. When the deck is emptied or safely finished, they return home. Vellum records exact ownership so it does not delete a similarly named deck that it does not own.
Can Vellum unsuspend cards?
Only when you explicitly enable Unsuspend and include and confirm the exact number. It unsuspends only the limited selected IDs. Those cards stay unsuspended after the session. If the build fails before study starts, Vellum re-suspends exactly the cards activated by that attempt.
What happens to buried cards or cards already in another filtered deck?
They appear in separate availability counts and do not enter the new filtered deck. Vellum does not steal cards from another filtered deck or silently unbury them.
Is this only for AnKing V12?
No. AnKing is the most tag-heavy use case, so it receives specialized local facet detection. Vellum also supports ordinary decks and subdecks, generic hierarchical tags, flat tags, Basic, Cloze, Image Occlusion, and custom note/card types.
Does it sync to AnkiMobile or AnkiDroid?
Vellum’s interface and local continuity database are desktop-only. Card reviews and scheduling changes made through normal Anki study remain part of your Anki collection and follow Anki’s normal sync behavior. Vellum recipes, Mind Notes, and session history do not use a Vellum cloud and are not mobile features.
Does it read or upload my card text?
Preview snippets are rendered ephemerally for inspection and are not stored in Vellum’s database, logs, diagnostics, recipes, or debriefs. Vellum makes no external data requests and has nowhere to upload your collection.
What if I uninstall it?
Anki’s normal add-on removal removes the add-on code. Vellum-owned local data lives in its add-on area. Before uninstalling, finish or abandon any active Vellum-generated session from inside Vellum so Anki can return remaining cards home using the recorded manifest.
Should I still keep backups?
Yes. Always. Anki creates automatic backups, and important collections deserve an occasional manual export too. “Designed with rollback and ownership checks” is a safety architecture, not permission to stop backing up your work.
Why not just use Anki’s Browser?
You can—and Vellum includes an Open in Browser handoff. The difference is workflow: the Browser is a powerful card-management tool, while Study Builder guides a narrower task: choose a meaningful scope, inspect availability, and start scheduled study without constructing search syntax.
Try it or inspect the code