This is a few days worth of materials to read. If anyone finds it overwhelming, I recommend you read this comic that teaches you the basics of idea behind spaced repetition https://ncase.me/remember/
golly_ned · 8h ago
Dropping a product recommendation -- my favorite spaced repetition + notetaking + learning app: https://www.remnote.com/
I'm not affiliated, just a big booster. For those familiar with Anki it follows the same conventions. It has an excellent system for managing cards. Adding cards is as easy as writing a bullet point: [front of card] == [back of card]. They got the ergonomics right and clearly know the space very well; it has the right keyboard accessibility and shortcuts and navigation. It supports the basics you'd expect like cloze deletions (fill-in-the-blank), image occlusion (cover up parts of an image). It manages assets like PDFs and images. It uses FSRS (the best SRS scheduling algorithm atm).
It has the best (optional) AI integration into a product I've seen except for the usual code-generation suspects. I'm learning spanish and can type into a bullet point something like "el vaquero ==< [tab]" and have the translation automatically generated for me into a forward and reverse card. I'm learning math and can cloze-delete parts of latex equations; the AI can very frequently generate excellent and accurate latex equations, which I can make small edits to as I'd like. These kinds of bonuses make taking live flashcard-based notes during my spanish tutoring sessions and math-based parts of classes feasible.
It's less low-level configurable than Anki and more "works out of the box" with a smaller extension system. I've had enough of trying to fiddle with Anki. Overall just excellent -- I'm not affiliated in any way. Development is very fast. Release note videos are incredible, minor updates occur ~weekly. I've run into a few bugs, especially when I was traveling overseas where internet isn't strong, but overall very pleased with it.
christiangenco · 49m ago
I'm a big fan of Mochi[1] (also unaffiliated) after getting frustrated with the clunkiness of Anki.
Mochi has great native apps on macOS and iOS (and maybe more?), the cards are formatted in markdown so I can generate them with LLMs with a custom system prompt, and I just found out today they have an API so I might try my hand at getting an LLM to push new cards on its own via. an MCP server.
Insanely expensive. 18$ usd per month?? I’m going to guess it’s also an Electron monstrosity
cosmic_cheese · 1h ago
It also appears to require an account even for local-only use. It’s nice to see any kind of local support, but making an account mandatory renders that feature somewhat moot. I understand requiring an account for syncing (Anki does this too), but otherwise there’s not much of a good reason for it.
NewsaHackO · 1h ago
It’s amazing how many people try to make an inferior clone of Anki and profit off of it. The only people who ever fall for it are ones with low computer literacy.
mfranzs · 3h ago
RemNote founder here - the free version has unlimited cards and notes!
You can upgrade to the Pro version for $10/month if you want tables, PDF uploads, and more.
The $18 version is our most expensive plan that includes AI credits as well.
fsargent · 7h ago
Thanks for recommending it! I’ve had the same issues with Anki and am shocked there aren’t more clones considering it’s open source. Excited to try remnote.
_Algernon_ · 4h ago
My astroturfing radar is going into overdrive from this comment chain.
I very highly recommend a blog post by this same author: [How to write good prompts](https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/). This post made spaced repetition click for me.
synergy20 · 1h ago
it's good for cramming up stuff, say to pass exams. but for long term deep think this did not work well for me.
max_ · 6h ago
Is there a good space repetition app on Android that you recommend?
I'm not affiliated, just a big booster. For those familiar with Anki it follows the same conventions. It has an excellent system for managing cards. Adding cards is as easy as writing a bullet point: [front of card] == [back of card]. They got the ergonomics right and clearly know the space very well; it has the right keyboard accessibility and shortcuts and navigation. It supports the basics you'd expect like cloze deletions (fill-in-the-blank), image occlusion (cover up parts of an image). It manages assets like PDFs and images. It uses FSRS (the best SRS scheduling algorithm atm).
It has the best (optional) AI integration into a product I've seen except for the usual code-generation suspects. I'm learning spanish and can type into a bullet point something like "el vaquero ==< [tab]" and have the translation automatically generated for me into a forward and reverse card. I'm learning math and can cloze-delete parts of latex equations; the AI can very frequently generate excellent and accurate latex equations, which I can make small edits to as I'd like. These kinds of bonuses make taking live flashcard-based notes during my spanish tutoring sessions and math-based parts of classes feasible.
It's less low-level configurable than Anki and more "works out of the box" with a smaller extension system. I've had enough of trying to fiddle with Anki. Overall just excellent -- I'm not affiliated in any way. Development is very fast. Release note videos are incredible, minor updates occur ~weekly. I've run into a few bugs, especially when I was traveling overseas where internet isn't strong, but overall very pleased with it.
Mochi has great native apps on macOS and iOS (and maybe more?), the cards are formatted in markdown so I can generate them with LLMs with a custom system prompt, and I just found out today they have an API so I might try my hand at getting an LLM to push new cards on its own via. an MCP server.
1. https://mochi.cards/
You can upgrade to the Pro version for $10/month if you want tables, PDF uploads, and more.
The $18 version is our most expensive plan that includes AI credits as well.
That only does space repetition?
* Open Source
* Cross-platform
* $0 except on iOS
* Popular enough to have a community and ecosystem around it