Brasin's Anki Tutor

Turn your Anki cards into an interactive AI tutoring session.

Brasin's Anki Tutor brings an AI medical tutor directly into Anki. Instead of leaving Anki to search for explanations, you can ask questions about the card you are studying and receive explanations, clarifications, comparisons, clinical reasoning, and study guidance without interrupting your review session.

The tutor is designed especially for medical students studying subjects such as USMLE Step 1, Step 2, clinical medicine, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, microbiology, anatomy, and other medical sciences.

🚀 How to use the AI Tutor

1. Open a card

Open Anki normally and begin reviewing your cards.

2. Summon the AI Tutor

Press:

F8

This opens the Brasin's Anki Tutor interface.

3. Type your question

Type whatever you want to ask about the card.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT press Enter after typing your question.

Pressing Enter may cause Anki to interpret the keypress as an instruction to move to the next card.

Instead:

1. Press F8
2. Type your question
3. Do NOT press Enter
4. Click the Ask button

The AI will then process your question and provide the response.

💬 What can I ask?

You can ask the tutor almost anything related to the card or the material you are studying.

Explain the card

• "Explain this card in simple terms."
• "Why is the answer B?"
• "Explain the mechanism behind this."
• "Teach me this like I'm a beginner."
• "What is this card actually testing?"

Understand difficult concepts

• "Why does this happen physiologically?"
• "Explain the pathophysiology."
• "Why does this disease cause these symptoms?"
• "Walk me through the mechanism step by step."
• "What happens first, and what happens next?"

Compare similar diagnoses

• "How do I distinguish this from Crohn disease?"
• "Compare this with ulcerative colitis."
• "What is the key difference between these two?"
• "What finding would make the other diagnosis more likely?"
• "Give me the discriminating features."

USMLE-style reasoning

• "How would this appear on Step 1?"
• "What is the most important clue in this question?"
• "What is the NBME trying to test?"
• "What would be the most likely diagnosis?"
• "What is the next best step?"
• "What is the mechanism of the drug?"
• "What finding would I expect next?"

Learn from mistakes

• "Why is my reasoning wrong?"
• "What misconception could cause me to choose the wrong answer?"
• "What clue did I miss?"
• "Why isn't option C correct?"
• "What would have to change for option D to become correct?"

Create memory aids

• "Give me a mnemonic for this."
• "Give me a way to remember this for Step 1."
• "What is the high-yield takeaway?"
• "Give me a one-sentence memory anchor."

Go deeper

You can also ask follow-up questions about the AI's explanation.

For example:

"Why?" → "Okay, but why does that cause this?" → "How would that change the lab values?" → "How would I distinguish this from the closest differential?"

The goal is to let you have an actual tutoring conversation while remaining inside Anki.

🧠 Example

Suppose your card says:

A patient has nephrotic syndrome and renal vein thrombosis. What protein deficiency contributes to this complication?

Instead of leaving Anki to search for an explanation, press F8 and ask:

"Why does nephrotic syndrome increase the risk of renal vein thrombosis?"

Then click Ask.

You could follow up with:

"What other proteins are lost in nephrotic syndrome?"

Then:

"Why does losing antithrombin III matter?"

Then:

"Give me the high-yield Step 1 takeaway."

This allows you to turn one Anki card into a short teaching session.

🔑 Setting Up Your Gemini API Key

Brasin's Anki Tutor uses Google's Gemini API to generate AI responses.

You need to provide your own Gemini API key in the add-on settings.

Google AI Studio provides the interface for creating and managing Gemini API keys.

Step 1 — Open Google AI Studio

Go to:

Google AI Studio

Sign in with your Google account.

Then open the API Keys section.

Google's official documentation explains that new users can have a Google Cloud project and API key created through AI Studio, and you can also create a new key from the API Keys page.

Step 2 — Create an API key

Click:

Create API key

Follow the prompts to select or create the appropriate Google Cloud project.

Then copy the generated API key.

Keep this key private. Do not post it publicly or share it with other people.

Google recommends treating API keys like passwords because someone who obtains your key may be able to consume your project's API quota or incur charges.

Step 3 — Open Anki

Return to Anki.

Go to:

Tools → Add-ons

Find:

Brasin's Anki Tutor

Select it and open:

Config / Configuration

Step 4 — Paste your API key

Paste your Gemini API key into the API-key field in the add-on settings.

Save the configuration.

You should now be ready to use the tutor.

⚙️ If the AI does not respond

Check the following:

1. Make sure your Gemini API key was copied correctly.
2. Make sure the key was pasted into Brasin's Anki Tutor → Configuration.
3. Make sure you have an active internet connection.
4. Restart Anki after changing the configuration if necessary.
5. Press F8 to open the tutor.
6. Type your question.
7. Click Ask instead of pressing Enter.

If the problem persists, check that your Gemini API key is active and properly configured in Google AI Studio.

Google also notes that API keys should be appropriately restricted for Gemini API use; unrestricted keys may be rejected by the Gemini API.

⚠️ Important: Do not share your API key

Your API key belongs to you.

Do not put your API key inside screenshots, AnkiWeb descriptions, GitHub repositories, social-media posts, or public messages.

Every user should create and use their own Gemini API key.

If you accidentally expose your key, Google recommends replacing/rotating the compromised key and disabling the old one.

⌨️ Quick Reference

Open AI Tutor: F8

Type your question: Type normally into the tutor.

Submit question: Click Ask

Do NOT: Press Enter to submit the question.

Why? Enter may be interpreted by Anki as an action to advance to the next card.

Configure API key: Tools → Add-ons → Brasin's Anki Tutor → Configuration

Get Gemini API key: Google AI Studio → API Keys → Create API key

🎓 Best way to use Brasin's Anki Tutor

Don't only ask:

"What is the answer?"

Use the tutor to understand why the answer is correct and why the alternatives are wrong.

Good questions include:

• "Why?"
• "Why not the other choices?"
• "What's the mechanism?"
• "What's the key clue?"
• "What is the closest differential?"
• "How do I distinguish these two?"
• "What would change the diagnosis?"
• "What is the Step 1 takeaway?"
• "Give me a mnemonic."
• "Teach this from first principles."
• "Quiz me on this concept."

The more specific your question, the more targeted the tutoring session can be.

Study smarter. Stay in Anki. Ask questions. Understand the card.