Anki Deck Reshuffler

Randomizes the order of new (unseen) cards in an Anki .apkg deck file.

How it works

Anki .apkg files are ZIP archives containing a SQLite database (collection.anki2 or collection.anki21). Each card has a due field that controls its position in the new-card queue. This script:

1. Extracts the .apkg to a temporary directory
2. Opens the SQLite collection database
3. Finds every card with queue = 0 (new / unseen cards)
4. Assigns them a freshly shuffled set of position numbers
5. Repacks the archive

Only new cards are affected — cards already in review or relearning are left untouched.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• No third-party packages (uses only stdlib: sqlite3, zipfile, json, random)

Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/your-username/anki_reshuffle.git
cd anki_reshuffle

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # macOS / Linux
# .venv\Scripts\activate         # Windows

# To deactivate when done:
deactivate

Usage

# Reshuffle all new cards (overwrites input, saves a .bak backup)
python reshuffle.py MyDeck.apkg

# Write reshuffled deck to a new file
python reshuffle.py MyDeck.apkg MyDeck_reshuffled.apkg

# Reshuffle only a specific deck (sub-decks are included automatically)
python reshuffle.py MyDeck.apkg --deck "Japanese::Vocabulary"

# Reproducible shuffle with a fixed seed
python reshuffle.py MyDeck.apkg --seed 42

# List all deck names inside an .apkg
python reshuffle.py MyDeck.apkg --list-decks

Options

Flag	Description
output	Optional output path. Omit to overwrite the input (a .bak is created).
--deck DECK_NAME	Limit reshuffling to one deck and its sub-decks.
--seed SEED	Integer seed for a reproducible shuffle.
--list-decks	Print all deck names in the .apkg and exit.

Workflow tip

Import the reshuffled deck into Anki via File > Import. If you reshuffled in place (no output argument), your original deck is preserved as MyDeck.apkg.bak.