Configuration¶

Anknote provides flexible configuration through files, environment variables, and command-line arguments.

Configuration Files¶

Creating a Configuration File¶

Create a default configuration file:

anknote --init-config

This creates .anknote.json in your current directory with default settings:

{
  "model": "gemini/gemini-2.0-flash-lite",
  "max_retries": 3,
  "skip_readme": true,
  "file_extensions": [".md", ".markdown"],
  "output_format": "tsv",
  "escape_tabs": true,
  "log_level": "INFO"
}

Configuration File Locations¶

Anknote looks for configuration files in this order:

Current directory: .anknote.json
Home directory: ~/.config/anknote/config.json
XDG config: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/anknote/config.json

Using Custom Configuration¶

Specify a custom configuration file:

anknote notes.md --config /path/to/my-config.json

View current configuration:

anknote --show-config

Configuration Options¶

AI Model Settings¶

{
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "max_retries": 5
}

model: AI model identifier (supports LiteLLM format)
max_retries: Maximum API retry attempts

File Processing Settings¶

{
  "skip_readme": true,
  "file_extensions": [".md", ".markdown", ".txt"]
}

skip_readme: Skip README files when processing directories
file_extensions: File extensions to process

Output Settings¶

{
  "output_format": "tsv",
  "escape_tabs": true
}

output_format: Output file format (currently only "tsv")
escape_tabs: Escape tab characters in content

Logging Settings¶

{
  "log_level": "DEBUG"
}

log_level: Logging verbosity (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR)

Environment Variables¶

Override configuration with environment variables:

export ANKNOTE_MODEL="claude-3-haiku-20240307"
export ANKNOTE_MAX_RETRIES="10"
export ANKNOTE_LOG_LEVEL="DEBUG"

Environment variables take precedence over configuration files.

Supported AI Models¶

Anknote uses LiteLLM, supporting many providers:

OpenAI¶

{
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini"
}

Set API key: export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key"

Anthropic (Claude)¶

{
  "model": "claude-3-haiku-20240307"
}

Set API key: export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-key"

Google (Gemini)¶

{
  "model": "gemini/gemini-2.0-flash-lite"
}

Set API key: export GOOGLE_API_KEY="your-key"

Azure OpenAI¶

{
  "model": "azure/gpt-4o-mini"
}

Additional Azure environment variables required.

Configuration Examples¶

Cost-Optimized Setup¶

For minimal costs while maintaining quality:

{
  "model": "gemini/gemini-2.0-flash-lite",
  "max_retries": 3,
  "log_level": "WARNING"
}

High-Quality Setup¶

For maximum quality flashcards:

{
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "max_retries": 5,
  "log_level": "INFO"
}

Development Setup¶

For development and debugging:

{
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "max_retries": 1,
  "log_level": "DEBUG",
  "skip_readme": false
}

Custom File Types¶

Process additional file types:

{
  "file_extensions": [".md", ".markdown", ".txt", ".org"],
  "skip_readme": false
}

Advanced Configuration¶

Custom Prompts¶

Use a custom prompt file:

anknote notes.md --prompt-file my-prompt.txt

The prompt file should contain instructions for the AI model on how to generate flashcards.

Project-Specific Configuration¶

For different projects, create project-specific configs:

# Academic project
anknote notes/ --config configs/academic.json

# Work notes
anknote work-notes/ --config configs/work.json

Batch Configuration¶

For processing multiple directories with different settings:

#!/bin/bash
anknote academic-notes/ --config academic.json -o anki/academic/
anknote work-notes/ --config work.json -o anki/work/
anknote personal-notes/ --config personal.json -o anki/personal/

Priority Order¶

Configuration values are applied in this order (highest to lowest priority):

Command-line arguments
Environment variables
Configuration file
Default values

Validation¶

Anknote validates all configuration values:

Model names are checked for basic format
Retry counts must be positive integers
Log levels must be valid Python logging levels
File extensions must start with a dot

Invalid configurations will show an error message with suggestions for fixing them.