What it does
Anki's review flow is four keys: Space to show the answer, 1–4 to rate it. The clicker maps those to inputs you can do hands-free. Four input modes, all on-device:
- Hands: 11 poses (open hand, 1–4 fingers, thumbs up/down, OK, rock, call me, fist) plus open-hand swipes, recognized by a hand-tracking model in your browser.
- Face and head: eyebrow raises, frowns, smiles, puckers, jaw opens, mouth shifts, blinks, winks, plus nods, shakes, head tilts, and quick turns.
- Desk taps: the mic hears tap onsets and classifies them by sound (thud, knock, click), so one tap, double taps, and pen clicks are different buttons.
- Whistles: a pitch tracker hears a steady note, and whether it slides up or down.
Every mapping is remappable. Six presets cover the common setups (finger count = rating, thumbs, face only, head only, desk taps, sounds only), or build your own mapping gesture by gesture.
How it drives your Anki
The clicker does not touch Anki's files. It talks to Anki desktop through AnkiConnect, the free, widely used add-on, over http://127.0.0.1:8765 on your own computer. One-time setup: install AnkiConnect from inside Anki (Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons, code 2055492159), press Connect in the clicker, allow it once in Anki's popup, pick a deck, and start reviewing. The clicker can show answers, rate cards, and undo; it cannot edit your cards, decks, or scheduling settings.
Desktop only, stated plainly: AnkiConnect is a desktop add-on, so the clicker drives Anki on Windows, Mac, or Linux. The Anki phone apps do not run add-ons.
Calibration: it learns your gestures
Every face, hand, and room is different, so the clicker ships with a guided calibration wizard: about 30 seconds per input, and it learns your personal thresholds (how high your eyebrow raise is, how hard your desk tap is). Steps it cannot tell apart from rest keep their defaults. A "seen" readout shows every gesture the camera picks up, even unmapped ones, so you can practise before you trust a mapping.
Your video and audio never leave your device
Camera frames and mic audio are analyzed in your browser and discarded. The page's security policy blocks connections to every outside server; the only exception is Anki on your own computer. There is no account, no analytics, no recording, and no cookie. The built-in Offline proof panel shows a live log of every network request the page makes, lets you simulate a fully offline session, shows exactly what is stored on your device, and deletes it all with one button.
If you also need to type without a keyboard, the hands-free Air Keyboard types with pinch and dwell gestures from the same webcam, so your hands never have to touch the keys.
Want to train the face gestures first? Face Switch is a free trainer that teaches the five moves of hands-free face control (eyebrow raise to click, mouth open to scroll, head turns to move, double blink to pause), with live feedback on every attempt.
Gesture detection is automatic and can misfire; Undo is one tap away, and the camera and mic turn fully off when you hide the tab. This is an independent home tool, not made by or affiliated with Anki or Ankitects.