Console Output

Because Anki is a GUI app, text output to stdout (e.g.print("foo")) is not usually visible to the user. You can optionally reveal text printed to stdout, and it is recommended that you do so while developing your add-on.

Warnings

Anki uses stdout to print warnings about API deprecations, eg:

addons21/mytest/__init__.py:10:getNote is deprecated: please use 'get_note'

If these warnings are occurring in a loop, please address them promptly, as they can slow Anki down even if the console is not shown.

Printing text

You may find it useful to print text to stdout to aid in debugging your add-on. Please avoid printing large amounts of text (e.g.in a loop that deals with hundreds or thousands of items), as that may slow Anki down, even if the console is not shown.

Showing the Console

Windows

If you start Anki via the anki-console.bat file in C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\Anki (or C:\Program Files\Anki), a separate console window will appear.

macOS

Open Terminal.app, then enter the following text and hit enter:

/Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/anki

Linux

Open a terminal/xterm, then run Anki with anki