Remote vs Local Access: Connecting Anki to Your AI

If your AI assistant and Anki run on the same computer, local access is all you need. It’s free, private, and needs no setup. Choose remote only when you must reach Anki from another device, or from a web-based AI that can’t see your computer.

This page explains both ways to connect, so you can pick the right one. You need no technical background.

The short version

Local means your AI and Anki sit on the same machine and talk over a private internal address. It’s free and private.

Remote is a managed tunnel that gives your local Anki a secure web address. Use it when the AI lives on another device or website. Either way, Anki must be open.

What “local” means

Local means your AI assistant and Anki run on the same computer. They talk to each other over localhost, your machine’s private internal address that never reaches the internet.

Local access is free. You need no account and no login. And it’s private, because the connection never leaves your machine.

This works with desktop AI apps like Claude Desktop and coding tools like Cursor or Cline, as long as they run on that same computer.

What “remote” means

Remote uses a managed tunnel: a secure web address that points to your local Anki. Think of it as a private pipe from the internet to the Anki on your computer — traffic goes through it, and nothing else can get in. It lets an AI on another device reach your cards.

It also reaches web-based assistants like the ChatGPT website or claude.ai. These run in your browser, not on your computer, so they can’t see localhost on their own.

To connect the tunnel, you sign in once. You choose which AI clients to authorize — each one must sign in with your account before it can reach your Anki. There is also an optional Authless access setting — a private no-sign-in address you can switch on in your Tunnel Dashboard (off by default): anyone who has that address can reach your Anki, so only turn it on if you need it, and share it carefully. The tunnel has free and paid tiers. Both the add-on and the CLI support it.

How local and remote compare

Here’s a side-by-side look at the main differences.

Is your data private?

With local, nothing leaves your machine, so there’s nothing to relay and nothing to worry about.

With the tunnel, your data passes through ankimcp.ai’s server in real time. It’s encrypted while it travels and is never stored, logged, or read as content. The service is a pass-through, not a place your cards are kept. For the full detail, see the privacy policy.

Either way, Anki must stay open

The tunnel only relays to the Anki on your computer. It is not a cloud copy of your collection. So with both local and remote, Anki must be open and running on your machine.

There is now a third option that lifts this requirement: Hosted Anki, where your Anki runs in the cloud on our servers. Because it lives online rather than on your machine, no laptop needs to stay on for your AI to reach it.

Common questions

Do my cards live on a server with remote access? No. Your collection stays on your computer. The tunnel relays to your local Anki in real time; it never holds a copy of your cards.

Can I use the ChatGPT website or claude.ai with local access? No. Web-based assistants run in your browser, not on your computer, so they can’t see localhost. Use the remote tunnel for those.

Is local access really free? Yes. Local needs no account and no login, and nothing leaves your machine. The remote tunnel adds free and paid tiers.

Does remote work if Anki is closed? No. The tunnel relays to your local Anki, so Anki must be open on your computer for either local or remote to work.

Disclaimer: “Anki” is a registered trademark of Ankitects Pty Ltd. AnkiMCP is an independent, community-built project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Ankitects. MCP is an open standard originated by Anthropic; AnkiMCP is likewise not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.