Medical explanations, right in Anki
Alveolarization
The process of alveolar septation that increases the number and surface area of alveoli. Begins in utero (~36 weeks) and continues postnatally. Disruption leads to fewer, larger alveoli as seen in BPD.
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is characterized by improper progression of alveolarization that is reversible...
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Everything you need to study smarter
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Instant Term Lookup
Click any highlighted medical term on your Anki cards to get a concise, high-yield explanation instantly.
Instant Explanations
Concise, high-yield explanations grounded in established medical references. Always accurate.
Works with AnKing
Pre-loaded with 1,500+ terms from the most popular USMLE Anki decks. Works out of the box.
Organ System Tags
Every explanation is categorized by organ system and tagged for Step 1 or Step 2 relevance.
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Lessons from your cards
Select cards in Anki, right-click, and get an interactive lesson built from them, with a quiz and a check of your cards.
Cards for your lecture
Pick a lecture's slides, a case or a practice set. AnkiBoss finds the cards in your own decks that match it, grouped by topic.
Turn your cards into a lesson
Select cards in Anki's Browse window, right-click and choose Generate AnkiBoss lesson. You get an interactive lesson built from exactly those cards, saved to your account.
- Every fact is tied to the card it came from. Tap its number to see the card.
- Background your cards don't cover is marked in teal, so you know what's on your cards and what isn't.
- An exam-style quiz, with the cards you keep forgetting asked first.
- A check that reads your cards side by side and flags any that may be wrong.
- Open it in Anki or on ankiboss.com. Your progress follows you.
Lessons use your plan's credits. A topic already in the AnkiBoss library is 10 credits. Anything else shows the most it can cost before it starts, and you're only charged if the lesson is made.
Want to try one first? 13 library lessons are free with any AnkiBoss account, in Anki and on ankiboss.com, from Staph aureus to the spleen. Open the free lessons
- ✓The big picture
- 2In the lab
- 3Toxin diseases
- 4Scalded skin syndrome
- 5Where it invades
- 6Endocarditis
- 7Treatment and resistance
- 8Check yourself
- 9Check your cards
In the lab
Beyond your cards: run in order, each test narrows the field: Gram stain, then catalase for staphylococci versus streptococci, then coagulase for S. aureus.
A thigh abscess grows gram-positive cocci that are catalase and coagulase positive and turn mannitol salt agar yellow. Which organism?
Card 7: the photo may show a different organism than the one the card is about. Here is why, and what the card should say.
Find the cards for your lecture
Pick a lecture's slides, a case, learning objectives or practice questions. AnkiBoss finds the cards in your own decks that match it, grouped by the document's topics, with the best matches first. It works on any deck, not only AnKing.
- 1In Anki, choose AnkiBoss → Find cards for a document… and pick a PDF, PowerPoint, Word, text or Markdown file. The file itself isn't uploaded.
- 2AnkiBoss reads the document's text once and plans the search. Your cards are searched on your computer, then up to 400 of the closest ones are graded.
- 3See the best matches and the related cards by topic. Open them in Browse, tag them, make a filtered deck, unsuspend them or turn them into a lesson. Each match is saved to your account.
A match uses your plan's credits: about 10 to 25 for a document, depending on its length. You see the most it can cost before it starts, and nothing is charged for a step that fails.
29 best matches and 17 also related, from 346 cards graded.
- The most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in adults is Streptococcus pneumoniaeStep 1::Micro
- Rust-colored sputum suggests pneumococcal lobar pneumoniaStep 1::Micro
- Mycoplasma pneumoniae has no cell wall, so beta-lactams don't work against itStep 1::Micro
- Legionella pneumonia is classically accompanied by hyponatremiaLecture cards::Block 5
- CURB-65 counts confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure and age 65 or olderStep 2::IM
Find the card you half-remember
Search your cards in plain words: a topic, a question, a patient, a description, even a misspelling. “heart drug that makes you see yellow” finds your digoxin cards. It searches every deck you have, not only AnKing.
- 1In Anki, choose AnkiBoss → Search my cards… (Ctrl+Shift+F), or start a search in Anki's Browse window with ?.
- 2Results appear as you type, straight from your computer. Press Enter for a smart search: it works out what you mean and ranks your cards.
- 3The best matches come first. Open them in Browse, tag them, make a filtered deck or unsuspend them.
Free every day, and never charged in credits. Smart searches: 20 a day on Free, 500 a day on Basic, and unlimited on Standard and Pro. Results as you type are unlimited on every plan.
Smart search: 2 best matches, 5 related. 14 of 20 smart searches left.
- Yellow-tinted vision (xanthopsia) is a classic sign of digoxin toxicityStep 1::Pharm
- Digoxin toxicity: nausea, vomiting, blurry yellow vision and arrhythmiasLecture cards::Cardio
- Digoxin inhibits the Na+/K+ ATPase, which raises calcium in cardiac myocytesStep 1::Pharm
- Hypokalemia raises the risk of digoxin toxicityStep 1::Pharm
- Digoxin-specific antibody fragments reverse severe digoxin toxicityStep 2::IM
Up and running in 60 seconds
Install the Add-on
Download AnkiBoss from AnkiWeb or our website. One-click install, no configuration needed.
Study Your Cards
Review your Anki cards as usual. Medical terms are automatically detected and highlighted.
Click for Explanations
Click any highlighted term to get an instant explanation with references and organ system tags.
vs. the tools you already use
AMBOSS, Sketchy, and Cram-Fighter each do one thing well. AnkiBoss lives inside the deck you already review — turning your notes into cards and explaining every term in place.
| What you get | AnkiBoss |
|---|---|
| Works inside Anki — no tab switching | |
| Generates Anki cards from your notes | |
| Click-to-explain medical term glossary | |
| Interactive lessons built from the cards you select | |
| Finds the cards in any of your decks that match a lecture | |
| Searches all your decks in plain words, questions and misspellings included | |
| USMLE question bank / question generation | |
| Video mnemonics | |
| Study schedule planner | |
| Multiplayer review races (NASCARD) | |
| Pricing | $0–$30/mo |
AnkiBoss complements these tools rather than replacing them — it turns your study notes into Anki cards and explains terms right where you review. View on desktop to see all columns.
Install the Anki Add-on
In Anki, open Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons and paste this code:
Then restart Anki. That's it.