Essentialist is a flashcard application built around ordinary Markdown files.
Each deck remains readable and editable with any text editor. Questions are represented by level-two Markdown headings with the following content forming the answer, while learning progress is kept separately in a hidden database alongside the deck.
Essentialist uses FSRS for spaced-repetition scheduling and deliberately performs no network operations. A companion terminal application called Flashdown works with the same approach.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Uses plain Markdown files as portable flashcard decks.
- FSRS spaced-repetition scheduling.
- Stores study progress separately from the Markdown source in a hidden sidecar database.
- Supports Markdown formatting including lists, tables, emphasis and other common markup.
- Provides basic KaTeX/LaTeX mathematical rendering for inline and displayed equations.
- Does not perform network operations or send study data to a remote service.
- Decks can be edited using any ordinary text editor as well as the application.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android.
- Linux builds can target either Xorg or Wayland.
- Includes Flashdown, a terminal-based interface for studying the same style of Markdown decks.
Website: github.com/essentialist-app/essentialist
Support:
Developer: Ludovic Guegan
License: MIT License
Essentialist is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| GUI Flashcard Software | |
|---|---|
| Anki | Extensible flashcard learning program |
| Mnemosyne | Spaced repetition flashcard program |
| Parley | Vocabulary trainer for KDE |
| KWordQuiz | Flashcard learning program for KDE |
| Kalba | Language learning tool based on the idea of sentence mining. |
| Lingueez | Desktop vocabulary trainer for language learning |
| Essentialist | Simple, private, and cross-platform flashcard app |
| Memorize | Store flashcard sets |
| Oboete | Simple flashcards application for the COSMIC desktop |
| Memorado | Learn using spaced repetition |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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