I am the solo dev behind ReelDecks. I built this because I was frustrated with forgetting almost everything I learned from educational YouTube videos. Passive watching just doesn't work for retention.

My goal was to create a one-click tool that turns any video into an active study session with flashcards.

The initial version was simple: it analysed the video's transcripts. But I quickly hit a wall. The real challenge was the huge number of valuable videos that have bad transcripts or are purely visual (like coding demos, data visualisations, or product walkthroughs).

So, I re-architected ReelDecks into a smart hybrid system:

First, it tries to use the transcript, which is fast and cost-effective. But if the transcript is missing or low-quality, it automatically switches to a visual AI model to literally 'watch' the video and create flashcards from the on-screen text, code, and diagrams. This means it works reliably on everything from a university lecture to a silent coding tutorial.

I just launched and this is the first place I am sharing it. I would be incredibly grateful for your honest feedback on the concept, the execution, and any features you think are missing.

Thanks for taking a look!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865469

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

I'm really curious about the prompt engineering involved. How do you instruct the model to translate the surrounding text while ensuring it never touches the placeholders or any embedded HTML, especially since syntax can vary between languages?

That seems like the most difficult part of the problem to solve robustly.

Great work!

I can imagine a magical workflow where you just tap a library book as you leave and it’s automatically added to your 'Currently Reading' list in the app, ready to be timed. That's a fantastic bridge between the physical and digital worlds.

Really clever idea, congrats on the launch!

I think the real killer feature here isn't just bulk-generating new cards, but enriching existing, manually-created ones.

My ideal workflow would be:

Manually create a basic card when I encounter a new word (e.g., the word and the sentence I found it in). This preserves that crucial "moment of discovery" and initial learning. Once a week or so, run anki-llm as a batch process on all new cards to add powerful, context-rich fields like: etymology, common collocations, or subtle nuance (vs. a similar word). This way, you get the best of both worlds: the initial learning from manual creation, followed by automated enrichment that would be too tedious to do by hand. Really powerful stuff, great work!

One small suggestion that might be a fun addition for a power user: keyboard shortcuts. Being able to hit Spacebar to start/stop the most recently active timer, or N to focus the "Add Timer" input field would be a great little UX enhancement.

Great job getting this out there!