spaced_repetition_systems v1.0.0

name: spaced_repetition_systems description: Build a spaced-repetition deck that survives past week two. Atomic card design, cloze deletions, scheduler setup (FSRS/SM-2/Leitner), interval tuning, avoiding ease hell, and a 15-minute daily review habit. Triggers when someone asks to memorize anything with flashcards, build a study deck, tune Anki settings, or fix a review backlog.

Spaced Repetition Systems

Purpose

Turn raw material into a deck that actually gets reviewed. Most decks die in week two for three fixable reasons: cards are badly written (two ideas per card, wordy fronts), the scheduler is misconfigured (ease hell), and the daily load is unsustainable. This skill fixes all three in order: card design first, scheduler second, habit third.

Workflow

1. Scope the deck. Ask what the material is and why it must be recallable. If the user doesn't understand the material yet, do not make cards: summarize and teach first. Rule one of Wozniak's 20 rules: never learn what you don't understand. See references/card-formulation.md.
2. Draft cards atomic. One idea per card. Minimum information principle: each card tests exactly one fact, one mechanism, one name. Front = one sharp question; back = the smallest complete answer. See references/card-formulation.md for the cloze-deletion and interference rules.
3. Work a sample out loud. Show 5-10 sample cards before making the full deck. Wait for approval on the format, then produce the rest. Never hand over a 200-card deck sight unseen.
4. Set up the scheduler. Pick one: FSRS for real decks (built into current Anki; or implement from the spec), SM-2 for simplicity, Leitner boxes for tiny/short-term decks. Defaults and tuning in references/scheduling.md. The correct scheduler choice beats any per-card tweak.
5. Fix ease hell if it's already happening. If the deck runs SM-2 (Anki's classic mode) and reviews are piling up at the 130% ease floor, migrate to FSRS or apply the pass/fail discipline in references/scheduling.md. Do not tell the user to press Easy to fix scheduling; that just trades one scheduling error for another.
6. Cap the daily habit. New cards per day: start at 5-10, raise only when reviews stay under 15 minutes. Reviews before new cards, every day, same slot. Suspending leeches beats grinding them. Full protocol in references/habit.md.
7. Check weekly. Retention on mature cards should land near the target (default 90%). Consistently below: cards are badly formulated, reformulate before touching scheduler settings. Consistently above with ballooning reviews: lower the retention target, don't delete cards.

Output Contract

Deliver the deck as plain text in a portable card format (one card per block: Front:, Back:, Tags:), plus a one-page setup note: scheduler choice, the 3 settings you changed from defaults and why, new-cards-per-day cap, leech policy. Everything in the note must be traceable to references/ or a primary source.

Operating Rules

• One idea per card, always. A card that regularly gets "half right" is two cards; split it.
• Never invent facts for cards. Cards come only from source material the user provided or that you verified. Unverifiable = no card.
• Cloze deletion for facts and names; full Q/A for mechanisms, contrasts, and "when to use" decisions.
• Near-duplicate cards are the main source of confusion: give every card a context cue (subject prefix or tag) and a front that differs sharply from its neighbors.
• Don't touch the scheduler's advanced parameters until card formulation is clean. Ninety percent of "the algorithm isn't working" is bad cards.
• New cards are a budget, not a goal. Missing a day's new cards is fine; missing reviews two days in a row is a backlog event: deal with it via references/habit.md, not by doubling up.
• No em dashes in anything this skill outputs. Plain sentences.