Cosimo

Languages: English	Español	Galego

Cosimo is a spaced-repetition application for learning prompt and response pairs. It is built as a native desktop application with keyboard and screen-reader accessibility treated as a core requirement.

Spaced repetition means reviewing material when it is becoming useful to see it again: sooner for cards you miss or find difficult, and later for cards you remember easily.

Cosimo is currently in beta. The main target platform is Windows, with manual screen-reader testing on Windows and NVDA as part of the release process.

Download

Get the latest public build.

Cosimo is portable: expand the zip file into the folder where you want to run it, then start cosimo.exe from that folder.

Beta archives are kept under versioned names from beta 5 onward. Earlier archives remain available as beta 5 and beta 6.

Release notes are kept in the changelog.

Beta History

• Beta 1: first public beta.
• Beta 2: accessibility fixes, backups, settings migration, recent decks, and review-flow improvements.
• Beta 3: batch card adding, status bar, text filtering, suspension, and ready-list context menu actions.
• Beta 4: reversible cards, learning dashboard, scheduling improvements, richer review statistics, and stronger review-database checks.
• Beta 5: deferral, flagging, non-reversible cards, database scrub, saved review reports, sound notifications, and minimise-to-tray behaviour. Archive.
• Beta 6: flagged-card review, prompt-phase deferral, learning dashboard reports and clearer activity metrics, low-vision layout improvements, database space reclamation, stronger file and database errors, tray reliability fixes, release packaging refinements, and the public deck page.
• Beta 7: deck format v2 with editable metadata and deck-stored non-reversible markers, report-only exam mode, optional WAV review audio, revised confidence calibration, and native confirmation dialogues.

What Cosimo Does

• studies editable prompt/response cards using spaced repetition
• keeps learning content in plain-text .cosimo-deck files
• stores review history and scheduling state separately in SQLite
• supports adding, editing, batch adding, flagging, suspending, deferring, and reversing cards
• provides ready-list filtering, sorting, card details, a learning dashboard, and end-of-pass statistics
• includes automatic deck backups, optional review-database backups, and database integrity checks
• supports English, Spanish, and Galician

Cosimo is designed for learners who want control over their deck files without giving up scheduling, review history, and accessible desktop workflows.

Accessibility

The review flow uses native controls where practical, supports keyboard-first operation, and is tested with a screen reader. Accessibility regressions are treated as blocking defects.

The current known non-blocking issue is that the ready-list control can announce the selected item twice on the target Windows/NVDA stack. Navigation and review operation remain functional.

The beta accessibility acceptance notes are in docs/accessibility-acceptance.md.

Documentation

• README: fuller project overview, runtime files, backup model, build notes, and repository layout
• User guide: how to use Cosimo
• Troubleshooting: recovery and file handling notes
• Decks: example and community-contributed Cosimo decks
• Rating storage: review database and scheduling data model
• Architecture: code organisation and design notes

Source

The project is written in Rust and uses wxdragon over wxWidgets for the GUI. This repository uses Fossil, not Git. To clone it:

fossil clone https://modulus.isonomia.net/cosimo.cgi cosimo.fossil
mkdir cosimo
cd cosimo
fossil open ../cosimo.fossil

Reporting Bugs

Bug reports are handled with Fossil tickets on this site. Anonymous users can report bugs:

1. Open the Cosimo Fossil site.
2. Use the login link and log in as anonymous.
3. Use the button on the login page to autofill the captcha.
4. Create a new ticket.

Useful reports include the Cosimo version, operating system, what you were doing, what happened, and what you expected to happen. For accessibility issues, please also mention the screen reader and version.

Licence

Cosimo is released under the GNU General Public Licence version 3.