15 · The web app — --serve

Everything alix does in the terminal it can also do in a browser. Add --serve to review or browse (or run alix --serve with no decks) and it runs the same session logic over a tiny local web server, writing to the same progress store — so a card you grade or remove in the browser shows up on the command line and vice versa. It’s handy on a tablet or phone, where touch (and images) beat a TUI.

alix review rust.txt --serve              # open http://127.0.0.1:7777
alix review rust.txt --serve --port 8080
alix review rust.txt --serve --lan        # reachable from other devices on your network
alix browse rust.txt --serve
alix --serve                              # no decks → pick them in the browser

Choosing decks in the browser

Run --serve without naming decks and the page opens the deck-selection screen — the same list as the terminal picker. Tap a deck to start it (in review a locked deck won’t start; browse ignores locking), or tick several checkboxes and Confirm to start them as a merged session. After a session, “Choose other decks” (on the summary or the ⋮ menu) returns here, so you can switch decks without restarting. Naming decks on the command line skips this screen.

Every mode, plus the AI features

All answer modes work in the browser — flip, line (it auto-scrolls to the newest line), typing/fuzzy (each line marked ✓/✗ with the correct answer shown), and choice (tap an option). Controls are big tap targets and follow your configured key bindings (the page reads them from the server). The ⋮ menu holds Remove and Choose decks.

The AI features come along too: the ask-Claude tutor, the AI exam, and trace walks all have a web surface, each running its Claude call on a background thread while the page polls — so the single-threaded server never blocks.

Themes

The web UI ships a gallery of colour themes — the alix Dark/Light originals and a playful Kid theme, plus crowd-favourite editor/slide palettes (GitHub, Dracula, Nord, Solarized, Gruvbox, Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, Monokai, One Dark, Ayu, Rosé Pine, Everforest). Open the Theme… popover from the ⋮ menu (a small bar button on the trace walk): a grid grouped Light / Dark that previews the whole UI live as you hover, and remembers your choice in the browser (kept in localStorage, not the config). The palette lives in a shared theme.css the server hosts, so every screen — review, browse, and trace walks — themes together.

Local by design

The server is deliberately local-only — no accounts, no database. By default it binds to 127.0.0.1 (this machine only). --lan binds all interfaces so another device on your network can reach it at http://<your-ip>:<port>, but there’s no authentication, and AI requests run claude on the host — so only use --lan on a network you trust. The default port lives in the [serve] config section; --port overrides it.