Mnemonics

Mnemonics is an offline mnemonic training suite for building, practising, and maintaining memory systems. It brings Major System drills, Pi memorisation, card-deck associations, and World Countries practice into one installable app.

The app is client-only: no account, backend, telemetry, or runtime network connection is required. Your word lists, associations, progress, and history stay in your browser and remain available after installation, even without an internet connection.

Stack: Vite + React 19 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS v4

Runtime: host Node.js/npm preferred; Docker is supported as a fallback

What you can practise

Area	What it offers
Major System	Encode and decode 00–99 number/word pairs, learn the sound key, practise due items, target weak spots, train sequences, and test your speed.
Pi	Memorise and recite digits of π with Major System words using Memo, Recite, Anchors, and Maintain workflows. Track segment progress and create stories for difficult sections.
Deck of Cards	Practise a 52-card deck with two association systems: Themed Deck uses one person or word per card; PAO Deck uses a Person, Action, and Object for each card, with Encode, Decode, and Deck Memo practice.
World Countries	Learn country locations and capitals with map-based preparation, guided learning, deliberate Drill, ordered Recite, and Due review.

Multiple-choice and typing answer modes are available where they fit the exercise. Typing practice compensates for the expected time needed to type a long answer, so recall speed is measured more fairly.

The Major System

The Major System maps digits to consonant sounds. To memorise a number, choose a word whose consonants match those sounds; vowels are ignored.

Number	Sounds	Example word
42	r, n	rain
07	s, k	sock
99	p, p	pipe

Once you know a word for each pair from 00 to 99, you can turn long number sequences into stories and image chains.

Major System drills

Mode	What it trains
Encoding	See a number and recall its word
Decoding	See a word and recall its number
Repetition	Review due items with SM-2 spaced repetition
Sequences	Encode or decode multi-pair number sequences
Speed Round	Encode as many numbers as possible in 60 seconds
Weak Spots	Focus on numbers with the most errors
Sound Key	Recall the consonant sounds for each digit
Reverse Sound Key	Recall the digit for each consonant sound

Encoding and Decoding use weighted selection so difficult items appear more often. The Set mastery meter tracks consecutive, unhinted answers within your chosen speed limit and moves mastered items out of the way as you improve.

The Repetition mode uses SM-2 scheduling to set each item's next review. A pause control stops the timer, and answers with unusually long idle time can be discarded instead of distorting your statistics.

Hints and statistics

In Encoding and Repetition, press H or use the hint button to reveal a vowel skeleton for the answer. A hinted answer is capped at SM-2 grade 3 so it stays in rotation longer.

The Encoding and Decoding statistics panel shows round-level correct and wrong counts, median recall time, slow answers, hints, mastery, current streaks, and the all-time score retained in local storage. Rows are sorted so the numbers that need attention are easiest to find.

Personal associations and progress

The Major System word list is editable from the Reference panel's Word List tab. You can try changes, save them, reset individual entries, reset the whole list, and import or export the same CSV format used by the shipped defaults. The Themed and PAO decks also have their own editable association lists.

Progress and review history are stored locally in localStorage and IndexedDB. The feature areas keep their own learning semantics while sharing the underlying mnemonic and scoring infrastructure where appropriate.

Running locally

With Node.js and npm installed on the host:

npm ci
npm run dev             # start the development server
npm test                # run the test suite
npm run build           # type-check and create a production build

The development server is available at http://localhost:5173 by default.

Docker fallback

# Development with hot reload
docker compose up

# After changing package.json or package-lock.json
docker compose up --build

# Stop
docker compose down

# Production image
docker build -t mnemonics .
docker run -p 8080:80 mnemonics

Repository map

Path	Purpose
src/app/	Application composition, mode registry, layout, and global settings
src/core/	Shared learning, mnemonic, scoring, storage, card, CSV, and UI primitives
src/features/major-system/	Major System words, sound key, and drills
src/features/pi/	Pi Memo, Recite, Anchors, Maintain, and story workflows
src/features/cards/	Themed and PAO card-deck workflows and editable associations
src/features/world-countries/	Geography data, maps, learning, Drill, Recite, and Due workflows

Useful source files

File	Purpose
src/app/App.tsx	Top-level application composition
src/app/modes.tsx	Registry of the app's practice modes
src/features/major-system/words.csv	Default Major System word list for 00–99
src/features/major-system/soundKey.csv	Digit-to-consonant sound mappings
src/core/scoring/itemStore.ts	Persistent per-item scoring and latency data
src/core/scoring/useStats.ts	Scheduling and weak-spot statistics
src/features/major-system/WordsContext.tsx	Combines defaults with saved word-list changes