Overview#
To use Rete more effectively, start with a few core concepts. Content organization, learning flow, and review are all built around these ideas.
Read this section in order:
How the pieces fit together#
A deck is the study container for one topic or goal: its name, column layout, daily new-card pace, and the facts and cards that belong to it.
Fields are the column names you define when you create a deck (for example English and 中文). They describe what each slot in a learning item means. Field labels live on the deck only; when you add facts, you fill in entries in the same order — entry 0 is the first column, entry 1 the second, and so on.
A fact is the underlying learning content: one complete item (word pair, concept, term + definition, and so on). Facts are not the same as cards. A fact holds your material; the system uses it to build the cards you study.
A card is what you review day to day. Each card belongs to one fact, has a front and back (which entries appear on each side), and carries spaced-repetition scheduling (when it is due, whether it is hidden, and so on). By default, adding a fact creates one card (front = first entry, back = the rest). The same fact can also have sibling cards with different layouts — for example both translation directions — when the system supports multiple templates for that content.
Text, images, audio, and video live inside fact entries (not as separate “card files”). Fields on the deck are column names only; see Decks and Facts.
At a glance#
| Concept | Role |
|---|---|
| Deck | Groups content for one topic; defines fields (columns) and how many new cards per day to introduce (rate internally). |
| Fields | Column names on the deck; facts fill matching entries by position. |
| Fact | The content you create and edit (entries per column, optional media). |
| Card | One reviewable front/back layout for a fact, with its own schedule. |
| Tags | Optional labels on decks and facts for organization and filtered study. |
Relationships#
- One deck contains many facts and many cards.
- One fact usually starts with one card; it can have two or more sibling cards when multiple layouts exist for the same content.
- Every card points to exactly one fact in that deck.
Typical workflow#
- Get a deck — import a shared deck from Discover, or create your own with fields and a daily new-card pace.
- Add or keep facts — on decks you own, enter content for each column (and optional media). The system creates card(s) for each fact.
- Study — Rete picks the most urgent due card; you see front, show answer, rate Hard ↔ Easy, then continue. Optionally filter by tag.
- Maintain — edit facts on decks you own; on imported decks you can still tag, adjust new-card pace, hide or delete individual cards, and suggest edits as contributions. Hide a card to take it out of the queue without deleting the fact.
Source decks and imports#
A deck you create is yours to edit freely. When you publish it, others can find it in Discover and import a personal study copy pinned to that published version. Your import has its own cards and schedule — it is not a live link to the author’s working copy. See Import an existing deck.
What to read next#
- Decks — containers, fields, and new-cards-per-day settings.
- Facts — entries, media, and how cards are generated.
- Cards — front/back structure, scheduling, and hide.
- Tags — optional labels for organization and filtered study.
- Menus and actions — deck ⋯, card ⋯, Edit Fact, publish, sync, and more.
Once these ideas are clear, creating decks, importing or sharing published decks, and reviewing daily becomes much more predictable.