Scheduling
Last modified: 13/02/2026
Overview
Sprout uses FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler).
FSRS chooses future review dates per card, based on your past answers and elapsed time.
How FSRS works
Each card tracks 3 values:
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Stability | How long memory lasts before dropping to target retention |
| Difficulty | How hard the card is for you (0–10) |
| Retrievability | Estimated chance (0–1) you can recall it right now |
When you rate a card, FSRS:
- Updates difficulty and stability.
- Calculates a next interval to meet your requested retention.
- Schedules the due date.
In practice, easy cards get longer intervals; forgotten cards get shorter intervals.
Card stages
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| New | Never reviewed |
| Learning | Early short-interval steps |
| Review | Main long-interval stage |
| Relearning | Short steps after a failed review |
Presets
Choose a preset in Settings → Study → Scheduling or set values manually:
| Preset | Learning steps | Relearning steps | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed | 20 min | 20 min | 0.88 |
| Balanced | 10 min, 1 day | 10 min | 0.90 |
| Aggressive | 5 min, 30 min, 1 day | 10 min | 0.92 |
| Custom | (user-defined) | (user-defined) | (user-defined) |
Manual options
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Learning steps | 10, 1440 | Minutes between learning steps (comma-separated) |
| Relearning steps | 10 | Minutes between relearning steps |
| Requested retention | 0.90 | Target recall probability (0.80–0.97) |
What the settings mean
- Learning steps: short intervals for new cards before they move to Review.
- Relearning steps: short intervals after an Again on a Review card.
- Requested retention: target recall when card is due.
Higher retention increases workload (more frequent reviews). Lower retention reduces workload but increases forgetting.
TIP
0.90 is a strong default for most users.
FSRS console / log
You can inspect a card's FSRS history:
- Open the Card Browser.
- Select a card.
- Open card details to see ratings, stability, difficulty, and interval calculations.
Use this if a due date looks unexpected.
Reset options
| Button | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reset scheduling | Reset all cards to New (clears intervals, stability, difficulty) |
| Reset analytics | Clear review history and heatmap data |
Both options are in Settings → Reset and cannot be undone.