Hey everyone! 
Like many of you, I’ve always wanted instant notifications for new reviews, but I really didn’t want to pay for a Zapier subscription or run a 24/7 server just for this one task.
So, I built a 100% free, minimalist solution that runs entirely on GitHub Actions. I thought I’d share it in case anyone else finds it useful!
What is it?
It’s a simple script that:
-
Runs on a schedule (you can set it as low as every 8 minutes).
-
Calls the WaniKani API to check for reviews.
-
If you have reviews, it gets the full breakdown (Radicals, Kanji, Vocab).
-
Sends you a detailed email notification via Mailjet’s free plan.
Why is this different?
-
100% Free: It combines the free tiers of GitHub Actions and Mailjet (which gives 200 emails/day).
-
Super Minimalist: It’s just a single Bash script.
-
Fast: The entire check runs in about 5-10 seconds.
-
“Set it and Forget it”: You fork the repo, add your API keys, and it just works.
How to get it
The project is on GitHub. The setup is designed to be as simple as possible—you just fork the project and add your API keys.
[Link to the GitHub repository]
The README.md file has the complete step-by-step guide, but the setup is basically:
-
Fork the repo on GitHub.
-
Get your WaniKani API Token.
-
Get your Mailjet API Keys (free plan).
-
Add your keys and emails to the Secrets & Variables tab in your forked repo.
That’s it! GitHub Actions will take over and start running the script on its own.
A quick heads-up: The “hardest” part is just verifying your “From” email address in Mailjet, which is a standard step for all email services to prevent spam. As an alternative option, you could also create a filter in your inbox to ensure the emails always land there.
Hope this helps some of you stay on top of your reviews! Let me know if you have any questions.
頑張ってください!