Translate CLI

translate-cli

Use this skill to help end users run and configure the translate CLI.

translate is a command-line translator for text, stdin, files, globs, and .xcstrings catalogs. It supports multiple providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, OpenAI-compatible endpoints, Apple providers, DeepL), prompt presets and template overrides, and persistent TOML configuration.

Capabilities

• Build correct translate commands for inline text, stdin, single-file, and multi-file workflows.
• Keep options before positional input(s) when constructing commands (for example, translate --to de README.md).
• Explain provider selection, credentials, model/base URL requirements, and provider-specific constraints.
• Configure defaults, provider endpoints, network settings, and presets with translate config and config.toml.
• Customize prompts with presets, inline templates, @file templates, and placeholders.
• Explain output behavior (stdout, --output, --in-place, suffix naming), parallel jobs, dry-run, and validation errors.
• Streaming output: --stream forces on, --no-stream forces off, otherwise defaults.stream applies.

Starter commands

translate --text --to fr "Hello world"
translate --to de README.md
translate --provider ollama --text --to en --dry-run "Merhaba dunya"
translate config set defaults.provider anthropic

Note: prefer option-before-input ordering in all examples and generated commands.

References

• Quick examples: references/quickstart.md
• Full flag and subcommand reference: references/flags-and-subcommands.md
• TOML schema and precedence: references/config-toml.md
• Provider rules and environment variables: references/providers-and-env.md
• Presets, prompt templates, placeholders: references/presets-and-prompts.md
• Runtime behavior, warnings, and exit codes: references/behavior-and-errors.md