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Inline translation string editing for Django

Project description

django-cartouche

PyPI - Version Published on Django Packages CI docs codecov

Django Cartouche enables inline (in-HTML) .po translation editing for Django projects. Click on any string marked for translation in your browser to edit it directly during development.

Installation

Install as a development dependency:

pip install django-cartouche --group dev
# or with uv
uv add django-cartouche --dev

Configuration

django-cartouche should only be installed in development environments. Configure it in your local/development settings file (e.g., settings/local.py or settings/dev.py):

# settings/local.py

from .base import *

DEBUG = True

INSTALLED_APPS += [
    "cartouche",
]

MIDDLEWARE += [
    "cartouche.middleware.CartoucheMiddleware",  # Must be after LocaleMiddleware
]

Conditionally include URLs in your urls.py:

from django.conf import settings

urlpatterns = [
    # ...
]

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += [
        path("cartouche/", include("cartouche.urls")),
    ]

Set the lang attribute on your <html> element for locale detection:

{% load i18n %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{ LANGUAGE_CODE }}">

The editor only activates when DEBUG=True, but following these practices ensures cartouche is never present in production.

How It Works

When a page renders, django-cartouche tracks all translation calls (gettext, pgettext) and injects a manifest of translated strings into the HTML response. The frontend script then walks the DOM, finds matching text, and wraps it in editable spans.

Clickable Elements: When translated text appears inside links or buttons, clicking shows an "Edit | Open" menu. Choose "Edit" to modify the translation or "Open" to navigate normally. Regular text outside clickable elements can be edited with a direct click.

When you edit a string and save (blur or press Enter):

  1. The original source string (msgid) is used to locate the entry in your .po file
  2. The lang attribute on <html> determines which locale's .po file to update
  3. The .po file is saved and compilemessages runs automatically

For example, if your source is English and you're viewing the site in Spanish (<html lang="es">):

  • {% trans "Welcome" %} displays "Bienvenido" (from locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/django.po)
  • Clicking on "Bienvenido" lets you edit the Spanish translation
  • Saving updates msgstr in the Spanish .po file

To edit translations for a different language, switch your site's active locale first. Each language has its own .po file, and the lang attribute tells cartouche which one to modify.

Demo

The project ships with a simple demo project so you can see it in action locally:

cd demo && python manage.py runserver

Notice how changing the strings in-browser modifies your .po files and re-compiles them into .mo files.

Development

uv sync                              # Install dependencies
uv run pre-commit install            # Install git hooks (one-time)
ruff check src/ && ruff format src/  # Lint and format
pytest --cov                         # Run tests with coverage

Making Commits

Use the interactive CLI for guided conventional commits:

uv run cz commit

Or use standard git with conventional format:

git commit -m "feat: add new feature"
git commit -m "fix(compiler): handle edge case"

Feedback

If you end up using django-cartouche, I'd genuinely like to hear about your experience. Whether you've found it helpful, run into issues or have ideas for improvements, your feedback is welcome.

Share your feedback here →

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