translatebot-django 1.3.1

Translate Django .po files and model fields with AI. Repeatable, consistent, and pennies per language.

translatebot-django

⚡ Translate Django .po files and model fields with AI. Repeatable, consistent, and pennies per language.

Documentation: https://translatebot.dev/docs/

The Problem

Translating a Django app sounds simple until it isn't:

• Manual workflow doesn't scale. Copy strings to Google Translate, paste back, fix placeholders, repeat for every language. It works for 20 strings. It falls apart at 200.
• AI assistants work once, but not repeatedly. You can ask ChatGPT or Claude Code to translate a .po file, and it'll do a decent job. Once. Next sprint, when 15 new strings appear, you're prompting from scratch, re-translating the whole file, and hoping it stays consistent.
• SaaS translation platforms are expensive overkill. Paid localization services charge per-word subscriptions and come with portals, review workflows, and team features you don't need for a solo project or small team.

Why TranslateBot

TranslateBot is a dedicated tool that sits between "do it by hand" and "pay for a platform":

• Incremental. Only translates new and changed strings. Add 10 strings in a sprint, pay for 10 strings, not the whole file.
• Consistent. A TRANSLATING.md file in your repo acts as a version-controlled glossary: terminology, tone, brand rules. Every translation run uses it.
• Cost-efficient. Batches strings into optimized API requests. A typical app costs under $0.01 per language with GPT-4o-mini.
• Scales to many languages. One command translates all your configured languages. Adding a new locale is a one-liner.
• Automatable. A CLI command you can script or hook into your workflow. No browser, no portal.
• Placeholder-safe. Preserves %(name)s, {0}, %s, and HTML tags with 100% test coverage on format string handling.

Installation

For PO file translation, TranslateBot is a development tool; install it as a dev dependency:

uv add --dev translatebot-django

For model translation at runtime, install it as a regular dependency instead (see Python API docs):

uv add translatebot-django

Quick Start

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'translatebot_django',
]

TRANSLATEBOT_API_KEY = "your-api-key-here"

# Translate to Dutch
python manage.py translate --target-lang nl

# Preview without saving
python manage.py translate --target-lang nl --dry-run

Features

• Multiple AI Providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure, many more, and DeepL
• Smart Translation: Preserves placeholders (%(name)s, {0}, %s) and HTML tags
• Model Field Translation: Supports django-modeltranslation
• Flexible Configuration: Django settings, environment variables, or CLI arguments
• Well Tested: 100% code coverage

When to Use TranslateBot

For a one-off translation of 20 strings, ChatGPT works fine. TranslateBot is for ongoing projects with multiple languages where translations need to stay in sync as your code changes.

Use TranslateBot when:

• You're actively developing and strings change every sprint
• You support 3+ languages and want them all updated at once
• You want consistent terminology across translation runs
• You want translations done in seconds, not hours of manual work

Documentation

For full documentation, visit translatebot.dev/docs/

• Installation
• Configuration
• Command Reference
• Model Translation
• Supported AI Models
• FAQ

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

# Setup
git clone https://github.com/gettranslatebot/translatebot-django.git
cd translatebot-django
uv sync --extra dev

# Run tests
uv run pytest

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• Built with LiteLLM for universal LLM provider support
• Uses polib for .po file manipulation

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Made with ❤️ for the Django community