🌍 babel.nvim

Translate text without leaving Neovim

---

✨ Features

• 🔤 Translate selected text or word under cursor
• 🪟 Multiple display modes (float, picker)
• 🔍 Auto-detect installed picker
• 📋 Copy translation to clipboard with y
• ⚡ Async translation (non-blocking)

Supported Pickers

Picker	Status
Native float	✅
snacks.nvim	✅
telescope.nvim	✅
fzf-lua	✅
mini.pick	✅

⚡ Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.9.0
• curl

Optional (for picker display):

• snacks.nvim, telescope.nvim, fzf-lua, or mini.pick

📦 Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  "acidsugarx/babel.nvim",
  version = "*", -- recomended for the latest tag, not main
  opts = {
    target = "ru",  -- target language
  },
  keys = {
    { "<leader>tr", mode = "v", desc = "Translate selection" },
    { "<leader>tw", desc = "Translate word" },
  },
}

⚙️ Configuration

Minimal Setup

require("babel").setup({
  target = "ru",
})

Full Options

require("babel").setup({
  source = "auto",        -- source language (auto-detect)
  target = "ru",          -- target language
  provider = "google",    -- translation provider: "google", "deepl"
  display = "float",      -- "float" or "picker"
  picker = "auto",        -- "auto", "telescope", "fzf", "snacks", "mini"
  float = {
    border = "rounded",
    max_width = 80,
    max_height = 20,
  },
  keymaps = {
    translate = "<leader>tr",
    translate_word = "<leader>tw",
  },
  -- DeepL provider settings (optional)
  deepl = {
    api_key = nil,        -- or use DEEPL_API_KEY env variable
    pro = nil,            -- nil = auto-detect, true = Pro, false = Free
    formality = "default", -- "default", "more", "less", "prefer_more", "prefer_less"
  },
})

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
source	string	"auto"	Source language (auto-detect)
target	string	"ru"	Target language code
provider	string	"google"	Translation provider: "google", "deepl"
display	string	"float"	Display mode: "float" or "picker"
picker	string	"auto"	Picker: "auto", "telescope", "fzf", "snacks", "mini"
deepl.api_key	string	nil	DeepL API key (or use DEEPL_API_KEY env)
deepl.pro	boolean	nil	Force Pro/Free endpoint (nil = auto-detect by key)
deepl.formality	string	"default"	Formality: "default", "more", "less", "prefer_more", "prefer_less"

Language Codes

Code	Language
en	English
ru	Russian
de	German
fr	French
es	Spanish
it	Italian
pt	Portuguese
zh	Chinese
ja	Japanese
ko	Korean
ar	Arabic
hi	Hindi
tr	Turkish
pl	Polish
uk	Ukrainian

🚀 Usage

Keymaps

Keymap	Mode	Description
<leader>tr	Visual	Translate selection
<leader>tw	Normal	Translate word under cursor

Commands

Command	Description
:Babel [text]	Translate provided text
:BabelWord	Translate word under cursor

In Translation Window

Key	Action
q / <Esc> / <CR>	Close window
y	Copy translation to clipboard
j / k	Scroll

🌐 Providers

Provider	Status	API Key	Notes
Google Translate	✅	No	Default, unofficial API
DeepL	🧪	Yes (free tier)	Best quality, 500k chars/month free
LibreTranslate	🔜	No	Open source, self-hostable
Yandex	🔜	Yes	Great for Russian
Lingva	🔜	No	Google proxy, no rate limits

🧪 Testing: DeepL provider is implemented but needs testing. If you have a DeepL API key and want to help test, please open an issue with your feedback!

1. Get a free API key at deepl.com/pro#developer (500k chars/month free)

2. Set up the API key (choose one):

   Option A: Environment variable

   export DEEPL_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
   

   Option B: In config

   require("babel").setup({
     provider = "deepl",
     deepl = {
       api_key = "your-api-key-here",
     },
   })
   

3. The endpoint (Free/Pro) is auto-detected from the key suffix (:fx = Free). You can override with deepl.pro = true/false.

4. If no API key is found, babel.nvim will automatically fall back to Google Translate with a warning.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Suggest features
• 🔧 Submit pull requests

🙏 Acknowledgments

Thanks to the amazing Neovim plugin ecosystem:

• folke for snacks.nvim and lazy.nvim
• nvim-telescope for telescope.nvim
• ibhagwan for fzf-lua
• echasnovski for mini.nvim

📝 License

MIT © Ilya Gilev