🌍 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"
  network = {
    connect_timeout = 5,   -- curl connect timeout in seconds
    request_timeout = 15,  -- max request time in seconds
  },
  cache = {
    enabled = false,       -- enable in-memory translation cache
    limit = 200,           -- max cache entries
  },
  history = {
    enabled = false,       -- keep in-memory translation history
    limit = 20,            -- max saved entries
  },
  fallback_chain = {
    deepl = { "google" }, -- if DeepL fails, try Google
    google = {},
  },
  display = "float",      -- "float" or "picker"
  picker = "auto",        -- "auto", "telescope", "fzf", "snacks", "mini"
  float = {
    border = "rounded",
    mode = "center", -- "center" or "cursor"
    max_width = 80,
    max_height = 20,
    auto_close_ms = 0, -- auto-close delay, 0 = disabled
    pin = true, -- allow pin toggle with `p` when auto-close is enabled
    copy_original = false, -- allow copying original text with `Y`
    nvim_open_win = {}, -- extra nvim_open_win() options (overrides defaults)
  },
  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"
network.connect_timeout	number	5	Network connect timeout (seconds)
network.request_timeout	number	15	Network request timeout (seconds)
cache.enabled	boolean	false	Enable in-memory translation cache
cache.limit	number	200	Maximum cache entries
history.enabled	boolean	false	Enable in-memory translation history
history.limit	number	20	Maximum stored history entries
fallback_chain	table	{ deepl = {"google"}, google = {} }	Per-provider fallback chain
display	string	"float"	Display mode: "float" or "picker"
picker	string	"auto"	Picker: "auto", "telescope", "fzf", "snacks", "mini"
float.mode	string	"center"	Float preset: "center" or "cursor"
float.auto_close_ms	number	0	Auto-close timeout in milliseconds (0 disables)
float.pin	boolean	true	Enable pin toggle key (p) when auto-close is enabled
float.copy_original	boolean	false	Enable copying original text with Y
float.nvim_open_win	table	{}	Extra nvim_open_win() options for float window
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"

Cursor-follow float preset

For a smaller popup that follows your cursor, use:

require("babel").setup({
  float = {
    mode = "cursor",
    max_width = 60,
    max_height = 10,
  },
})

Network timeout customization

You can tune provider request timeouts for slow/unstable networks:

require("babel").setup({
  network = {
    connect_timeout = 3,
    request_timeout = 25,
  },
})

Translation history

You can keep the latest successful translations in memory:

require("babel").setup({
  history = {
    enabled = true,
    limit = 50,
  },
})

Fallback chain and cache

You can control provider fallback behavior and enable in-memory caching:

require("babel").setup({
  provider = "deepl",
  fallback_chain = {
    deepl = { "google" },
    google = {},
  },
  cache = {
    enabled = true,
    limit = 500,
  },
})

Float window customization

You can override Babel's default float settings by passing options directly to nvim_open_win():

require("babel").setup({
  float = {
    max_width = 60,
    max_height = 10,
    nvim_open_win = {
      relative = "cursor",
      row = 1,
      col = 0,
      anchor = "NW",
      border = "single",
      title = " Babel ",
    },
  },
})

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
:[range]Babel	Translate selected line range (e.g. :10,20Babel)
:BabelWord	Translate word under cursor
:BabelRepeat	Repeat last translation input

In Translation Window

Key	Action
q / <Esc> / <CR>	Close window
y	Copy translation to clipboard
Y	Copy original text (if float.copy_original = true)
p	Pin/unpin auto-close timer (if enabled)
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

Provider capabilities

You can inspect provider capabilities from Lua:

local caps = require("babel").get_provider_capabilities()
-- caps.google.supports_formality == false
-- caps.deepl.supports_formality == true

local deepl = require("babel").get_provider_capabilities("deepl")

🧪 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

If you use AI coding assistants, check AGENTS.md for project architecture, quality gates, and safe-change checklist.

🙏 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