A Chinese ⇄ English translation "input method" for Windows. Press a hotkey in any app, type in a small popup, and press Enter — the translation is pasted right back at your cursor.

Translations aim to sound conversational — like something a person would actually say, not stiff textbook translation.

Platform: Windows 10/11 · Stack: Electron + plain HTML/JS · License: MIT

Features

Lives in the system tray, no main window; summoned by a hotkey (default Alt+Q)
Live preview after you pause typing; LLM output is streamed
Enter pastes the translation back into the original window and restores your clipboard
Auto-detects direction (zh→en / en→zh), or switch manually
Two kinds of engines:
- Free (no key): Microsoft (reachable from mainland China, default), Google (needs a proxy in China), Tencent
- LLM (bring your own key): Zhipu GLM, SiliconFlow, Gemini, Groq, Cerebras, OpenRouter, Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, Claude, OpenAI, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
API keys are encrypted with the OS safeStorage and never sent to the UI process

Quick start

Option 1: run from source

Requires Node.js 18+.

git clone https://github.com/hopechen067/Xtranslate.git
cd Xtranslate
npm install
npm start

Option 2: build an installer

npm install
npm run dist

Output goes to dist/: an NSIS installer and a portable build.

After launch the app only appears in the system tray (bottom-right; it may be inside the ^ overflow).

Usage guide

1. Translate a sentence

In any app (chat, browser, editor…), put the cursor where you want to type.
Press Alt+Q. A small input box appears near the top-center of your screen.
Type. After a short pause (~0.5 s) the translation shows up.
Press Enter. The translation is pasted at the cursor and the box disappears.

2. Shortcuts

Key	Action
`Alt+Q`	Open the popup (changeable in settings)
`Enter`	Paste the translation and close (waits if it isn't ready yet)
`Shift+Enter`	New line in the input
`Tab`	Cycle direction: auto → zh→en → en→zh
`Ctrl+E`	Switch engine: free ↔ LLM
`Esc`	Close without pasting

3. Open settings

Right-click the tray icon → Settings. You can change the hotkey, engine, preview delay, and launch-at-login.

4. Free engines (zero setup)

The default is the free Microsoft engine — works out of the box and is reachable from mainland China. If it fails, switch to Google (proxy needed), Tencent, or an LLM in settings.

Free engines use unofficial browser-translation endpoints and may stop working at any time. Errors are shown with a short hint.

5. Set up an LLM (more natural wording)

Settings → choose the LLM engine and pick a provider (ones marked "free" cost nothing).
Open the provider's site (a link is shown in settings), sign up and create an API key.
Paste the key into settings and choose a model.
Click Save & test; a sample sentence is translated.

Suggested providers:

Provider	Notes
Zhipu GLM (glm-4-flash)	Reachable from China, free long-term, natural wording — recommended
SiliconFlow	Reachable from China, free models require real-name verification
Gemini / Groq / Cerebras	Free and fast; proxy needed in China
DeepSeek / Qwen / Kimi	Pay-as-you-go, very cheap
Claude / OpenAI	Best quality, paid

You can also pick Custom and enter any OpenAI-compatible baseUrl, model name and key.

6. Troubleshooting

Hotkey does nothing: another app may own it — pick a different combination in settings.
Pasted into the wrong place: Xtranslate remembers the foreground window when summoned; make sure the cursor is in the target input first.
Translation fails / times out: check your network; Google, Gemini, Groq and Cerebras need a proxy in China; or switch engine.
Invalid API key: re-paste it in settings and make sure there are no stray spaces.

Development

npm test          # node --test unit tests
npm start         # run Electron
npm run dist      # package

src/main/           Main process: engines, config, hotkey, paste, Win32 calls
src/main/engines    Microsoft / Google / Tencent / LLM (OpenAI & Anthropic protocols, SSE streaming)
src/main/prompt.js  The conversational translation prompt (the quality core)
src/renderer/       Popup and settings UI
docs/PLAN.md        Design notes and IPC contract (Chinese)

License

MIT