🌍 babel.nvim

December 7, 2025 · View on GitHub

🌍 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

Default Configuration

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

Common 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!

DeepL Setup

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

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",
  },
})

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