DMS Translate

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A small translator widget for the top bar of DankMaterialShell 1.6.3+ and Dux Shell 2.x. Click the icon, type or paste text, press Enter. It works with Google Cloud Translation, DeepL or any OpenRouter model. Pure QML: no Python, no extra packages.

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell 1.6.3 or newer, or Dux Shell 2.x (tested on niri)
• An API key for one provider (see Providers and keys)

Install

git clone https://github.com/exec-cmd/dms-translater.git
cd dms-translater
./install.sh
dms ipc call plugins reload dmsTranslate

install.sh copies src/ to ~/.config/dms/plugins/dmsTranslate on Dux Shell 2.x, or to ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins/dmsTranslate on 1.x. --link makes a symlink instead, so edits in the repo apply after a reload. An existing directory that is not this plugin is never replaced without --force.

Add to the bar

1. Settings → Plugins → Scan for Plugins, then turn on Translate.
2. Pick a provider and enter its API key in the plugin settings.
3. Settings → Dank Bar → add the Translate widget to a section.

In the popout, Enter translates and Shift+Enter adds a new line. Type in a language list to search it. The source language can be Auto. The swap button swaps the languages and moves the last translation into the input. The last four language pairs you used appear as chips under the lists, so one click switches back. The current pair is remembered.

To translate text in an image, copy the image (for example a niri screenshot) and press Ctrl+V in the input or click Image. Images work only with OpenRouter and a model that accepts image input (the default z-ai/glm-5.3-flash does). Google Cloud Translation v2 and DeepL /v2/translate accept text only. Pasting an image needs wl-paste from wl-clipboard.

Providers and keys

Provider	Key	Notes
Google Cloud Translation	Cloud Console, with the Cloud Translation API enabled	Uses the Basic v2 API, which accepts API keys.
DeepL	DeepL API account	Free keys end in :fx and use api-free.deepl.com automatically.
OpenRouter	openrouter.ai/keys	Default model z-ai/glm-5.3-flash. The model id, reasoning level and system prompt are editable. Reasoning: Model default sends nothing; Off to Extra high set reasoning.effort (Off is fastest; models that always reason may reject it). {source} and {target} in the prompt become language names.

API keys are stored as plain text in the shell's plugin_settings.json (in ~/.config/dms/ or ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/), which every plugin can read. Use keys limited to the translation API, with a spending cap. Keys are sent only in request headers, never in URLs or command lines.

The text you translate is sent to the selected provider.

Keyboard shortcut

Add a bind to ~/.config/niri/config.kdl:

binds {
    Mod+Alt+T { spawn "dms" "ipc" "call" "widget" "toggle" "dmsTranslate"; }
}

The widget must be on the bar for the shortcut to work.

Update and remove

git pull && ./install.sh   # not needed with --link; just reload
./uninstall.sh

uninstall.sh removes only the plugin directory. The settings and keys stay in plugin_settings.json under dmsTranslate; delete that entry by hand if you need to.

Development

node --test tests/*.test.mjs              # request building and response parsing
shellcheck install.sh uninstall.sh
./install.sh --link && dms ipc call plugins reload dmsTranslate

See AGENTS.md for the repository rules.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.