# Show HN: PoLibre – FOSS .po editor for machine assisted translation

> Source: <https://github.com/LibreTranslate/PoLibre>
> Published: 2026-11-11 20:58:16+00:00

A free and open source `.po` editor for machine assisted translation with built-in support for
[LibreTranslate](https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate) and both offline/online LLMs (Claude, Gemini, Ollama).

Single binary desktop application with CLI support for scripts and workflow automations. Machine translation features are optional and the software can be used as a standalone .po editor.

- Automatic translation suggestions for every `.po` file and language in a project.
- Works with [LibreTranslate](https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate) , Claude, Gemini, OpenAI and OpenAI-compatible servers (Ollama,
OpenRouter), or the Claude Code, Gemini and Codex command line tools.
- Gives LLMs context: the code around each string, a project description, a glossary and developer comments.
- Checks every translation (placeholders, HTML, URLs, plurals, length, ...) before writing it.
- Built-in editor to review: approve or fix translations, get suggestions, reuse existing translations, compare languages, keyboard shortcuts.
- Command line for scripts and CI, with GitHub Actions annotations and a JSON report.

Download from the [releases page](https://github.com/LibreTranslate/PoLibre/releases)

```
cargo build --release                        # desktop app + command line
cargo build --release --no-default-features  # command line only
```

Run `polibre` to open the app: pick a project folder and a translation service, tick the
languages and press **Translate**. Click **Edit** on a language to review its translations.

The same binary works from the command line:

```
polibre scan path/to/project                      # languages and missing strings
polibre translate . -l it,de -p libretranslate -k KEY --dry-run
polibre translate . -p anthropic -m claude-opus-5-5 --limit 20
polibre check . -l it --only-auto                 # re-check PoLibre's translations
```

Services (`-p`): `libretranslate`, `anthropic`, `google`, `openai`, `openai-compatible`
(with `--url`), and `claude-cli`, `gemini-cli`, `codex-cli` (installed tools, no key needed).
API keys can also come from `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `GEMINI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY` or
`LIBRETRANSLATE_API_KEY`. Settings are saved in `~/.config/polibre/config.json` and shared
with the app; `--no-config` ignores them. Run `polibre --help` for all options.

```
polibre translate . --no-config -p anthropic -m claude-opus-5-5 --report report.json
```

The bundled Inter font is © The Inter Project Authors,
under the [SIL Open Font License 1.1](https://github.com/LibreTranslate/PoLibre/blob/main/assets/fonts/Inter-LICENSE.txt).

Originally inspired by [dj-translatemessages](https://github.com/efe/dj-translatemessages)