comment-translate.nvim

Translate comments and strings directly in Neovim using hover or immersive inline views. Supports classic translation APIs as well as LLM backends, including fully local models via Ollama.

Why This Plugin

Many translation plugins rely on external services only. comment-translate.nvim is designed for teams and individuals who want a practical choice:

• Use hosted providers when you want quality and speed.
• Use local LLMs when you need stronger privacy and control.
• Keep your translation workflow inside Neovim.

Key Benefits

• LLM translation support (openai, anthropic, gemini, ollama)
• Local LLM workflow via Ollama (no source text sent to cloud APIs)
• Hover translation for quick understanding
• Immersive inline translation mode
• Replace selected text with translation
• Tree-sitter aware comment/string detection

Security and Privacy

This plugin gives you control over where your text goes:

• translate_service = 'google' or hosted llm providers: text is sent to the configured remote service.
• llm.provider = 'ollama' with the default local endpoint keeps translation local; if llm.endpoint is set to a remote host, text is sent there.
• Cache is in-memory only and is not persisted to disk by this plugin.

For sensitive repositories, local Ollama models are the recommended setup.

Requirements

• Neovim 0.8+
• curl
• plenary.nvim (required)
• Tree-sitter parser support for the languages you want to inspect (recommended)

Note: Internet is not required when you use local translation only (for example, Ollama running locally).

Parsers may come from bundled Neovim parsers, manual installation, or parser-providing plugin setups such as nvim-treesitter. comment-translate.nvim uses Neovim's built-in Tree-sitter APIs and does not require the nvim-treesitter plugin itself.

Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  'noir4y/comment-translate.nvim',
  dependencies = {
    'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim',
  },
  config = function()
    require('comment-translate').setup({})
  end,
}

packer.nvim

use {
  'noir4y/comment-translate.nvim',
  requires = {
    'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim',
  },
  config = function()
    require('comment-translate').setup({})
  end,
}

If you already manage parsers through nvim-treesitter, you can keep doing so.

Usage

Hover Translation

vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>th', '<cmd>CommentTranslateHover<CR>', { silent = true })

Immersive Translation

:CommentTranslateToggle

Replace Selected Text

:CommentTranslateReplace

Configuration

require('comment-translate').setup({
  target_language = 'ja',
  translate_service = 'google', -- 'google' or 'llm'

  hover = {
    enabled = true,
    delay = 500,
    auto = true,
  },

  immersive = {
    enabled = false,
  },

  cache = {
    enabled = true,
    max_entries = 1000,
  },

  targets = {
    comment = true,
    string = true,
  },

  llm = {
    provider = 'ollama', -- 'openai' | 'anthropic' | 'gemini' | 'ollama'
    model = 'translategemma:4b',
    api_key = nil, -- not required for ollama
    timeout = 20,
    endpoint = 'http://localhost:11434/api/chat', -- optional
  },

  keymaps = {
    hover = '<leader>th',
    hover_manual = '<leader>tc',
    replace = '<leader>tr',
    toggle = '<leader>tt',
  },
})

LLM Provider Examples

Local (Ollama)

require('comment-translate').setup({
  translate_service = 'llm',
  llm = {
    provider = 'ollama',
    model = 'translategemma:4b',
  },
})

Hosted (OpenAI)

require('comment-translate').setup({
  translate_service = 'llm',
  llm = {
    provider = 'openai',
    api_key = vim.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
    model = 'gpt-5.2',
  },
})

Commands

• :CommentTranslateHover — Display translation under cursor
• :CommentTranslateHoverToggle — Toggle auto hover on/off
• :CommentTranslateReplace — Replace selected text with translation
• :CommentTranslateToggle — Toggle immersive translation globally
• :CommentTranslateUpdate — Update immersive translation for current buffer
• :CommentTranslateSetup — Setup plugin with default settings
• :CommentTranslateHealth — Health check, including parser availability for the buffer that invoked it

Use :checkhealth comment-translate for general dependency and configuration checks. Use :CommentTranslateHealth from the file buffer you want to inspect when you also want parser availability checked for that buffer.

Development

• Format: make fmt
• Format check: make fmt-check
• Lint: make lint
• Test: make test

License

MIT