XliffAI - Artificial Intelligence for XLIFF Translation

Highlights

• Batches segments per request instead of translating one at a time, carrying glossary terms, existing TM matches, and a few segments of context duplicated from neighboring batches so terminology and register stay consistent across a batch
• Supports seven AI engines through the same AIEngine interface: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), Ollama (local), Mistral, Qwen (Alibaba DashScope), Z.ai (Zhipu)
• Never modifies a segment's <target> or @state - proposals are added as <mtc:match> candidates for review, leaving the input file untouched
• Ships an xliffai command-line tool for translating files and for listing/curating the models available from each engine
• Usable as a library too - XliffAI.translateFile() parses, batches, translates, and writes the result in one call

Quick Start

import { XliffAI, ChatGPTEngine } from 'xliffai';
const engine = new ChatGPTEngine(apiKey, 'gpt-5');
const xliffAI = new XliffAI();
// optional - both default sensibly (batch size 20, context overlap 2)
xliffAI.setBatchSize(20);
xliffAI.setContextOverlap(2);
const results = await xliffAI.translateFile('input.xlf', 'output.xlf', engine);

translateFile parses the XLIFF, batches segments, calls the engine once per batch, writes each result back into the document as an <mtc:match>, and saves output.xlf. generatePrompts(inputFile) and translateBatches(inputFile, engine) are available for inspecting prompts or driving translation without writing a file. Every engine listed above (ChatGPTEngine, ClaudeEngine, GeminiEngine, OllamaEngine, MistralEngine, QwenEngine, ZaiEngine) implements the same AIEngine interface, so any can be passed in.

Command-line interface

Installing XliffAI globally also adds an xliffai command:

npm install -g xliffai
xliffai translate -i input.xlf -o output.xlf -e chatgpt -k $OPENAI_API_KEY -m gpt-5
xliffai models -e claude -k $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY --curate
xliffai models-json -o models.json

translate never touches <target> - it adds <mtc:match type="mt" origin="<engine>"> candidates to a new output file, leaving the input untouched. Run xliffai <command> --help for the full flag list of any command.

translate

Required:
-i, --input <file> XLIFF file to read
-o, --output <file> XLIFF file to write (original is not modified)
-e, --engine <name> chatgpt | claude | gemini | ollama | mistral | qwen | zai
 
Engine auth (one of -k, or the matching environment variable):
-k, --key <apiKey> OPENAI_API_KEY / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY / MISTRAL_API_KEY / QWEN_API_KEY / ZAI_API_KEY
 --ollama-url <url> default http://localhost:11434 (or OLLAMA_URL)
 
Options:
-m, --model <name> required for chatgpt/claude/ollama/mistral/qwen/zai (gemini defaults to gemini-2.5-flash)
 --region <name> qwen: Singapore | Virginia | Beijing (default Singapore)
 --batch-size <n> max segments per request (default 20)

models

Without --curate, prints the raw model list exactly as the engine's API returns it - this can include image, audio, embedding, coding, and other models with no bearing on text translation. With --curate, that raw list is sent to a model of the same engine (its default curation model, or the one given with --curate-model) with a prompt asking it to keep only the models fit for translating natural-language text, and only that filtered list is printed.

models-json

Fetches the model list for chatgpt, claude, mistral, gemini, qwen, and zai, curates each one with that engine's default curation model, and writes them to <file> as { "ChatGPT": [...], "Claude": [...], "Mistral": [...], "Gemini": [...], "Qwen": [...], "Z.ai": [...] }. An engine whose API key env var isn't set is skipped with a warning, as is one whose curation call fails; the rest are still written. ollama is not included - its models are local to each machine, not a stable list to ship in a config file.