Zed Translation Extension

A powerful translation extension for Zed editor that brings real-time text translation directly into your development environment.

Features

• 🌍 Multiple Language Support: Translate text between various languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and Portuguese
• ⚡ Quick Access: Use simple slash commands to translate text instantly
• 🎯 Smart Language Detection: Automatically detects source language
• 💡 Developer Friendly: Designed specifically for developers who work with multilingual codebases and documentation

Installation

From Source (Development)

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/zed-extension-translate.git
cd zed-extension-translate

2. In Zed, open the Extensions view (Cmd+Shift+X or Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Click on "Install Dev Extension"
4. Select the directory containing this extension

From Zed Extensions Registry

Once published, you can install it directly from Zed:

1. Open Extensions view (Cmd+Shift+X or Ctrl+Shift+X)
2. Search for "Translate"
3. Click Install

Usage

This extension provides three slash commands for quick translation:

/translate [language] <text>

Translate text to any supported language.

Examples:

/translate zh Hello World
→ Translates "Hello World" to Chinese

/translate ja Good morning
→ Translates "Good morning" to Japanese

/translate en 你好世界
→ Translates "你好世界" to English

/translate-zh <text>

Quick command to translate text to Chinese.

Example:

/translate-zh Hello, how are you?
→ 你好，你好吗？

/translate-en <text>

Quick command to translate text to English.

Example:

/translate-en 今天天气真好
→ The weather is really nice today

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts Setup

To use translation commands more efficiently, configure keyboard shortcuts in your Zed keymap.

Quick Setup

1. Open command palette: Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P
2. Type "zed: open keymap" and press Enter
3. Add the following configuration to your keymap.json:

[
  {
    "context": "Editor",
    "bindings": {
      // Open AI panel to use slash commands
      "ctrl-shift-t": "workspace::ToggleRightDock",

      // Add selected text to AI context
      "ctrl-alt-t": "agent::AddSelectionToThread"
    }
  }
]

Recommended Workflow

1. Select text you want to translate
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+T to open AI panel
3. Type /translate-zh or /translate-en
4. Press Enter to get translation

For more detailed usage instructions, see USAGE_GUIDE.md.

Supported Languages

• English (en)
• Chinese (zh, zh-CN)
• Japanese (ja)
• Korean (ko)
• French (fr)
• German (de)
• Spanish (es)
• Russian (ru)
• Italian (it)
• Portuguese (pt)

Use Cases

• 📝 Documentation Translation: Quickly understand code comments in different languages
• 🔍 Code Review: Translate commit messages and pull request descriptions
• 📚 Learning: Understand foreign language tutorials and documentation
• 🌏 International Teams: Communicate effectively with team members worldwide
• 💬 Quick Reference: Translate error messages and stack traces

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust installed via rustup
• Zed editor

Building

cargo build --release

Testing Locally

1. Start Zed in foreground mode for detailed logs:

zed --foreground

2. Install the extension as a dev extension (see Installation section)

Project Structure

zed-extension-translate/
├── extension.toml          # Extension metadata
├── Cargo.toml             # Rust dependencies
├── src/
│   └── lib.rs            # Main extension code
├── slash_commands/        # Slash command definitions
│   ├── translate.toml
│   ├── translate-zh.toml
│   └── translate-en.toml
├── keymap-example.json    # Keyboard shortcuts example
├── USAGE_GUIDE.md         # Detailed usage guide
├── README.md              # This file
└── LICENSE                # MIT License

Roadmap

• Add more translation engines (DeepL, OpenAI, etc.)
• Implement caching for faster repeated translations
• Add text-to-speech functionality
• Support for custom API keys
• Translation history and wordbook
• Batch translation support
• In-editor documentation translation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Inspiration

This extension is inspired by the excellent Translation Plugin for JetBrains IDEs.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to the Zed team for creating an extensible editor
• Inspired by Translation Plugin for JetBrains IDEs
• Built with ❤️ for developers working across languages