AI human language translation inside your terminal

translate.sh

api="lms";
ai_host="http://127.0.0.1:7879";
auth="";
model="translategemma-4b-it";
stderr_thinking=0;
uri="/";
text_path=".";
thinking_path="";
error_path="";
temperature=1;
context_length=40000;


THINKING_COLOR="";
RESET_COLOR="";
ERROR_COLOR="";

if [ -n "$(tput colors 2>/dev/null)" ] && [ "$(tput colors)" -ge 256 ]; then
	THINKING_COLOR="$(tput setaf 250)";
	ERROR_COLOR="$(tput setaf 1)";
  RESET_COLOR="$(tput sgr0)";
fi

error() { echo "$ERROR_COLOR""Error:$RESET_COLOR $@" 1>&2; exit 1; }

usage() { echo -e "Usage: $0 [options] <lang_from> <lang_to> <text...>\n\nAvailable params:\n  -e <string> - AI API host (Current: $ai_host)\n  -k <string> - API authorization key\n  -a <openai/anthropic/lms> - which API the script should use (Current: $api)\n  -r - print reasoning process to stderr if there's any (Current: $stderr_thinking)\n  -m <string> - name of LLM to use (Current: $model)\n  -t <number> - randomness level of model's output from 0 to 1 (Current: $temperature)\n  -l <number> - model's context length (Current: $context_length)\n\nExample:\n  - $0 -e "https://api.openai.com" -a openai -m "gpt-5.4-nano" English Russian Hello, how are you doing this fine morning?"; exit 0; }

while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    case "$1" in
        -?)
						case "${1#-}" in
						  e)
							  ai_host="$2";
							  shift 2;
							  ;;
						  k)
							  auth="$2";
							  shift 2;
							  ;;
							a)
							  api="$2";
							  shift 2;
							  ;;
							r)
							  stderr_thinking=1;
								shift 1;
								;;
							m)
							  model="$2";
                shift 2;
							  ;;
							t)
								temperature="$2";
                shift 2;
							  ;;
							l)
								context_length="$2";
                shift 2;
							  ;;
							*)
							  usage;
							  ;;
						esac
            ;;
        *)
            break;
            ;;
    esac
done

if [ $# -lt 3 ]; then
	usage;
fi

source_language="$1";
target_language="$2";
shift 2;
text="$@";

system_prompt="You are a professional $source_language to $target_language translator. Your goal is to accurately convey the meaning and nuances of the original $source_language text while adhering to $target_language grammar, vocabulary, and cultural sensitivities.\nProduce only the $target_language translation, without any additional explanations or commentary.\nThe output text you about to produce should have exactly the same meaning as user's text, but in $target_language instead of $source_language."

if [ "$api" == "openai" ]; then
  uri="v1/chat/completions";
	text_path=".choices[0].message.content";
	thinking_path=".choices[0].message.reasoning_content";
	error_path=".error.message";
elif [ "$api" == "anthropic" ]; then
	uri="v1/messages";
	text_path=".content[] | select(.type == \"text\") .text";
	error_path=".error.message";
elif [ "$api" == "lms" ]; then
  uri="api/v1/chat";
	text_path=".output[] | select(.type == \"message\") .content";
	thinking_path=".output[] | select(.type == \"reasoning\") .content";
	error_path=".error.message";
else
  error "Invalid API specified";
fi

curl_args=("-s" "-X" "POST" "$ai_host/$uri" -d @- "-H" "Content-Type: application/json");

if [ -n "$auth" ]; then
	if [ "$api" == "anthropic" ]; then
		curl_args+=("-H" "x-api-key: $auth");
	else
		curl_args+=("-H" "Authorization: Bearer $auth");
	fi
fi

json_template=$(grep -Pzo '(?<=### '$api'_start\n)[\s\S]*?(?=\n### '$api'_end)' $0 | tr -d '\0' | sed -e 's/^#//');
json_input=$(jq --null-input --arg AIMODEL "$model" --arg SYS_PROMPT "$system_prompt" --arg PROMPT "$text" --arg TEMP "$temperature" --arg CONTLEN "$context_length" "$json_template");
json_output=$(printf '%s' "$json_input" | curl "${curl_args[@]}");

if [ -n "$error_path" ]; then
	errror_message=$(printf '%s' "$json_output" | jq -r "$error_path // \"\"" 2>/dev/null);
	if [ -n "$errror_message" ]; then
		error "$errror_message";
	fi
fi

if [ $stderr_thinking -ne 0 ] && [ "$thinking_path" != "" ]; then
	thinking_result=$(printf '%s' "$json_output" | jq -r "$thinking_path // \"\"" 2>/dev/null);
	if [ "$thinking_result" != "" ]; then
		printf "$THINKING_COLOR$thinking_result$RESET_COLOR" 1>&2;
	fi
fi

if ! printf '%s' "$json_output" | jq -re "$text_path // \"\""; then
	error "$json_output";
fi

### openai_start
#{
#  "model": $AIMODEL,
#  "messages": [
#    {
#      "role": "system",
#      "content": $SYS_PROMPT,
#    },
#    {
#      "role": "user",
#      "content": [
#        {
#          "type": "text",
#          "text": $PROMPT
#        }
#      ]
#    }
#  ],
#  "temperature": $TEMP|tonumber,
#  "max_tokens": $CONTLEN|tonumber
#}
### openai_end

### lms_start
#{
#	 "model": $AIMODEL,
#  "system_prompt": $SYS_PROMPT,
#	 "input": $PROMPT,
#	 "context_length": $CONTLEN|tonumber,
#	 "temperature": $TEMP|tonumber
#}
### lms_end

### anthropic_start
#{
#	 "model": $AIMODEL,
#  "system": $SYS_PROMPT,
#  "messages": [
#    {
#      "role": "user",
#      "content": $PROMPT
#    }
#  ],
#	 "max_tokens": $CONTLEN|tonumber,
#	 "temperature": $TEMP|tonumber
#}
### anthropic_end

translate.sh.md

translate.sh

This is a tiny bash script that lets you use an LLM as a natural human language translator inside your terminal.

Usage

Run this script with no arguments to see the usage example.

Dependencies

• jq - shell JSON generator/parser
• grep - pattern extraction, I use it to extract JSON body at the end of the script from comments
• sed - removing hash symbols from commented JSON body
• tr - removing trailing null characters where it's needed
• curl - making requests to API endpoint
• tput - colored output (optional)

Important

The comments at the end of the script should be preserved as is, removing them will break the script.

Note

This code was never properly tested outside of LM Studio and their compatibility APIs. I can't guarantee any of APIs except "lms" working properly.