L10n.dev - AI Translator
Translate notes into any of 165 languages with AI. Preserves Markdown formatting and structure. Powered by L10n.dev's AI translation API.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates4
Translate your Obsidian notes using l10n.dev — an AI-powered localization API. Works on desktop and mobile.
Features
- Context-aware translations using advanced AI. Translate to 165+ languages.
- Preserves Markdown formatting and struvture.
- Translate the active note via the command palette, ribbon icon, or right-click context menu.
- Dynamic language search — type a language name to find it instantly (no hardcoded list)
- Remembers your last used language — one keypress to repeat the same translation.
- Three output modes: create a new note, replace the current note, or append the translation.
- Optional YAML frontmatter preservation — translate only the note body if desired.
- Shows characters used and remaining balance after each translation.
- Mobile-compatible — uses Obsidian's native network layer, no Node.js APIs
Requirements
A free l10n.dev account. You receive 30,000 characters free per month after signing up. Get your API key at l10n.dev/ws/keys.
Installation
Community plugin (recommended)
- Open Settings → Community plugins and select Browse.
- Search for L10n.dev - AI Translator.
- Select Install, then Enable.
Manual installation
- Go to the latest release and download
manifest.json,main.js, andstyles.css. - In your vault, create the folder
<YourVault>/.obsidian/plugins/note-ai-translator/. - Copy the three downloaded files into that folder.
- Open Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins, and enable L10n.dev - AI Translator.
Setup
- Open Settings → L10n.dev - AI Translator.
- Paste your l10n.dev API key into the API key field.
- Choose your preferred Output behavior and toggle Translate frontmatter as needed.
Usage
With a note open, trigger translation in any of these ways:
- Command palette — run
Translate current note - Ribbon — select the globe icon in the left sidebar
- Context menu — right-click a file in the file explorer or inside the editor and select Translate…
A language picker will open. Type a language name (e.g. "Spanish", "German", "Japanese") and select your target language. The translation will be saved according to your output behavior setting.
Repeat translation to the same language
After your first translation, the last used language is saved automatically. The next time the language picker opens, it pre-selects that language — press Enter to confirm without typing anything.
For even faster repeat translations, use the Translate to last used language command from the command palette. It skips the language picker entirely and translates immediately. Assign a hotkey to it in Settings → Hotkeys for one-keystroke translation.
Output behavior
| Setting | Result |
|---|---|
| Create a new note (default) | Saves translation as {filename} ({lang-code}).md in the same folder |
| Replace current note content | Overwrites the current note with the translation |
| Append to current note | Appends the translation below a horizontal rule |
Privacy
Translation requests are sent to the AI translation API over HTTPS. l10n.dev does not store your content after translation. See the l10n.dev terms of service for details.
No telemetry or analytics are collected by this plugin.