Machine Translation

Dune can automatically translate pages using DeepL, Google Translate, or a self-hosted LibreTranslate instance. Once configured, a 🤖 button appears next to untranslated pages in the translation status dashboard.

Machine translation produces a draft — a translated copy of the page saved as a new language file — which editors can then review and refine.

Quick start

1. Get an API key

Provider	Sign up	Free tier
DeepL	deepl.com	500,000 chars/month
Google Translate	console.cloud.google.com	$0 up to 500k chars/month
LibreTranslate	Self-hosted or libretranslate.com	Self-hosted = free

2. Configure in `site.yaml`

machine_translation:
  provider: "deepl"           # "deepl" | "google" | "libretranslate"
  apiKey: "$DEEPL_API_KEY"    # "$ENV_VAR" expansion supported

Store your key in an environment variable — never commit it to version control.

3. Restart the server

The 🤖 button will appear on the Admin → Translations dashboard for all missing language versions.

Providers

DeepL

Best quality for European languages. Supports Markdown-aware translation (formatting is preserved).

machine_translation:
  provider: "deepl"
  apiKey: "$DEEPL_API_KEY"

Free API keys end with :fx — Dune auto-detects which endpoint to use.

Google Translate

Widest language coverage. Uses the Cloud Translation API v2 (Basic).

machine_translation:
  provider: "google"
  apiKey: "$GOOGLE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY"

LibreTranslate

Self-hosted, open-source, no usage limits or vendor lock-in.

machine_translation:
  provider: "libretranslate"
  baseUrl: "https://translate.example.com"    # your instance URL
  apiKey: "$LIBRETRANSLATE_API_KEY"            # optional (if your instance requires it)

How it works

When you click 🤖 on a missing translation:

Dune reads the source page (default language)
The page body and title are sent to the configured MT provider
The translated content is written as a new language file:
- content/blog/post/default.md → content/blog/post/default.de.md
The page is indexed and immediately accessible via its translated URL
The dashboard row updates from "Missing" to "Translated"

The API key never leaves the server — all MT requests are made server-side.

REST API

Check MT status

GET /admin/api/i18n/mt-status

Returns whether machine translation is configured:

{
  "enabled": true,
  "provider": "deepl"
}

Translate a page

POST /admin/api/i18n/translate-page

{
  "sourcePath": "content/blog/my-post/default.md",
  "targetLang": "de"
}

Translates the page body and title, writes the translated file, triggers a content rebuild.

Response:

{
  "ok": true,
  "targetPath": "content/blog/my-post/default.de.md"
}

Translate a segment

POST /admin/api/i18n/translate-segment

{
  "text": "Hello world",
  "from": "en",
  "to": "de"
}