⚠️ Antivirus notice: This app uses a global keyboard shortcut and may be flagged by some antivirus software - it's a false positive.

MoonTranslator

A beautiful, minimalist, and smart desktop translator that actually gets out of your way.

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Hey there! 👋 Welcome to MoonTranslator.

I wanted a translation app that just worked without feeling clunky or taking up my entire screen. Something fast, pretty to look at, and smart enough to just translate things where I need them. That's why I built MoonTranslator!

It uses a sleek Material Design 3 interface, lives quietly in your system tray, and pops up exactly when you need it. Plus, since it's built with Rust and Tauri, it uses barely any memory on your PC.

Note: Inspired by DeepL App.

✨ Why use it?

• Out of the Box Translation: Built-in free-tier support for Google Translate and Microsoft Bing without needing any API keys. Or, plug in your own keys for DeepL, Lara Translate, or custom URLs!
• The "Magic" Popup: Highlight text anywhere on your PC (Discord, Word, a browser), double-tap Ctrl+C, and a mini translator pops right up.
• Edit & Quick Replace: Once you translate something in the floating popup, you can manually edit the output. Then, just hit "Replace" and it instantly types the translation back into your document!
• Instant Language Swap: Easily reverse the target and source languages with a single button press.
• Beautiful & Fluid: Complete with a gorgeous dark/light theme, micro-animations, and smooth window transitions.
• Auto-Detect & Auto-Translate: Just paste or type. It figures out the language and translates as you go.

🐧 Linux Support

MoonTranslator works on Linux (X11 and Wayland), packaged as an AppImage (and .deb). Everything works as on Windows: the tray icon, the double Ctrl+C popup, replace/paste, autostart, and in-app updates.

A few platform notes:

• System packages (runtime): webkit2gtk-4.1, libayatana-appindicator (or libappindicator), and libx11/libxrandr. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libayatana-appindicator3-1.
• X11 (recommended): full experience — the popup opens at your caret/cursor, stays on top, and the Replace feature types text back into any app.
• Wayland: the popup still works and is positioned on your monitor, but Wayland's security model blocks some features: always-on-top may be ignored (the popup can fall behind other windows), the global shortcut only sees X11 apps, and the Replace feature needs wtype (or ydotool): sudo apt install wtype.
• AppImage update: the updater replaces the running AppImage in place. If you run the app unpacked (not via AppImage), updates download the new AppImage next to the binary instead.
• Building from source: you'll need the dev packages libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev, libayatana-appindicator3-dev, librsvg2-dev, patchelf, libx11-dev, libxrandr-dev, and libwayland-dev.

Flatpak

A Flatpak build (from source, against org.gnome.Sdk) is included for distros where the AppImage's bundled libraries conflict with the host — this avoids the AppImage/glibc crash on rolling distros like Arch.

scripts/build-flatpak.sh
flatpak run dev.noxygalaxy.moontranslator

Notes:

• First build downloads the GNOME runtime + Rust/Node SDK extensions (a few GB) and compiles libayatana-appindicator from source (the GNOME SDK doesn't ship it).
• The double Ctrl+C global shortcut listens on /dev/input; the manifest grants --device=input, but some sandboxed environments may still limit it — the tray icon and popup work regardless.
• Tauri's built-in updater can't replace a Flatpak; update via flatpak update instead.

🏗️ What's inside?

To pull this off, I'm using React 19 with Next.js (Static Export) for a lightning-fast frontend. State is managed by Zustand, and the visuals are hand-crafted Vanilla CSS inspired by Material You. The backend powerhouse driving the window management, global shortcuts, clipboard monitoring, and secure storage is written in Rust using Tauri v2. 🦀

🔑 How to get API Keys

Since MoonTranslator natively supports free built-in translation via Google and Bing, no keys are required to start translating! However, if you want to use DeepL, Lara Translate, or your own official cloud accounts, you'll need to generate a personal API key. Here's a quick guide on where to find them (all major providers offer a generous Free Tier)!

DeepL (Recommended)

DeepL provides incredibly accurate, natural-sounding translations. Their free tier covers 500,000 characters/month.

1. Go to the DeepL API account signup page.
2. Select DeepL API Free and create an account.
3. Once logged in, navigate to the API keys tab under your Account summary and copy your new Authentication Key.

Google Cloud Translation (Optional)

1. Head to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a new project.
3. In the search bar, look up Cloud Translation API and click Enable.
4. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
5. Click Create Credentials -> API key and copy the generated key.

Microsoft Bing (Azure Translator) - Optional

1. Go to the Azure Portal.
2. Search for Translator in the top bar and click Create to launch a new resource.
3. Once your resource is deployed, navigate to it and check the Keys and Endpoint section on the left sidebar to find your Key 1.

Lara Translate

1. Go to the Lara Translate Credentials page.
2. Generate a new API ID and API Secret.
3. In MoonTranslator, paste them sequentially formatted as AccessKeyID,AccessKeySecret.

Custom URLs

You can also run your own basic local or hosted translation server. Simply enter the full URL (e.g., http://localhost:5000/translate) into the Custom API field! Note: your text is POSTed to whatever URL you provide, so only point it at endpoints you trust.

📝 License

Feel free to download, study, and fork it! The project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0) - see the LICENSE file for details. This ensures the app remains open and free forever.