AI translation & licensing

openlocale's core is MIT-licensed and free forever. AI features are paid, unlocked by a license key:

• Batch machine translation — fill every missing string in a locale in one click, as reviewable drafts
• Semantic duplicate detection — an AI pass over import near-misses that string similarity can't catch

Two translation engines

Chrome, on-device (default when available)

In Chrome 138+, openlocale uses the browser's built-in Translator API: translation runs entirely on the admin's machine. No text leaves the browser, there's no per-string cost, and it's fast. The first use of a language pair downloads a model (the UI shows progress; language pair support varies).

Server-side (Claude)

Everywhere else — or by choice — translation runs server-side through a pluggable provider interface. The built-in provider uses Anthropic's Claude with structured outputs, translating in batches of 50 with each key's context note included, which markedly improves register and terminology.

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-…            # enables the server engine
OPENLOCALE_AI_MODEL=claude-opus-4-8   # optional override

Adding DeepL/Google/etc. is one class implementing MTProvider — see packages/translate.

Using auto-translate

Editor → ✨ Auto-translate → pick target locale and engine → run. Only keys missing a translation in the target are touched. Every result is saved as a draft with source ai, fully audited, so reviewers know exactly what to check. There's also a REST endpoint for automation:

POST /api/v1/projects/:project/ai/translate
{ "targetLocale": "de", "items": [{ "key": "…", "text": "…", "context": "…" }] }

License keys

Keys look like OL1.<payload>.<signature> — an Ed25519-signed statement of org, plan, features, and expiry. Verification is fully offline: no license server, no phone-home, air-gapped instances work fine.

Install: Settings → License (org owners only), or PUT /api/v1/admin/license. Check state at GET /api/v1/features.

Without a valid key, AI endpoints return 402 FEATURE_UNLICENSED and the UI shows the features locked — everything else is unaffected. An expired key simply re-locks AI; your data never depends on licensing.

Honest gating

The gate is a signature check in open-source code. It exists to make paying the path of least resistance for companies that get value from AI features — not DRM. If you fork it out, you were never going to pay anyway; buying a key funds the project.