Toucan is a desktop editor for translation files. Open a locale folder, edit all its languages in one grid across 14 formats, and catch broken placeholders before they ship.
v0.22.0 on Windows 10+, macOS and Linux. Expect rough edges before 1.0.
shop-app · locales
Try it: click a row to edit, fix a warning, or run Pre-translate.J K keys · 1 2 3 modes
Drop a folder in. Toucan recognises the layout and groups the files for you.
The layout follows VS Code: a key tree on the left, the translation pane in the middle, an inspector on the right. Switch modes without opening another tool.
Every language for a key on one screen, with suggestions from translation memory as you type.
Filters to unapproved items. Approve or reject each one while validation warnings sit next to the text.
A read-only view of each key's approval state and change history.
Validation rules run on save, translation memory suggests earlier work, and no machine translation is written until you accept it.
Translate one key, a namespace, or a whole language. Results land in a preview first, so nothing is written until you accept it. Formality settings are respected.
Toucan recognises {{var}}, {0}, %s and :param in the source and flags any translation that uses different ones.
One switch for the whole app, asked once on first run. Connect a service, then translate with it, analyze translations for wrong terms and tone, or check source strings. Every prompt Toucan sends is a plain file you can edit for all projects or commit with one project in .toucan/prompts. Keys stay in an encrypted store in your profile, never in the project.
Check Source Clarity flags strings a translator could misread, then suggests clearer wording and a note for translators.
Turn each rule on or off and set its severity per project.
A trigram fuzzy matcher suggests earlier translations from every project, ranked by similarity.
Scans .tsx, .vue, .svelte, .py and more for t('key') calls. Double-click a key to open its source file.
i18next _one / _other suffixes, ICU plural forms, JSON array values, and gender forms.
A command palette for every menu command, a sheet of every shortcut, and a Zen mode that leaves one card on screen.
Pick a format to see how checkout.items_count is stored there. Toucan reads and writes each one, placeholder style included.
{
"checkout": {
"items_count": "You have {{count}} items"
}
}
Coming from BabelEdit? Toucan imports .babel projects. A few formats lose detail on save today (PO plurals, ARB metadata, XLIFF source text); see the known issues.
The CLI shares its format and validation code with the app. toucan check exits with code 1 on errors, so a broken placeholder fails the build.
$ toucan stats ./locales
Project: shop-app
Primary: en-US
Keys: 420
Languages: 4
de-DE ████████████████████ 100% (420/420)
en-US ████████████████████ 100% (420/420)
fr-FR ███████████████████░ 96% (405/420)
id-ID ██████████████░░░░░░ 71% (300/420)
$ toucan translate ./locales -p deepl -l id-ID --dry-run
# preview only, nothing is written
$ toucan check ./locales
...
0 error(s), 2 warning(s), 0 info(s)Plugins are .NET assemblies that add file formats, translation providers, validation rules, and framework profiles. They run in the app on Windows, macOS and Linux, and in the CLI.
Toucan.Plugins.Abstractions package.No account, no upload, no server. Text leaves your machine only when you run a translation provider or turn AI on. API keys live in one secret store in your user profile, encrypted at rest: DPAPI on Windows, AES-GCM with a per-user key on macOS and Linux.
One app on the same core everywhere, so formats, validation, and providers behave the same, with the modes, Zen, command palette, AI Integration, side panels, and plugins. Windows 10 and later as a portable zip for now, macOS as a DMG, Linux as a tarball.
Download v0.22.0 →check, stats, translate, export, get and set, on any OS with .NET 10. Build it from source for now.
See what shipped in the changelog. The planned order is not a promise; the full list lives in future-roadmap.md.
toucan check
Free and MIT licensed. Preview builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux.