vertere

Translate a screen region, the clipboard, or the selected text. The result appears in a floating bubble next to your work.

Translation is done by a multimodal model through any OpenAI-compatible API — OpenRouter by default: the screenshot goes to the model as an image, and it returns both the translation and a transcription of the source text.

Requirements

• A compositor implementing wlr-layer-shell and wlr-screencopy: sway, Hyprland, river, Wayfire, niri. GNOME implements neither.
• grim, slurp, wl-clipboard. The Nix package wraps these in.
• An API key for your endpoint, and a model that accepts image input.

Install

NixOS, with the flake:

{
  inputs.vertere.url = "github:ocfox/vertere";

  # in your configuration
  imports = [ inputs.vertere.nixosModules.default ];

  services.vertere = {
    enable = true;
    environmentFile = "/run/secrets/vertere";  # API_KEY=...
  };
}

The module runs the daemon as a systemd user service for the graphical session.

Elsewhere: cargo build --release, then run vertere daemon from your compositor's autostart.

Configure

Run vertere settings, or pick Settings from the tray. Any command run before there is a model configured opens that window instead of failing.

Translate into goes into the prompt as written, so name the language the way you would to a person. Simplified Chinese says what zh leaves the model to guess. Unless already in it is what to use when the source is already in that language — set it to your other language and the direction takes care of itself.

The API key is read from API_KEY. Endpoint defaults to OpenRouter but takes any OpenAI-compatible base URL.

Use

Bind each command to a key in your compositor's config.

• shot — drag a region, translate the text in it
• clip — translate the clipboard
• select — translate the selected text, no copy needed
• settings, history — the two windows, also reachable from the tray

select reads the primary selection, which most GTK and Qt applications and terminals fill just by selecting text. Some, notably a few Electron applications, do not; use clip there.

The bubble closes on Escape, or on its own after eight seconds if you never touch it. Moving the pointer over it, dragging it, or selecting its text all count as touching it. Drag it anywhere; it reopens where you left it.

A tray icon offers the same actions. It needs a status-notifier host to be visible — on sway that is usually waybar with its tray module — so the subcommands above remain the way in when there is none.

Everything is kept in ~/.local/share/vertere/vertere.db: the settings, and every translation with its source text and the model used. vertere history searches it.

License

MIT