Documentation

Complete guide to using ReadMeLingo CLI to translate your GitHub documentation

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm (Recommended)

bash

npm install -g readmelingoo

Option 2: Install from Source

bash

git clone https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/ReadMeLingo.git
cd ReadMeLingo
npm install
npm run cli:build

Note: Requires Node.js 18 or higher. Check your version with node --version

Setup

1. Get Your Lingo.dev API Key

Visit https://lingo.dev/auth
Sign up or log in to your account
Navigate to Projects → Your Project → API Key
Copy your API key (format: api_... or lingo_...)

2. Set Your API Key

Option A: Environment Variable (One-time use)

bash

export LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Option B: .env File (Recommended for development)

bash

# Create .env file in your project root
LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token_here  # Optional, for private repos

Option C: Persistent Setup (Recommended for regular use)

bash

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
echo 'export LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY=your_api_key_here' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

3. (Optional) GitHub Token for Private Repositories

Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
Generate a new token with repo scope
Set it as an environment variable:

bash

export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here

Commands

Interactive Mode

Run ReadMeLingo without any arguments to enter interactive mode. The CLI will guide you through the translation process with prompts.

bash

readmelingoo

This will start an interactive session where you can:

Select the repository to translate
Choose which files to include (README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, /docs folder)
Select target languages from a list
Specify output directory
Provide GitHub token if needed

Translate Command

Use the translate command to translate repository documentation with options.

Basic Syntax

bash

readmelingoo translate [options]

Options

Option	Description
-r, --repo <repo>	GitHub repository URL or owner/repo format
-t, --token <token>	GitHub personal access token (for private repos)
-l, --languages <languages>	Comma-separated list of target language codes (e.g., es,fr,de)
-o, --output <dir>	Output directory for translated files (default: ./translations)
--include-contributing	Include CONTRIBUTING.md file in translation
--include-docs	Include /docs folder in translation

Repository Format

You can specify repositories in two formats:

owner/repo - e.g., facebook/react
https://github.com/owner/repo - Full GitHub URL

Version Command

Check the installed version of ReadMeLingo.

bash

readmelingoo --version

bash

readmelingoo -V

Help Command

Display help information for commands.

bash

readmelingoo --help

bash

readmelingoo -h

Examples

Example 1: Basic Translation (Interactive Mode)

bash

# Start interactive mode
readmelingoo

# The CLI will prompt you for:
# - Repository URL
# - Files to include
# - Target languages
# - Output directory
# - GitHub token (if needed)

Example 2: Translate README to Multiple Languages

bash

readmelingoo translate \
  --repo facebook/react \
  --languages es,fr,de,ja,ko \
  --output ./translations

Example 3: Include CONTRIBUTING.md

bash

readmelingoo translate \
  --repo owner/repo \
  --languages es,fr \
  --include-contributing \
  --output ./docs/translations

Example 4: Translate Entire /docs Folder

bash

readmelingoo translate \
  --repo owner/repo \
  --languages es,fr,de,it,pt \
  --include-docs \
  --output ./i18n

Example 5: Private Repository with Token

bash

readmelingoo translate \
  --repo owner/private-repo \
  --token ghp_your_token_here \
  --languages es,fr \
  --output ./translations

Example 6: Using Environment Variables

bash

# Set environment variables
export LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY=your_api_key
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token

# Run translation
readmelingoo translate \
  --repo owner/repo \
  --languages es,fr,de

Example 7: Full URL Format

bash

readmelingoo translate \
  --repo https://github.com/owner/repo \
  --languages es,fr,de,ja \
  --include-contributing \
  --include-docs \
  --output ./translations

Supported Languages

ReadMeLingo supports 40+ languages. Use the language codes below with the --languages option.

🇪🇸

Spanish

🇫🇷

French

🇩🇪

German

🇮🇹

Italian

🇵🇹

Portuguese

🇯🇵

Japanese

🇰🇷

Korean

🇨🇳

Chinese

🇷🇺

Russian

🇸🇦

Arabic

🇮🇳

Hindi

🇳🇱

Dutch

🇵🇱

Polish

🇹🇷

Turkish

🇸🇪

Swedish

🇳🇴

Norwegian

🇩🇰

Danish

🇫🇮

Finnish

🇬🇷

Greek

🇨🇿

Czech

🇷🇴

Romanian

🇭🇺

Hungarian

🇻🇳

Vietnamese

🇹🇭

Thai

🇮🇩

Indonesian

🇮🇱

Hebrew

🇺🇦

Ukrainian

🇪🇸

Catalan

🇧🇬

Bulgarian

🇭🇷

Croatian

🇸🇰

Slovak

🇸🇮

Slovenian

🇱🇹

Lithuanian

🇱🇻

Latvian

🇪🇪

Estonian

🇲🇾

Malay

🇵🇭

Filipino

Output Structure

Translated files are saved with the following naming convention:

bash

translations/
├── README.es.md      # Spanish translation
├── README.fr.md      # French translation
├── README.de.md      # German translation
├── CONTRIBUTING.es.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.fr.md
└── docs/
    ├── getting-started.es.md
    ├── getting-started.fr.md
    └── ...

Best Practices

Use Environment Variables

Store your API keys in environment variables or .env files. Never commit them to version control.

Batch Translations

Translate to multiple languages in a single command for faster processing and better API efficiency.

Review Translations

Always review translated content, especially technical terms and code examples that may need manual adjustment.

ReadMeLingo

Translate GitHub docs to 40+ languages

Lingo.dev