Kirby Tools Content Translator
Content Translator

Getting Started

Learn how to install and configure the plugin in your Kirby project.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Although it is a commercial plugin, you can download and test the plugin in your local environment before purchasing it.

Composer

The recommended way to install the plugin is via Composer. To install the plugin, run the following command in your terminal:

composer require johannschopplich/kirby-content-translator

Download

Head over to the releases page and download the latest version of the plugin as a ZIP file. Extract the contents of this ZIP file to your site/plugins folder. It should look like this:

site/plugins/
├─ kirby-content-translator/
│  └─ … All plugin files

Step 2: Configure DeepL

By default, this plugin uses the DeepL API to translate your content. However, you can also use any other translation service by defining a custom translator function.

In order to use the DeepL API, you have to create an account and generate an API key. The free account is sufficient for most use cases (500,000 characters per month).

Store the API key in your config.php file:

config.php
return [
    'johannschopplich.content-translator' => [
        // API key for the DeepL free or pro plan
        'DeepL' => [
            'apiKey' => '<deepl-api-key>'
        ]
    ]
];

Step 3: Blueprint Setup

Open a site, site, or page blueprint file where you want to add the Content Translator. Add the following section configuration to the blueprint file:

pages/default.yml
sections:
  contentTranslator:
    type: content-translator

This will add a new section to the Panel where you can import and translate content. Note that during the testing process, a license notice will be displayed below the translation buttons. You can remove this notice by purchasing a license.

Kirby Tools section preview

Step 4: Translate Your Content

Open the Panel and navigate to the page where you added the Content Translator section. Select one of the secondary languages from the Kirby's language drop-down list. You will see two new buttons in the section: Import and Translate.

Click the Import button to copy the content from the default language to the currently active language.

Click the Translate button to translate the content of the freshly imported content (which is still in the default language) to the currently selected secondary language.

By default, all text-like fields are translated. You can fully customize the content importing and translation behavior.

For more configuration options, see the Configuration guide.

Step 5: Buy a License

You can test the plugin locally. However, you need to purchase a license to use the plugin in production environments.

Visit the product page on Lemon Squeezy and purchase a license. Then, open any Panel page that contains the Content Translator section. Click the Activate link to open the activation form:

Enter the email you used for the purchase and the order number and hit the submit button. Done! Thanks for supporting our work. Once you activate your license, the section will look like this for content in the default language:

Kirby Tools section preview

When switching to secondary languages, the section buttons will change to Import and Translate:

Kirby Tools section preview
Your license key will be automatically stored in the /site/config/.kirby-tools-licenses file. Make sure to add this file to your .gitignore file to keep your license key private.