Toucan is a desktop editor for translation files on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It opens 14 formats in one workspace, so you can translate, review, and validate every language file in a project without switching tools.
Toucan is in preview: settings and project files can change between releases until 1.0. Current release: v0.22.0 on Windows, macOS and Linux (v0.18.0 was the first release on macOS and Linux). The old WPF app was retired after v0.17.3 and lives on the legacy/wpf branch. Website: toucan.rasyid.dev.
- Download the build for your platform from GitHub Releases: v0.22.0 for Windows (portable x64 zip; no installer yet), macOS (
Toucan.appin a DMG or zip) and Linux (tarball). macOS: Toucan is free and not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID, so Gatekeeper says it "could not verify" the app on first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (on macOS 14 and earlier, right-clickToucan.app> Open works too). Or clear the download flag:xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine Toucan.app. - Open a folder that contains translation files, or create a new project.
- Translate, review, and save.
Toucan detects the framework when you drop a folder (i18next, Android, Flutter, .NET, iOS, Rails, Gettext, and others) and groups files to match.
| App | Platforms | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Toucan (Avalonia) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Preview, v0.22.0. The supported app on every platform: Editor/Review/Audit modes, Zen mode, command palette, AI Integration (off by default), search and bulk edits, side panels, plugins, file association and Indonesian localization. The Windows builds are this app. |
toucan CLI |
Any OS with .NET 10 | Preview. check, stats, translate, export, list-formats, list-keys, get, set. |
JSON, YAML, PO, RESX, Android XML, iOS .strings, XLIFF, ARB, CSV, TOML, INI, Java .properties, Laravel PHP, and Excel. Projects from .babel files can be imported. Some formats lose detail on save (PO plurals, ARB @key metadata, XLIFF source text); see docs/known-bugs.md.
Editing. The editor has three modes. Editor mode shows inline suggestions from translation memory: focus an empty field and the best match appears as faint ghost text; press Tab to accept it. Review mode filters to unapproved items and lets you approve or reject each one, with validation warnings shown alongside. Audit mode is read-only and shows approval state and change history.
The layout follows VS Code: a tree or list sidebar, a translation pane (paginated or infinite scroll), and an inspector for stats, suggestions, key details, and validation results. Zen mode hides everything except the editor. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P for the command palette, which finds any menu command and shows its shortcut, and Cmd/Ctrl+/ opens a sheet of every keyboard shortcut.
Machine translation. Pre-translate with Google Translate, DeepL, Microsoft Translator, or AI. Results appear in a preview and are only written when you commit them. Placeholders ({{var}}, {0}, %s, :param) are preserved, formality settings are respected, and you can target a single key, a namespace, or a language.
AI, off until you turn it on. One switch for the whole app, chosen on first run. Connect Claude, OpenAI (or a compatible local server such as Ollama), or Gemini, then translate with AI, analyze translations for wrong terms and tone, or check source strings for wording translators could misread. Every prompt Toucan sends is open and editable, app-wide or per project. API keys live in one encrypted secret store, never in a project folder. See docs/ai-integration.md.
Translation memory. Fuzzy matching runs on a trigram engine and reuses translations across projects, with a configurable threshold and scope. Matches show in the inspector as you type. TMX import and export are supported.
Validation. Six rules run on save and on demand: missing translations, placeholder mismatches, duplicate keys, untranslated copies, empty values, and whitespace mismatches. Each rule can be turned off or given a severity, and projects can add their own rules (max length, forbidden words, regex).
Search and bulk edits. Search and replace across keys, values, and languages with regex and a preview. Select many keys to delete, move, pre-translate, approve, or copy source to target in one step.
Source scanning. Toucan scans your code for t('key') calls in .tsx, .vue, .svelte, .py, and other files. You can filter keys by used or unused, and double-clicking a key opens the source file in your editor.
Plurals and arrays. Supports i18next _one/_other suffixes, ICU plural forms, JSON array values, and gender form generation.
Packages. A project can hold several translation sets, such as ui.json, errors.json, and emails.json.
- Provider settings can be set app-wide or per project. Every API key, for providers and AI services, is kept in one secret store in your user profile, never in a project folder: encrypted with DPAPI on Windows, and with AES-GCM and a per-user key file on macOS and Linux. See docs/provider-settings.md and docs/ai-integration.md.
- AI is off until you turn it on (first-run onboarding or Settings > AI). Prompts are plain files you can edit for all projects or commit with one project in
.toucan/prompts. - Pre-translation runs as a dry run first and needs an explicit commit. See docs/pretranslation-preview.md.
- The default language is set per user under Settings > Options (default: en-US).
The planned order to 1.0:
| Version | Planned |
|---|---|
| v0.18 | First macOS and Linux release, plugins (preview). |
| v0.19 | Command palette, a new title bar, Claude and Gemini providers, a UI polish pass, and the Avalonia app on Windows, which replaces the deprecated WPF app. Shipped. |
| v0.20 | AI Integration: one switch, off by default, for Claude, OpenAI-compatible servers and Gemini; editable prompts; Analyze and Clarity checks; an encrypted secret store. Also color schemes, an update check, search options, ghost-text suggestions and a keyboard shortcut sheet. Shipped. |
| v0.21 | File fidelity fixes, format support boundaries, regression fixtures, and cross-platform CI. |
| v0.22 | Recoverable saves, durable drafts, crash recovery, and failure handling. |
| v0.23 | Extension platform: plugin lifecycle, command registry, desktop contributions, host services, and a sample connector built outside the repo. |
| v0.24 | Onboarding, comfortable multiline and side-by-side editing, keyboard workflow, and accessibility. |
| v0.25 | Project glossary, message-aware validation, and AI finding follow-ups. |
| v0.26 | Draft → Needs review → Approved per language, source-change tracking, and separate delivery state. |
| v0.27 | Content-source contracts, connection profiles, and local snapshot loading/persistence. |
| v0.28 | CRUD operations, durable pending changes, three-way synchronization, and conflict resolution. |
| v0.29 | One online-source connector with explicit pull/push, offline editing, and recovery. |
| v0.30 | Repeatable release packages, signing/notarization, installers, and startup update notifications. |
| v0.31 | Measured performance, migration checks, packaged workflow verification, and a release candidate. |
| v1.0 | First stable release after fidelity, recovery, review, integration, migration, and performance gates pass. |
| After 1.0 | Additional online connectors, Git integration, automatic update installation, advanced reports, Toucan Hub, and CI integrations. |
This is the planned order, not a promise. Details are in docs/todos/future-roadmap.md; shipped features are listed in docs/completed-features.md. Every doc's status and summary is in docs/INDEX.md.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| UI | Avalonia 12 with FluentAvaloniaUI (Windows, macOS, Linux) |
| Architecture | MVVM with CommunityToolkit.Mvvm |
| Runtime | .NET 10, System.Text.Json |
| Providers | Google, DeepL, Microsoft, AI, custom webhook |
| AI services | Claude, OpenAI / compatible (Ollama, LM Studio, Azure), Gemini |
| Format engine | Strategy pattern (ILoadStrategy / ISaveStrategy), string format IDs |
| Extensibility | Plugins loaded from .dll assemblies (guide), contract package Toucan.Plugins.Abstractions |
Plugins add file formats, translation providers, validation rules, and framework profiles from .dll assemblies, without changing Toucan. They arrived in v0.18.0, work in the Avalonia app and the CLI, and load only when you have enabled and trusted them: Settings > Plugins in the app, or toucan plugins list and toucan plugins trust <id> on the command line. To write one, start from samples/Toucan.Sample.Plugin and the plugin guide; the contracts ship as the Toucan.Plugins.Abstractions package.
The cross-platform projects (core library, CLI, Avalonia app, plugin contracts, tests) build and test on macOS, Linux, and Windows:
dotnet test Toucan.CrossPlatform.slnx
dotnet run --project Toucan.Avalonia
dotnet run --project Toucan.CLI -- check ./localesThe old WPF app is on the legacy/wpf branch. Architecture notes are in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
The app version is set once, in Directory.Build.props. publish.ps1 (Windows packages), packaging/Build-Msix.ps1, and packaging/build-macos-app.sh read it from there.
Report bugs and request features in GitHub Issues. Pull requests are welcome.
MIT, copyright 2023–2026 Muhammad Fahmi Rasyid (rasyid.dev).