deepl-cli

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Translate text using the DeepL API via the deepl-cli command-line tool. Use when the user asks to: translate text, translate to another language, use DeepL, translate with formality control, or pipe text through a translation. Supports all DeepL language pairs, source language auto-detection, context-aware translation, and formality levels (formal/informal).

1installs

Sourcedaliusd/deepl-cli

Added on2026-02-23

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add daliusd/deepl-cli deepl-cli

SKILL.md Content

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deepl-cli

CLI tool for translating text using the DeepL API. Pipe-friendly, supports context and formality options.

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 18
A DeepL API key (free tier: 500,000 characters/month)

Installation

bash

npm install -g @daliusd/deepl-cli

Configuration

Create

~/.config/deepl-cli/config.json

:

bash

mkdir -p ~/.config/deepl-cli

Option A -- Static API key:

json

{
  "api_key": "your-deepl-api-key"
}

Option B -- Command-based key (for password managers like

pass

, 1Password CLI, etc.):

json

{
  "api_key_command": "pass show deepl-api-key"
}

If both are present,

api_key_command

takes precedence.

Commands

All translation is done via a single command:

deepl-cli [options] [text]

Basic Translation

bash

deepl-cli -t de "Hello, world!"

Specify Source Language

bash

deepl-cli -t de -s en "Hello"

By default the source language is auto-detected. Use

-s

only when auto-detection is insufficient.

Context-Aware Translation

Context influences the translation but is not itself translated or billed:

bash

deepl-cli -t de -c "This is a greeting in a formal business email" "Hello"

Formality Control

bash

# Formal
deepl-cli -t de -f more "How are you?"

# Informal
deepl-cli -t de -f less "How are you?"

Valid formality values:

less

,

more

,

default

,

prefer_less

,

prefer_more

.

Piped Input

bash

echo "Hello, world!" | deepl-cli -t de

Translated text goes to stdout with no extra formatting, making it pipeline-friendly:

bash

echo "Hello" | deepl-cli -t de | pbcopy

Verbose Mode

Metadata is written to stderr so stdout remains clean:

bash

deepl-cli -t de -v "Hello, world!"
# stdout: Hallo, Welt!
# stderr: Detected source language: en
# stderr: Billed characters: 13

Options Reference

Option	Short	Description
`--target <lang>`	`-t`	Target language code (required, e.g. `de` , `en-US` , `fr` )
`--source <lang>`	`-s`	Source language code (default: auto-detect)
`--context <text>`	`-c`	Additional context for translation (not translated, not billed)
`--formality <level>`	`-f`	Formality: `less` , `more` , `default` , `prefer_less` , `prefer_more`
`--verbose`	`-v`	Show metadata (detected source language, billed characters)
`--help`	`-h`	Show help
`--version`		Show version

Common Language Codes

Language codes are case-insensitive and follow ISO 639-1.

Source languages (or omit for auto-detection):

Code	Language
`en`	English
`de`	German
`fr`	French
`es`	Spanish
`it`	Italian
`ja`	Japanese
`zh`	Chinese
`pl`	Polish
`nl`	Dutch
`pt`	Portuguese
`ru`	Russian

Target languages (some include regional variants):

Code	Language
`en-US`	English (American)
`en-GB`	English (British)
`de`	German
`fr`	French
`es`	Spanish
`it`	Italian
`ja`	Japanese
`zh-Hans`	Chinese (Simplified)
`zh-Hant`	Chinese (Traditional)
`pl`	Polish
`nl`	Dutch
`pt-BR`	Portuguese (Brazilian)
`pt-PT`	Portuguese (European)
`ru`	Russian

See the DeepL API documentation for the full list.

Tips

No arguments or
```
--help
```
shows usage information.
Multiple words as positional arguments are joined with a space:
```
deepl-cli -t de Hello world
```
translates "Hello world".
Verbose mode writes metadata to stderr, so piping stdout is always safe.
api_key_command
is recommended over
```
api_key
```
to avoid storing secrets in plain text.

deepl-cli

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

deepl-cli

Prerequisites

Installation

Configuration

Commands

Basic Translation

Specify Source Language

Context-Aware Translation

Formality Control

Piped Input

Verbose Mode

Options Reference

Common Language Codes

Tips