Loco — Translation Engine

Loco is a self-hosted, open-source translation management system. Drop in a single <script> tag — Loco auto-discovers every text node on your page, sends them to a management dashboard, and lets AI handle the translations.

Key features

• Zero-code setup — One <script> tag, no build pipeline changes
• Auto text discovery — TreeWalker scans TEXT_NODEs, input values, placeholder/title attributes, and mixed inline content (including dynamic SPA content via MutationObserver)
• Variable slots — Inline elements (<var>, <strong>, <time>, <span>) become typed placeholders ({{number:0}}, {{text:0}}, {{date:0}}) that survive translation and rehydrate at runtime
• Two modes — Server Mode (live API) or File Mode (static JSON, no server needed)
• AI translations — Batch-translate via BlueHive AI; slot tokens are stripped before AI and restored after
• Chrome Extension — In-context editing side panel for any page running the snippet
• Analytics — Coverage by language, phrase count by URL, discovery over time
• Self-hosted — Your data stays on your server; SQLite backend, no external DB required

Architecture overview

Browser page (loco.js)
  └─ discovers text → POST /api/textnodes
  └─ fetches translations → GET /api/translations?lang=fr

Fastify server (:6101)
  ├─ /api/*          REST API (requires X-API-Key)
  ├─ /dashboard/     Svelte management dashboard
  ├─ /docs/          This documentation
  ├─ /cdn/           Static CDN files (loco.js, translation JSONs)
  └─ /assets/        SVG icons and images

SQLite database (loco.db)
  ├─ projects        Project config, API key, settings
  ├─ textnodes       Discovered phrases (key, context, status)
  ├─ translations    Translated values per language
  ├─ prompt_templates AI prompt templates
  └─ ai_job_log      AI translation job history

Quick navigation

I want to…	Go to
Get up and running fast	Quick Start
Install via npm or from source	Installation
Connect a live page to the server	Server Mode
Ship without a server at runtime	File Mode
See all JavaScript methods	Client API
Understand dynamic value handling	Variable Slots
See the full REST API	REST API Reference
Use AI batch translations	AI Translations
Deploy to production	Self-Hosting