Show HN: Local Translate CLI for Mac [MIT]
A developer released an open-source (MIT) local translate CLI tool for Mac, enabling translation tasks directly from the terminal without relying on cloud services.
Background
- Arthur-Ficial/translate is an open-source (MIT) macOS command-line tool for running local machine translation entirely offline, using Apple's Foundation suite (the same neural engine powering system-level OS translations).
- It distinguishes itself from cloud-based services (Google Translate, DeepL, OpenAI APIs) by keeping all data on-device — no network calls, no data leaving the machine, no per-token costs.
- "Local" AI inference on consumer hardware has become a major theme in 2024–2025 as Apple Silicon Macs (M-series chips) gained enough performance to run decent-quality neural models without a GPU server; this project is a concrete example of that trend.
- The tool is invoked from the terminal via `translate "text"`, making it useful for developers, writers, or privacy-conscious users who want quick translations without leaving their editor or sharing content with a third-party API.