Glossary

Control how specific terms are translated across your project. Define preferred translations, mark brand names as “do not translate,” and add context to guide the LLM.

How it works

Glossary terms are stored in a polyglot-glossary.yaml file in your project root. When strings are sent for translation, matching glossary terms are included as instructions to the LLM, ensuring consistent and accurate translations.

Managing terms

Add a term with a preferred translation

polyglot glossary add \
  --term "Dashboard" \
  --translation "Tableau de bord" \
  --lang fr \
  --context "Main navigation section header"

Mark a term as “do not translate”

polyglot glossary add \
  --term "Polyglot" \
  --do-not-translate

List all terms

polyglot glossary list

┌────────────┬────────────────────┬──────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ Term       │ Translation        │ Lang │ Context                 │
├────────────┼────────────────────┼──────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ Dashboard  │ Tableau de bord    │ fr   │ Main navigation header  │
│ Polyglot   │ (do not translate) │ all  │                         │
└────────────┴────────────────────┴──────┴─────────────────────────┘

Remove a term

polyglot glossary remove --term "Dashboard"

Import from CSV

Bulk-import terms from a CSV file with columns: term, translation, lang, context, do_not_translate.

polyglot glossary import --file glossary.csv

File format

The polyglot-glossary.yaml file is a simple YAML list:

- term: Dashboard
  translations:
    fr: Tableau de bord
    es: Panel de control
  context: Main navigation section header

- term: Polyglot
  do_not_translate: true

- term: Sign up
  translations:
    fr: S'inscrire
    de: Registrieren

Dashboard management

You can also manage glossary terms from the dashboard glossary page . Terms sync between the CLI and dashboard via the API.

Best practices

• Add brand names, product features, and technical terms early — before your first translation run.
• Use the context field to disambiguate terms that have multiple meanings (e.g. “Run” as a verb vs. noun).
• Mark all proper nouns and brand names as do_not_translate.
• Commit polyglot-glossary.yaml to version control so the whole team shares the same glossary.