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what is pdf-batch-translator fr?

markmatsu/pdf-batch-translator — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

tl;dr

A command line tool that translates a folder of English PDFs into clean Japanese Markdown, keeping only the real body text.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((PDF Translator))
    What it does
      Translates PDFs to Japanese
      Strips non body text
      Preserves structure
    Tech stack
      Python
      PyMuPDF
      Anthropic API
    Use cases
      Batch document translation
      Clean literal translation
      Resumable jobs
    Audience
      Developers
      Translators
    Setup
      Python venv
      pip install
      Set API key

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what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Translate a folder of English research papers or reports into Japanese Markdown in one command.

VIBE 2

Get a clean translated document with ads, headers, and footnotes automatically stripped out.

VIBE 3

Maintain consistent terminology across a long document by carrying translation context between chunks.

VIBE 4

Safely resume a large translation job after an interruption without losing prior progress.

what's the stack?

PythonPyMuPDFAnthropic API

how it stacks up fr

markmatsu/pdf-batch-translator0xustaz/streamgatea-bissell/unleash-lite
Stars111
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultymoderatehardhard
Complexity2/54/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · moderate time til it works · 30min

Requires an Anthropic API key, which incurs usage costs per translation.

in plain english

This is a command line tool that takes a folder full of English PDFs and translates each one into Japanese, saving the result as a Markdown file. It is built to be more careful than a simple loop that just feeds each page to a translation API. First, it tries to translate only the actual body text of a document. Things like navigation menus, search boxes, ads, page numbers, headers and footers, footnotes, bibliographies, and image credits get stripped out before translation, so the reader ends up with a clean version of just the real content. Lines that repeat across many pages are removed automatically, and the tool relies on the AI model to make the final call on what counts as body text versus clutter. Second, the translation is meant to be literal rather than loosely paraphrased, so word order, paragraphs, and headings stay close to the original structure in the final Markdown output. Third, the tool carries a bit of context from the end of the previous translated section into each new request, so terminology and sentence flow stay consistent across chapters instead of every chunk being translated as if it exists in isolation. The tool writes its output to disk after every chunk is translated, so if you interrupt it midway, the work done so far is saved safely rather than lost or left in a broken state. It also skips PDFs that already have an output file, so re-running it on a folder only processes the files you have not translated yet, and by default it caps how many chunks of a very long PDF it will translate in one run as a safety measure against runaway usage. To use it, you need Python, an Anthropic API key, and to install a short list of dependencies including PyMuPDF for reading PDFs. You can run it on either a whole folder or a single file, and options let you change the AI model used, adjust chunk sizes, supply a glossary of preferred translations, and control the safety cap on chunks.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Help me set up a Python virtual environment and install this project's requirements.
prompt 2
Walk me through setting my Anthropic API key using a .env file for this tool.
prompt 3
Show me how to run this tool on a single PDF file for testing before batch translating a whole folder.
prompt 4
Explain what the --chunk-chars and --context-chars options control.
prompt 5
Help me build a glossary file so specific terms get translated consistently.

Frequently asked questions

what is pdf-batch-translator fr?

A command line tool that translates a folder of English PDFs into clean Japanese Markdown, keeping only the real body text.

What language is pdf-batch-translator written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, PyMuPDF, Anthropic API.

How hard is pdf-batch-translator to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is pdf-batch-translator for?

Mainly developer.

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