Private Auto Page Translator

Context-aware translation for Brave, Chrome and Chromium browsers.

Important

This is an independent, unofficial extension. It is not developed, sponsored or endorsed by Brave Software or Google. Brave includes native Translate; this project offers a separate privacy-first workflow with contextual translation, reading modes, writing assistance and per-site controls.

Install

Install Private Auto Page Translator from the Chrome Web Store →

The Chrome Web Store is the official installation and automatic-update channel for Brave, Chrome and other Chromium browsers. GitHub is the public source, issue tracker and development home.

What it does

The red-and-black interface puts readable translation controls first. The workspace follows your active tab, keeps advanced tools collapsible, and supports favourite languages and a row-based glossary editor. Existing settings, site rules and provider approvals are retained when upgrading.

The extension translates readable text directly inside the original webpage. The site remains on its real address, so logins, cookies, navigation and interactive features are not moved through a translated-page proxy.

• Context-aware translation: keeps nearby inline text together so sentences split across links, emphasis and spans translate coherently.
• Three reading modes: translated, side-by-side bilingual and translated-with-original-on-hover.
• Viewport-first processing: translates what is visible before continuing through the rest of a long page.
• Privacy Firewall: masks common email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, IP addresses, dates, amounts, references and user-defined confidential terms before external requests; translation fails closed if a protected token is altered.
• Smart Compose: previews translations for textareas and safe editable fields, with natural, formal and informal styles. Replacement happens only after an explicit confirmation. Use the on-page button, context menu or Alt+Enter.
• Persistent workspace: the side panel keeps page controls, site settings, a quick text translator, language-pack preparation and session-only recent translations close at hand.
• Site intelligence: remember the target, provider, reading mode, automatic behaviour and sensitive-page override for individual sites.
• Language-pack manager: prepare supported on-device language pairs before they are needed.
• Modern-page support: incrementally handles feeds, SPAs, infinite scrolling, open Shadow DOM and accessible frames.
• Explicit permission and consent: optional website access, provider-specific approval, session-only credentials, no account, no subscription and no analytics. Manual mode uses temporary activeTab access.
• 20 localized catalogs: core setup and navigation labels are available in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Provider choices

Automatic provider selection prefers the browser's on-device Translator API where available. If Brave does not expose that API and no configured provider is available, the one-time privacy setup recommends the Google web compatibility route and names the data flow before asking for approval. It remains disabled until that explicit approval and optional host permission are granted. You can instead configure Google Cloud Translation, DeepL API or a LibreTranslate server.

External providers receive only the text needed for the requested translation. When the Privacy Firewall is enabled, recognized private values are masked first. Each external route requires explicit approval, and no developer-operated translation relay sits between the extension and the selected provider.

Read the provider guide before configuring an external service.

Install from source

Most users should use the Chrome Web Store listing. For local development:

1. Download or clone this repository.
2. Open brave://extensions or chrome://extensions.
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Select Load unpacked.
5. Choose the repository folder containing manifest.json.
6. Complete the privacy and access setup that opens after installation.

All websites is preselected for a new setup. Automatic translation starts only after privacy setup and the browser's website-access permission are accepted. Choosing Manual only or Approved websites remains available, and existing saved choices are preserved. Declining all-site access saves Manual mode instead.

Development

Requires Node.js 20 or newer.

npm ci
npm run validate
npm run package
npm run package:verify
npm run test:e2e

npm run validate checks the Manifest V3 package, JavaScript syntax, icons, minimum permissions, consent architecture, provider boundaries and unit regressions. Playwright runs both local fixtures with simulated provider responses and a separate suite that loads the production package without changing its manifest. The production suite checks privacy setup, real optional host-permission state, workspace tab changes, error recovery, glossary editing, favourites and responsive layouts. Chrome and Brave jobs are required on pull requests. Simulated provider coverage does not imply availability of an external service.

Tags matching v* trigger the release workflow. It audits dependencies, validates and tests the exact ZIP, verifies contents, creates checksums and a CycloneDX dependency inventory, records build provenance and attaches artifacts to a GitHub Release. A protected workflow submits an already verified release through the Chrome Web Store V2 API with review enabled and warnings treated as blockers.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Alt+Shift+T: translate the current page
• Alt+Shift+O: restore original page text
• Alt+Enter: preview a translation of writing in the focused supported editor

Browser-level shortcuts can be changed in the extension-shortcut settings.

Honest limitations

No ordinary browser extension can translate every surface. Browser-internal pages, extension pages, built-in PDF viewers, text inside images or video, canvas-rendered text, closed Shadow DOM and some protected or sandboxed frames are inaccessible. Sites can also mark content as non-translatable.

On-device translation and language-pair downloads depend on browser support. Translation quality and availability depend on the selected provider. The extension fails safely, preserves original page content and reports actionable errors when a provider or permission is unavailable.

Support and security

• Support independent development on Ko-fi
• Support and troubleshooting
• Compatibility matrix
• Privacy policy
• User data map
• Security policy
• Changelog

Licence

Released under the MIT Licence.