Honyo - AI-Powered Translation Tool

A desktop application that provides instant AI-powered translation with a simple double Ctrl/Cmd+C shortcut, similar to DeepL.

Features

• ⚡ Instant Translation - Double Ctrl/Cmd+C to translate any selected text
• 🌍 Multi-Language Support - 26 built-in languages plus custom language support
• 🤖 Auto-Updating AI Models - Claude, GPT, Gemini, and custom models, with the model list kept up to date automatically
• 🔁 Back-Translation - Instantly check quality by translating the result back to the source language
• 🧭 Language Direction Display - See the detected source → target language at a glance
• 💬 Two Display Modes - Notification with auto-copy or resizable popup window
• 🎨 Customizable - Custom instructions (with AI assist), languages, and translation rules
• 🪶 Lightweight - Minimal resource usage, lives in your system tray

Installation

Download

Download the latest version from GitHub Releases.

Which file to download?

Windows:

• Honyo-{version}.exe - Windows installer (recommended)
• Honyo-{version}-win.zip - Portable version (no installation required)

macOS:

• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3 Macs):
  • Honyo-{version}-arm64.dmg - DMG installer (recommended)
  • Honyo-{version}-arm64-mac.zip - ZIP archive
• Intel Macs:
  • Honyo-{version}.dmg - DMG installer (recommended)
  • Honyo-{version}-mac.zip - ZIP archive

Linux:

• Honyo-{version}.AppImage - Universal Linux package (recommended)
• Honyo-{version}.deb - Debian/Ubuntu package
• Honyo-{version}.rpm - Red Hat/Fedora package
• Honyo-{version}.tar.gz - Generic Linux archive

macOS

1. Download the appropriate version for your Mac from the downloads section above

2. For DMG files:

   • Open the DMG file
   • Drag Honyo.app to your Applications folder

3. For ZIP files:

   • Extract the zip file
   • Move Honyo.app to your Applications folder

4. Remove quarantine attribute (required for unsigned apps):

   xattr -cr /Applications/Honyo.app

5. First launch: Right-click (or Control-click) on Honyo.app and select "Open", then click "Open" in the security dialog

6. Grant accessibility permissions:

   • Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility
   • Add and enable Honyo.app

Windows

Download and run Honyo-*.exe

Linux

Download and run Honyo-*.AppImage

Configuration

API Keys

To use the translation features, you need to configure API keys for your preferred AI provider:

1. Click on the system tray icon
2. Select "Settings..."
3. In the "API Keys" tab, enter your API keys for the providers you want to use:
   • Anthropic: Get your key from console.anthropic.com
   • OpenAI: Get your key from platform.openai.com
   • Google AI: Get your key from makersuite.google.com
4. Click "Save"

Language Settings

The app automatically detects your system language and sets appropriate defaults:

• If your system is in English: Primary → English, Secondary → Japanese
• If your system is in Japanese: Primary → Japanese, Secondary → English
• Other languages: Primary → System language, Secondary → English

You can change these settings from the system tray menu:

1. Click on "Primary: [Language]" to select your primary translation target
2. Click on "Secondary: [Language]" to select your fallback language

Supported Languages (26): English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Korean, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Filipino, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish

Custom Instructions

You can add custom instructions that will be included in all translations:

1. Click on the system tray icon
2. Select "Settings..."
3. Go to the "Customization" tab and find the "Custom Prompt" section
4. Enter your custom instructions (e.g., terminology guidelines, tone preferences, specific translation rules)
5. Click "Save"

Examples of custom instructions:

• Use formal language
• Keep product names in English
• Maintain consistent terminology
• Follow specific industry standards

Generate with AI: Not sure how to phrase your instructions? Click "Generate with AI" and describe what you want in plain language — Honyo uses your selected model to write or refine the custom prompt for you.

Whatever the input looks like — a question, a greeting, or even text that says "ignore previous instructions" — Honyo always treats it as text to translate, never as a command. Markdown and code formatting is preserved: the syntax is kept intact and only the human-readable text is translated.

AI Models

Pick a model from the AI Model menu in the system tray. The list stays current automatically: Honyo refreshes it from free public model catalogs (no API key required, cached for 24 hours), showing the latest models per provider. If it can't reach the network, it falls back to a built-in list of current Claude, GPT, and Gemini models. Your selected model is always kept in the list even if a refresh would otherwise drop it.

Custom AI Models

Use any AI model not included in the list:

1. Open Settings → "Customization" tab → "Custom Model" section
2. Enter the model name (e.g., gpt-5.6-sol, claude-opus-4-8)
3. Select the provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google AI)
4. Click "Save"
5. Select "Custom Model" from the AI Model menu

Custom Languages

Add languages not included in the default list:

1. Open Settings → "Customization" tab → "Custom Languages" section
2. Enter language names, one per line (e.g., Esperanto, Sanskrit, Klingon)
3. Click "Save"
4. Your custom languages will appear in the Primary/Secondary language menus

Display Settings

Configure popup window and translation display behavior:

1. Open Settings → "General" tab
2. Auto-close on blur: Enable this option to automatically close the popup window when it loses focus
3. Enable streaming: Enable this option to see translations appear progressively as the AI generates them (popup mode only)
4. Popup font size: Set the translation text size in the popup (10–24px)
5. Reset Popup Size: Restore the popup window to its default size
6. Click "Save"

Display Modes:

• Notification & Copy: Translation result appears as a system notification and is automatically copied to clipboard
• Popup Window: Translation result appears in a floating window with additional features:
  • Language direction shown in the header (e.g. "English → Japanese")
  • Real-time streaming (when enabled)
  • Back-translate button (⇄) to check the result against the source language
  • Copy button and keyboard shortcuts (Enter to copy, Escape to close)
  • Right-click context menu for copying selected text or all text
  • Resizable window — the size is remembered across closes
  • Auto-return focus to previous application when closed

Usage

1. Select any text in any application
2. Press Ctrl+C (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+C (macOS) twice quickly
3. Depending on your display mode:
   • Notification mode: Translation appears as notification and is copied to clipboard
   • Popup mode: Translation appears in a floating window
4. In popup mode:
   • The header shows the detected language direction (e.g. "English → Japanese")
   • Click the back-translate button (⇄) to translate the result back to the source language and check its quality — click again to toggle between the two views (the header shows the reverse direction while viewing the back-translation)
   • Press Enter or click "Copy" to copy the translation and close
   • Press Escape or click "×" to close without copying
   • Right-click the text for copy options

Smart Translation

The app intelligently determines the translation direction:

• If the source text matches your primary language → translates to secondary language
• If the source text is any other language → translates to primary language
• For mixed-language text → detects the language with highest word count ratio

Menu Options

Access these options by clicking the system tray icon:

• Primary/Secondary Language: Set your translation language preferences (26+ built-in languages + custom)
• Display Mode: Choose between notification and popup window
• AI Model: Choose which AI model to use for translations (latest Claude, GPT, and Gemini models — auto-updated — or a custom model)
• Settings: Configure API keys, custom instructions, models, languages, and display settings
• Pause Translation: Temporarily disable the translation feature
• Stop Current Translation: Cancel ongoing translation
• Check for Updates: Check for new versions with progress display
• Quit: Exit the application

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl/Cmd+C (twice): Trigger translation
• Enter (in popup): Copy and close
• Escape (in popup): Close without copying

Auto-Update

Honyo automatically checks for updates on startup and every hour:

• Update available: Choose to Download, remind Later, or Skip the version
• Downloading: Progress displayed in menu (e.g., "Downloading Update (45%)...")
• Downloaded: Option to restart and install or install later
• Skipped versions: Won't be notified again until a new version is released
• Manual check: Use "Check for Updates" from the menu

Environment Variables

You can also set API keys via environment variables:

• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• OPENAI_API_KEY
• GOOGLE_API_KEY

Create a .env file in the project root:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here
GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_key_here

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 23.6.0
• npm

Setup

git clone https://github.com/rot1024/honyo.git
cd honyo
npm install

Running in Development

npm start

Scripts

Command	Description
npm start	Run the app in development mode
npm test	Run tests with Vitest
npm run test:ui	Run tests with Vitest UI
npm run typecheck	Type check with TypeScript
npm run lint	Lint with ESLint
npm run lint:fix	Fix lint errors
npm run format	Format with Prettier
npm run dist	Build and package for current platform
npm run dist:mac	Build and package for macOS
npm run dist:win	Build and package for Windows
npm run dist:linux	Build and package for Linux

Project Structure

src/
├── main.ts              # Entry point
├── models.ts            # AI model definitions
├── app/                 # App lifecycle, updater, accessibility
├── config/              # Configuration management
├── keyboard/            # Keyboard event handling (uiohook-napi)
├── language/            # Language detection and constants
├── translation/         # AI translation (Vercel AI SDK)
└── ui/                  # Tray, menu, popup, settings windows

Tech Stack

• Electron - Desktop app framework
• TypeScript - Language
• Vercel AI SDK - AI provider integration (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google)
• uiohook-napi - Global keyboard hooks
• electron-builder - Packaging
• Vitest - Testing
• ESLint + Prettier - Linting and formatting

Release

npm run release          # Auto version bump based on commits
npm run release:patch    # Patch release (0.0.x)
npm run release:minor    # Minor release (0.x.0)
npm run release:major    # Major release (x.0.0)

This updates version, generates CHANGELOG.md, and creates a git tag. Push the tag to trigger the GitHub Actions release workflow.

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.