VocaBuilder
A Raycast extension that translates words and short text between languages via the Gemini AI API and saves a local translation history — helping you build vocabulary over time.
Features
- Translate words and text — translate a single word with part of speech and example sentences, or translate short text directly
- Multi-sense word translations — for ambiguous words, review up to 5 senses and save the one you want to keep
- Word pronunciation — hear the source word or its translation spoken aloud via a selectable Gemini text-to-speech model
- Typo correction — misspelled word input is auto-corrected before translating, with a visual indicator showing the original input
- Translation History — accepted translations are saved automatically; browse, search, and manage them anytime
- View Flashcards — review saved word translations with spaced repetition
- Configurable language pair — pick source and target from 17 supported languages (defaults to English → Ukrainian), switchable from a dropdown inside each command or via preferences
- Configurable model and reasoning — choose a documented Gemini translation model, keep reasoning low-latency by default, or override the model ID manually
- Separate history per language pair — switching languages gives you an independent history and flashcard deck
- Clipboard suggestion — optionally prefill a safe single word from the clipboard when the command opens
- History export — export saved history as JSON, Anki-ready TSV, or Quizlet-ready TSV
- Debounced word translation, with manual submit for text input
- Graceful error handling for API issues
Getting Started
- Get a free Gemini API key at aistudio.google.com.
- Run the Translate command and paste your API key when prompted.
- (Optional) Open the extension preferences to set default languages, choose the Gemini translation and speech models, configure translation reasoning, override model IDs manually, or enable clipboard suggestions on open.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Translate | Translate a word or short text |
| Translation History | Open your saved translations |
| View Flashcards | Review words you've saved |
Supported Languages
English, Ukrainian, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Czech, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Russian, Belarusian
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘ C | Copy translation |
⌘ O | Pronounce source word |
⌘ ⇧ O | Pronounce translation |
⌘ 1 → ⌘ 5 | Pick a word sense and save it to history |
⌘ ⇧ H | Open History (from Translate) |
⌘ ⇧ T | Toggle source and target languages |
⌘ D | Delete entry (from History) |
⌘ ⇧ D | Clear all history |
⌘ E | Export history as JSON |
⌘ ⇧ A | Export word history for Anki |
⌘ ⇧ Q | Export word history for Quizlet |
Development
Use the Node version pinned in .nvmrc — Node 22.22.2, which bundles npm 10.9.7 and matches the current Raycast extension toolchain. Then run the extension in Raycast dev mode:
nvm use # Node 22.22.2 / npm 10.9.7
npm install
npm run dev
Regenerate
package-lock.jsononly on npm 10.x. npm 11 records optional peer dependencies differently, producing a lockfile that passes locally but fails the store CI'snpm ci.
Built with the Raycast API, TypeScript + React, and Zod for runtime validation. Translations use Gemini — defaults gemini-3.5-flash (text) with reasoning set to minimum, and gemini-3.1-flash-tts-preview (speech), configurable in preferences.
License
MIT
- macOS
