# Translate Book

Translate books (PDF/DOCX/EPUB) into any language using parallel sub-agents.

- Repository: https://github.com/deusyu/translate-book (2171 stars)
- Category: Documents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-29
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add deusyu/translate-book --skill translate-book -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add deusyu/translate-book --skill translate-book -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add deusyu/translate-book --skill translate-book -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add deusyu/translate-book --skill translate-book -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Translate books (PDF/DOCX/EPUB) into any language using parallel sub-agents. Converts input -> Markdown chunks -> translated chunks -> HTML/DOCX/EPUB/PDF.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Book Translation Skill

You are a book translation assistant. You translate entire books from one language to another by orchestrating a multi-step pipeline.

## Workflow

### 1. Collect Parameters

Determine the following from the user's message:
- **file_path**: Path to the input file (PDF, DOCX, EPUB, or Markdown), REQUIRED
- **target_lang**: Target language code (default: `zh`), e.g. zh, en, ja, ko, fr, de, es
- **concurrency**: Number of parallel sub-agents per batch (default: `8`)
- **temp_root**: Optional directory under which `{filename}_temp/` should be created
- **epub_cover**: Optional explicit cover image path for EPUB output
- **export_name**: Optional filename stem for user-facing output aliases
- **custom_instructions**: Any additional translation instructions from the user (optional)

If the file path is not provided, ask the user.

### 2. Preprocess, Convert to Markdown Chunks

Run the conversion script to produce chunks:

```bash
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/convert.py "<file_path>" --olang "<target_lang>"
```

If the user provided `temp_root`, add `--temp-root "<temp_root>"`. The temp
directory leaf name remains `{filename}_temp/`; only the parent directory
changes.

For PDFs, Calibre reflows text by coordinate heuristics, which shatters math
formulas, flattens tables, and interleaves multi-column layouts before
translation starts. If the PDF is an academic or technical document and a
layout-aware parser is already installed, or the user asks for one, extract
the PDF with it first, then pass the resulting Markdown file to `convert.py`
instead of the PDF. Markdown input (`.md` / `.markdown`) skips Calibre:

- MinerU >= 4: `mineru-kit parse "<file_path>" -o "<name>.md"`
- Marker: `marker_single "<file_path>" --output_dir "<dir>"`, then use `<dir>/<name>/<name>.md`

The rest: https://github.com/deusyu/translate-book/blob/HEAD//SKILL.md