🔌 Bluente Translate MCP

Bluente Translate speaks MCP (Model Context Protocol), so you can translate documents directly from an AI chat — attach a file, say what language you want, get the translated file back. Original layout is retained, across 120+ languages and all major file types.

Start here

Using ChatGPT? → ChatGPT. Two ways in: the UI-driven plugin, or the local stdio MCP server that ChatGPT launches on your machine.

Using anything else — Claude web, Claude desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any other MCP client? → Hosted MCP Server. Nothing to install and no API key: you connect with a URL and sign in with your Bluente account.

https://mcp.bluente.com/

Check it worked. Whichever route you took, ask “What languages does Bluente translation support?” — a free, read-only call. A language list back means you’re connected.

Then translate something. Attach a document, say “translate this into Japanese”, and read the confirmation card before you reply — that’s where the page count and the cost are.

The tools

Both servers expose the same six tools, so a prompt written against one works against the other:

• bluente_get_supported_languages
• bluente_upload_file
• bluente_get_translation_status
• bluente_translate_file
• bluente_download_file
• bluente_translate_document_workflow — end-to-end workflow (upload → start → poll → download)

The hosted server adds a seventh, bluente_create_upload_url, for pushing a chat attachment out of the client’s sandbox. See where the local server differs for the rest.

Under the hood both call the same Translation API documented on this site: GET /blu_translate/supported_languages, POST /blu_translate/upload, GET /blu_translate/check, POST /blu_translate/translate, GET /blu_translate/download.

How it works

1. Connect your AI client, either to https://mcp.bluente.com/ with your Bluente account login, or to the local server with an API key.
2. Ask to translate a document: attach a file (or give a link, or a path if you’re on the local server) and say what language you want. You can name languages in plain words — “translate this to Japanese” just works.
3. Confirm before anything is charged. The first call only uploads and inspects your document, then shows a confirmation card with the page count and the settings it plans to use. Nothing starts and no credits are deducted until you reply to confirm.
4. Download. The hosted server gives you a link valid for 15 minutes — if it expires, just ask for a fresh one, which re-issues the link only and costs nothing. The local server writes the file straight to disk instead.

Billing

Translation is billed from your Bluente credits at one credit per page, and only for the pages you asked for. Image mode is the one exception, at five credits per page. Billing happens when translation starts — that is, after you confirm. Connecting, listing languages, checking status, and re-issuing an expired download link are all free.

See pricing, where plans are sold in pages — one page is one credit — and Get User Credits for checking your balance.

Settings you’ll be asked about

• Source and target language. Both are required — the tools do not auto-detect the source, so say what you are translating from as well as to. Plain words are fine; see the full language list, or just ask your agent, which is a free call. Bluente codes are en, zh (Simplified Chinese), cht (Traditional Chinese), jp, kor, fra, spa, de, and others; common ISO codes are aliased automatically (zh-CN/zh-Hans → zh, zh-TW/zh-Hant → cht, ja → jp, ko → kor, fr → fra, es → spa).

• Output format — PDF, Word, or PowerPoint, and nothing else. You can ask for several at once at no extra cost: the formats are download-time conversions of the same finished translation. Spreadsheets are accepted as input, but to_type has no xlsx option — there is no way to ask MCP for a workbook back as a workbook. Use Bluente Web when you need one.

• Document mode — this one matters for both quality and cost, so you may be asked outright rather than have it guessed:

  • Standard — normal digital documents, e.g. exported from Word or PowerPoint. This fits most files.
  • Scanned (text) — the document is a scan. The text is OCR’d, translated, and placed in a new clean document, without the original’s non-text elements.
  • Scanned (overlay) — the document is a scan. The translation is placed back over the original layout, keeping the original elements.
  • Image — re-renders a graphic such as a brochure or poster in the target language, preserving its visual style, colours, and layout. Not for pulling text out of an image.

  Standard fits most files. Both scanned modes cost the same 1 credit per page as standard; image mode is the only one charged above that, at 5 credits per page — the confirmation card quotes the already-multiplied total, so you never do the arithmetic yourself. Getting the mode wrong is a quality problem before it is a cost one: running a scan as Standard translates blank pages and wastes the credits anyway.

• Bilingual output — off gives a clean translated document; on keeps the original text alongside the translation. If you turn it on you’ll be asked for the layout: left-right (side by side) or top-down (the translation stacked under the original). Those are the only two layouts.

• Page range — translate only part of a document, e.g. 1-3,5. You are charged only for the pages you select, and the backend validates the range against the document’s real page count when translation starts.

File size. The hosted server caps uploads at 50MB. The local server sets no limit of its own — there the ceiling is whatever the Bluente API accepts. Either way, for very large files use Bluente Web directly.

Troubleshooting

• Hosted server — reconnect prompts, stale connector registrations, expired download links, upload limits.
• Local server — Missing BLUENTE_API_KEY and the npx path.

Two that apply to either:

• A scanned PDF came back with blank or missing pages. It was probably translated as a standard document. Ask for it again as scanned (text) or scanned (overlay).
• Translation won’t start, or fails right after you confirm. Most often an empty credit balance — the confirmation gate does not check it, so the error surfaces at the start call. Check your balance at translate.bluente.com and top up on pricing.