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django-live-translations

Edit translations directly on any page of your Django site. Toggle edit mode with a keyboard shortcut, click any translatable string, save your changes, and see them appear instantly.

What it does

django-live-translations hooks into Django's gettext system and adds an editing layer on top. Authorized users see a widget that lets them modify translations in-place, while regular users see no difference at all.

It works with all standard Django translation APIs:

  • {% translate %} and {% blocktranslate %} template tags, including {% blocktranslate count %}
  • gettext(), pgettext(), ngettext(), npgettext(), and their lazy variants

Features

  • Inline editing with a multi-language modal editor
  • Live updates after saving, no page reload needed
  • Preview mode to review inactive translations before going live
  • Bulk activation of multiple pending translations at once
  • Edit history with word-level diffs and one-click restore
  • Draft language support for preparing translations before publishing
  • Placeholder validation catches missing %(name)s or {name} format strings
  • HTML validation warns about unclosed or mismatched tags
  • Two storage backends: PO files (default) or database with cache sync
  • Per-language permissions to restrict who can edit which languages
  • Django admin integration for managing translation overrides
  • Zero frontend dependencies, vanilla JS, no build step

Quick install

uv add django-live-translations

poetry add django-live-translations

pip install django-live-translations
settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    "live_translations",
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ...
    "django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware",
    "live_translations.middleware.LiveTranslationsMiddleware",  # (1)!
]
  1. Must come after AuthenticationMiddleware.

Log in as a superuser and press Ctrl+Shift+E to start editing.

Requirements

Python 3.12+ and Django 4.2+.

Next steps