Open-source PDF translator uses Claude to preserve layout by translating each element separately

gounisalex · reddit · 2026-07-29

A developer built pdfx, an open-source PDF translation app, after running into layout problems with existing tools during a mortgage application. The workflow measures the space occupied by each element, asks Claude to translate elements individually, and then reassembles the document while preserving formatting. The author says Claude also suggested extra layout-preservation tricks, helped design the architecture, and wrote about 90% of the unit tests over three weeks. The repo is MIT-licensed, with a local API-key requirement for translation and a web demo that currently lacks its own key.

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