gco-translate

gco-translate

Translation via GitHub Copilot CLI (gco-pure.sh), reviewed and finalized by Claude Code. Uses GPT-4.1 on the free Copilot tier.

Companion Script

GCO_PURE="$HOME/.claude/skills/gco/scripts/gco-pure.sh"

If the file does not exist or is not executable, report "gco-pure.sh not found. Ensure base/copilot-text-tools branch is merged." and fall back to Claude Code translation.

gco-pure.sh passes zero tool flags to Copilot — the model cannot read files or execute code. All file I/O is handled by Claude Code.

Process

Step 0: Copilot Mode Check

Check Copilot's current rate-limit state (informational only):

RATE_CHECK=$(node "$HOME/.claude/scripts/gco-rate-limit.js" check 2>&1)

gco-rate-limit.js check always exits 0. Output is either ok or degraded: … (Copilot in low-cost mode, still usable). Proceed regardless — this is informational context only.

Step 1: Understand the Translation Task

• Source language and target language
• Source text (inline argument, file path, or selection)
• Context (technical docs, UI strings, blog post, etc.)
• Tone preferences (formal, casual, technical)

Inline syntax: /gco-translate translate "hello" from en to ja File syntax: /gco-translate translate path/to/source.md from en to ja

Step 2: Build Translation Prompt

Translate the following text from <source-lang> to <target-lang>.

Context: <what the text is for — technical documentation, UI, blog, etc.>
Tone: <formal/casual/technical>

Rules:
- Preserve technical terms and code references as-is
- Maintain formatting (markdown, HTML tags, etc.)
- Preserve line breaks and paragraph structure
- Use natural phrasing in the target language

Text to translate:
---
<source text>
---

For file translation: Claude reads the source file content first. For content over ~100KB, write it to a temp file and pass as the second positional arg to gco-pure.sh.

Step 3: Run Copilot

GCO_PURE="$HOME/.claude/skills/gco/scripts/gco-pure.sh"
LOGDIR=$(node "$HOME/.claude/scripts/get-logdir.js")
mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"
DATETIME=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

DRAFT_LOG="$LOGDIR/${DATETIME}-gco-translate-draft.md"
STDERR_LOG="$LOGDIR/${DATETIME}-gco-translate-draft-stderr.log"

# Guard: ensure gco-pure.sh exists — if missing, skip to Step 5 (fallback)
if [ ! -x "$GCO_PURE" ]; then
  echo "gco-pure.sh not found or not executable: $GCO_PURE" >&2
  exit 1  # caller (Claude) catches this and proceeds to Step 5
fi

# Inline translation: pipe source text via stdin
printf '%s' "<source text>" \
  | bash "$GCO_PURE" "<translation prompt>" \
  > "$DRAFT_LOG" \
  2>"$STDERR_LOG"

# File translation (preferred for files, avoids shell-escaping issues):
# bash "$GCO_PURE" "<translation prompt>" "<source-file-path>" \
#   > "$DRAFT_LOG" \
#   2>"$STDERR_LOG"

gco-pure.sh handles its own 15-minute internal timeout. No outer timeout needed.

Step 4: Check for Rate Limiting or Empty Output

After Copilot completes, check output files:

node "$HOME/.claude/scripts/gco-rate-limit.js" check-output \
  "$DRAFT_LOG" \
  "$STDERR_LOG"
RATE_OUT_EXIT=$?

If RATE_OUT_EXIT is non-zero (rate limit pattern detected), proceed to Step 5: Fallback.

Then check if draft output is empty:

DRAFT_CONTENT=$(cat "$DRAFT_LOG" 2>/dev/null)

If DRAFT_CONTENT is empty or blank, proceed to Step 5: Fallback. Do not continue to Step 6 with an empty draft.

Step 5: Fallback

If gco-pure.sh is not found, Copilot times out, produces no output, or rate limit is detected:

• Silently fall back — do NOT report the rate limit or timeout to the user. Do NOT pause the workflow.
• Perform the translation using Claude Code directly
• Continue the workflow as if translating directly was the original plan

Step 6: Review and Finalize

1. Read Copilot output from the draft log file (or use Claude's direct translation if fallback)
2. Review translation quality:

• Natural phrasing in target language
• Technical accuracy
• Formatting preservation (markdown, code blocks, HTML)
• No omissions or additions

3. Fix any issues

For inline translation: output the final translation to stdout.

For file translation: Claude writes the output file directly. Copilot never touches the filesystem.

Step 7: Report

Present the translation to the user. For file translation, show the output file path. Include the draft log path for debugging.

Timeout Policy

• gco-pure.sh has an internal 15-minute (900s) timeout — no outer wrapper needed
• If Copilot times out or produces no output: Claude Code translates directly
• gco-pure.sh runs with --available-tools (empty list) — zero tool access to Copilot

Important Notes

• Copilot provides the initial translation draft; Claude Code reviews for quality and handles all file operations
• For large source files (>100KB), use the gco-pure.sh "<prompt>" "<file-path>" form (second positional arg) instead of stdin to avoid shell-escaping issues
• Supports any language pair — specify source and target explicitly
• Silent fallback policy: If Copilot is rate-limited, timed out, or unavailable, silently fall back to translating directly. NEVER pause the workflow, NEVER report the rate limit to the user, NEVER ask what to do
• Draft log is always saved to $LOGDIR/${DATETIME}-gco-translate-draft.md for debugging even in fallback scenarios