Supervertaler MCP Server
The Supervertaler MCP Server connects Claude Desktop directly to your live Trados Studio session. You chat in Claude’s own window, and it answers from your real project data: the document open in the editor, your translation memories, and your termbases. It can also make changes for you, always under your supervision.
Which AI apps work? Claude Desktop is fully supported and is the recommended app. Other MCP clients that run local (STDIO) MCP servers on your own machine – such as Claude Code – also work. ChatGPT’s desktop app is not supported: it runs MCP servers in a cloud environment rather than on your computer, so it cannot reach the Supervertaler bridge, which is local to your machine by design (your project never leaves your PC). This is a difference in how the two apps are built, not something the plugin can change.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard that lets AI applications securely call tools exposed by other programs. The Supervertaler MCP Server is the first MCP server that talks to a live Trados Studio editor session – other Trados-related MCP servers work on project files on disk, not the document you are working on.
What you can ask
With Trados Studio open and a document in the editor, you can ask your AI assistant things like:
- “What’s the status of my Trados project? How many segments are left?”
- “How many times does the word doekrol appear in my project, and did I translate it consistently?”
- “Find all Draft segments containing flange and show me the translations.”
- “How did I translate this phrase before?” (searches your Supervertaler TMs)
- “What does my termbase say for sluitkracht?”
- “Draft translations for the untranslated segments and set them to Draft so I can review them.”
- “We agreed draagarm = support arm – add it to my termbase.”
Unlike the AI-friendly bilingual export workflow, there is no export/re-import cycle: the AI reads the live document on demand, and changes it makes appear in Studio while you chat.
What the AI can do
The server exposes these tools to the AI app:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
get_active_project | Project name, language pair, active file, segment counts per confirmation status |
get_segments | List segments, with filters (status, contains-text) and paging |
get_active_segment | The segment you are editing right now, with TM matches and termbase hits |
search_tm | Search your Supervertaler translation memories |
lookup_term | Look up a term in your termbases (exact first, then substring matching) |
update_segments | Write translations and/or set confirmation statuses (see safety rails below) |
add_term | Add a source/target pair to your Write termbases |
insert_into_active_segment | Insert text into the active segment’s target (like Apply-to-target) |
Safety rails on write actions
- Translations written by the AI are set to Draft status unless it explicitly sets another status – so you can filter for them in Studio and review everything.
- Locked segments are never touched.
- Updates are limited to 200 segments per call; larger jobs are processed in reported batches.
- Changes land in the open document but are not saved – you decide when to save in Studio.
- The AI is instructed to only make changes you asked for, and to report exactly what it changed.
Prompt cookbook
You talk to the AI in plain language – there are no commands to memorise. The AI decides which tools to call from what you say. This section lists, per task, the kinds of things you can say, so you know the full range of what’s possible. Mix and combine freely (“find X, then fix Y”).
Project status and progress
- “What’s the status of my Trados project?”
- “How many segments are left to translate?”
- “Which file am I working on, and what’s the language pair?”
- “How many words are still untranslated?” / “Give me the analysis statistics – fuzzies, repetitions, new words.” (from v18.20.95)
- “How far along is each file in this project?” (from v18.20.95)
Finding and reading segments
- “Show me all untranslated segments.”
- “Show me the Draft segments so I can see what the AI wrote earlier.”
- “Find all segments containing flange.”
- “How many times does doekrol appear in this project? Is it translated consistently?”
- “Show me segments 50 to 100.” (paging)
- “List the files in this merged document.” / “Only show me segments from the contract file.” (from v18.20.95)
Terminology
- “What does my termbase say for sluitkracht?”
- “Look up support arm – do I have an established translation?”
- “Go through the project and make me a glossary of the key terms.”
- “We agreed draagarm = support arm – add it to my termbase.”
- “Extract the recurring technical terms from this document and add the ones I approve to my termbase.”
Translation memory
- “How did I translate this sentence before?”
- “Search my TM for scherminrichting.”
- “Before translating, check my TM and termbase and follow what you find.”
The segment I’m working on
- “Translate this segment.” / “Explain this sentence.”
- “What do my TM and termbase say about the current segment?”
- “Give me three alternative translations for this segment, then insert the one I pick.”
Writing translations (always reviewable)
- “Draft translations for all untranslated segments – I’ll review them in Studio.”
- “Translate the segments containing warranty, use my termbase, set them to Draft.”
- “Redo segment 14 – too literal, make it flow better, then update it.”
- “Set all my Draft segments to Translated.” (status-only changes work too)
Everything the AI writes lands as Draft unless you say otherwise, locked segments are never touched, and nothing is saved until you save in Studio.
Quality and consistency
- “Find segments where the source and target numbers don’t match.”
- “Check my translated segments against the termbase and list violations.”
- “Find all repeated sentences that I translated differently.” (from v18.20.95)
- “…then align them all to the best version.” (pairs with the write tools)
Working across sources
Because the AI has all tools in one conversation, the most powerful prompts combine them:
- “Compare how I translated closing force in this project vs my TM – if they differ, tell me which is more common and align the project.”
- “Draft the remaining segments, but first build a glossary from the segments I already translated and stick to it.”
- “Review my Draft segments against the source: flag mistranslations, fix typos directly, and list anything you weren’t sure about.”
Items marked (from v18.20.95) require the next plugin version; everything else works from v18.20.94.
Setting it up
- In Trados Studio, open Supervertaler Settings → AI Settings and click Connect AI assistant… at the bottom. The dialog shows your current connection status.
Then open a project document in the Trados editor, and ask your AI app: “What’s the status of my Trados project?”
Install the extension or use a manual config entry – not both, or every tool will appear twice in the AI app. The Connect dialog warns you if it detects this.
Privacy and security
Everything stays on your computer:
- The connection between the AI app and Trados runs over localhost only – nothing is exposed to your network or the internet.
- Every Trados session uses a fresh access token; only programs on your own machine that hold the token can connect.
- Your project data goes to an AI model only when you ask the AI a question about it, through the AI app you chose – exactly as if you had pasted the text yourself. The MCP server itself sends nothing anywhere.
Requirements
- Supervertaler for Trados with an active licence or trial (the bridge is part of the AI Assistant).
- Claude Desktop (recommended), or another MCP client that runs local STDIO servers on your own machine. Note that this means a desktop app that executes the server locally – the claude.ai website and ChatGPT’s desktop app cannot reach a local MCP server (see the note at the top of this page).
- Windows (the MCP server is a self-contained exe; no additional runtimes needed).
Troubleshooting
- The AI says it can’t reach Trados – make sure Trados Studio is running and a document is open in the editor (the bridge starts with the editor). The Connect dialog’s status lines show whether the bridge is up.
- Tools appear twice in Claude Desktop – you have both the extension and a manual config entry; remove one (see above).
- Term lookups return nothing – check that your termbase/database path is set correctly in the Supervertaler settings (the same path TermLens uses).
- The bridge writes a diagnostic log to
<your data folder>\trados\runtime\bridge.log.
Development of this feature is tracked publicly in issue #44 – feedback and use-case ideas are very welcome.