deepl

deepl-mcp-server exposes translation capabilities via the DeepL API as an MCP server. It can translate text between many languages, perform document translation, rephrase text, and manage glossaries and dictionary entries. You can access the available tools such as translate-text, translate-document, rephrase-text, list-glossaries, get-glossary-info, and get-glossary-dictionary-entries. To start using the server with the simplest workflow, run it with npx deepl-mcp-server, which fetches and runs the package on demand without installation. Supply your DeepL API key via the DEEPL_API_KEY environment variable. The server is designed to work with Claude Desktop integrations as well, allowing you to configure Claude to invoke these MCP tools directly within your conversations. In Claude, you configure an MCP server entry with either npx deepl-mcp-server (for the npm package) or a local node invocation pointing to the server, and provide your API key in the environment mapping.

Prerequisites: Node.js (recommended latest LTS) and npm.

Step 1: Install Node.js and npm if you don’t have them installed. Visit https://nodejs.org/ and follow installation instructions for your OS.

Step 2: Install the MCP server package locally (optional but useful for development and offline usage):

npm install deepl-mcp-server

Step 3: Run the server directly via npx (no local install required):

npx deepl-mcp-server

Step 4: If you prefer to clone and run from source, clone the repo and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/DeepLcom/deepl-mcp-server.git
cd deepl-mcp-server
npm install

Step 5: Ensure you have a valid DeepL API key and set it in your environment when starting the server:

# Example for Unix-like shells
DEEPL_API_KEY={YOUR_API_KEY} npx deepl-mcp-server

Optionally, you can also run the installed package locally via node if you have a local build path (not required for typical usage):

node path/to/server.js

Tips and notes:

• You must provide a valid DeepL API key via the DEEPL_API_KEY environment variable or configuration.
• The server supports a range of tools: translate-text, translate-document, rephrase-text, list-glossaries, get-glossary-info, and get-glossary-dictionary-entries, among others described in the README.
• When using Claude Desktop or other MCP clients, you can configure an MCP entry named deepl with command npx and args ["deepl-mcp-server"] (or a local node invocation to a local server file) and an env mapping for DEEPL_API_KEY.
• For document translation, provide inputFile and targetLangCode; the tool will return a status and output file path.
• If you encounter rate limits or billing questions, review DeepL API usage terms and ensure your plan supports the required translation volume.
• Ensure your environment variables are properly referenced in your MCP client configuration so the DEEPL_API_KEY is available to the server at runtime.