Zen Code Docs — Multilingual Documentation Builder

A tool for syncing and translating technical documentation into multiple languages, with AI-powered translation via Zen models and a Nextra-based documentation site.

Features

• GitHub sync: Automatically pulls documentation from any GitHub repository
• AI translation: High-quality technical translation via Zen models (preserves code blocks, links, and formatting)
• Multi-language: Supports Chinese (zh), German (de), French (fr), Russian (ru), Japanese (ja)
• Nextra docs site: Generates a modern Next.js documentation site with language switching
• Parallel processing: Translates multiple languages concurrently
• Incremental sync: Tracks changes and only retranslates updated files

Installation

npm install -g @zen/code-docs

Quick Start

1. Initialize a project:

   zen-docs init
   

2. Configure environment variables:

   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env — set ZEN_API_KEY and source repo URL
   

3. Sync source documentation:

   zen-docs sync
   

4. Translate:

   zen-docs translate
   

5. Start the documentation site:

   npm install
   npm run dev
   

Commands

init

Initialize a new translation project. Sets up directory structure, Nextra template, and config files.

sync [options]

Sync documentation from the source GitHub repository.

• -f, --force — Force sync all documents (ignore previous sync records)

translate [options]

Translate documents to target languages.

• -l, --language <lang> — Target a specific language (zh, de, fr, ru, ja)
• -f, --file <file> — Translate a single file

config

View and manage project configuration interactively.

status

Show current project status and environment setup.

Configuration

translation.config.json (created during init):

{
  "name": "my-docs",
  "sourceRepo": "https://github.com/your-org/your-repo.git",
  "docsPath": "docs",
  "sourceLanguage": "en",
  "targetLanguages": ["zh", "de", "fr", "ru", "ja"],
  "outputDir": "content"
}

Environment Variables

# Required: Zen API key
ZEN_API_KEY=your_api_key

# Optional: API endpoint (defaults to local vLLM)
ZEN_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000/v1
ZEN_MODEL=zenlm/zen-5-coder-gguf
ZEN_MAX_TOKENS=4000

Project Structure

After initialization:

├── content/
│   ├── en/           # Source language (synced from repo)
│   ├── zh/           # Chinese translations
│   ├── de/           # German translations
│   ├── fr/           # French translations
│   └── ru/           # Russian translations
├── app/              # Next.js app directory
│   ├── [lang]/       # Dynamic language routing
│   └── layout.tsx
├── .source-docs/     # Raw synced documentation
├── translation.config.json
├── translation-changelog.json
├── last-sync.json
└── package.json

How It Works

1. Sync — Clones/updates the source repository and detects changed files
2. Parse — Markdown is parsed while preserving structure and metadata
3. Translate — Content is segmented and translated via Zen models, with smart handling of code blocks and technical terms
4. Generate — Translated content is organized into a Nextra multilingual docs site
5. Serve — Next.js serves the documentation with language switching

Links

npm install
npm run build
npm run dev   # watch mode
npm test

Links

• Zen LM: https://zenlm.org
• Models: https://huggingface.co/zenlm
• GitHub: https://github.com/zenlm
• Hanzo AI: https://hanzo.ai

License

Apache 2.0