get-custom-instruction
Get a single custom instruction belonging to a style rule. Use the get-style-rule tool to find out which custom instructions a style rule contains.
LABSCO SUMMARY
Your DeepL account's own glossaries and styles, reachable from the assistant.
The lookup tools are what make this more than a translate button: a translation can name a glossaryId or styleId, and the get- tools let you find the right one first, so terminology and tone stay consistent with what your team already set up. Translating with a glossary requires an explicit source language — auto-detection is off the table in that one case.
What it is
A stdio server that exposes DeepL as 13 MCP tools: text and document translation, rephrasing, and read-only lookups over the glossaries and style rules already in your DeepL account.
What you get
- translate-text with the full parameter set — formality, a glossaryId, a styleId, context, preserveFormatting, splitSentences and customInstructions — and text that takes a single string or an array translated entry by entry
- translate-document reads a PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, HTML or TXT off disk and writes the translated file back; without outputFile it derives the name by appending the language code, so report.pdf becomes report_de.pdf
- rephrase-text rewrites in the same language or into another one, with a style and tone drawn from what your account supports
- get-source-languages and get-target-languages return the codes DeepL accepts, and get-writing-styles and get-writing-tones return the exact values rephrase-text will take
- list-glossaries, get-glossary-info and get-glossary-dictionary-entries read your glossaries — a glossary being one or more dictionaries, each a single language pair in one direction
- list-style-rules, get-style-rule and get-custom-instruction read the style rules you have configured, so a translation can apply them by id
- Region handling is built in: omit the source code and DeepL detects it, and a bare target like en, pt or zh is filled out to en-US, pt-BR or zh-Hans
Requirements
Node.js 18 or newer and a DeepL API key from your account, passed as DEEPL_API_KEY — the server exits immediately if it is not set. It runs over stdio, normally launched by the client as npx -y deepl-mcp-server. translate-document reads and writes files on the machine running the server. Glossaries and style rules are read-only through these tools; you create and edit them in your DeepL account.
Setup effort
One command plus a key — DEEPL_API_KEY=<YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY> npx -y deepl-mcp-server
USE CASES
01
Translating a document without reformatting it
Point it at a PDF, DOCX or slide deck and a target language; it translates the file in place and writes the result beside it, keeping the layout rather than handing you loose text to paste back.
02
Keeping product terms consistent
Find the glossary that covers the language pair, confirm its entries, then translate with that glossaryId so your fixed terminology comes out the same way every time.
03
Matching a house style
List the style rules on the account, read the one you want in full, and apply it by id when translating so the output follows the tone and instructions your team already agreed on.
04
Tightening a draft you already have
Rephrase text in the same language to change its register, or rephrase straight into another language, choosing from the styles and tones DeepL actually offers rather than guessing at names.
13 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
get-glossary-dictionary-entries
Retrieve all the entries from a given glossary dictionary. (A glossary consists one of one or more dictionaries, each of which contains entries for a specific language pair, in one direction. For example, one dictionary could contain entries for translations from German to English, and another dictionary could contain entries for translations from English to German.) To retrieve all entries for a glossary with multiple dictionaries, use the get-glossary-info or list-glossaries tool to find out what dictionaries it contains, then use this tool for each dictionary.
get-glossary-info
Given an id, get metadata about the glossary with that id - its name, available dictionaries, and creation time. This does not fetch any glossary entries. Use the get-glossary-dictionary-entries tool to fetch entries.
get-source-languages
Get list of available source languages for translation
get-style-rule
Given an id, get a single style rule with its full detail - configured rules and custom instructions.
get-target-languages
Get list of available target languages for translation
get-writing-styles
Get list of writing styles the DeepL API can use while rephrasing text
get-writing-tones
Get list of writing tones the DeepL API can use while rephrasing text
list-glossaries
Get a list of all glossaries with metadata for each - name, dictionaries available, and creation time. This does not fetch any glossary entries. Use the get-glossary-dictionary-entries tool to fetch entries.
list-style-rules
Get a list of all style rules with metadata for each - id, name, language, and timestamps. Style rules can be applied when translating text or documents. Use the get-style-rule tool to fetch the configured rules and custom instructions of a single style rule.
rephrase-text
Rephrase text in the same language, or into a different language, using DeepL API
translate-document
Translate a document file using DeepL API
translate-text
Translate text to a target language using DeepL API. Review all available optional parameters and use those applicable to your scenario for best results. When the translation includes a glossary, you must specify the source language as well as the target language. If the user requests a glossary by name instead of by id, you can use the list-glossaries tool to get a name for each id.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
13 tools when we connected. Three tools do the work (translate-text, translate-document and rephrase-text); the other ten are lookups. Glossaries and style rules are read-only here, so create and edit them in your DeepL account.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- DEEPL_API_KEY in your environment
Where it runs
All 4 documented clients run the server on your machine.
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 13 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
DEEPL_API_KEY=<YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY> npx -y deepl-mcp-serverMCP Clients
Claude Code
CLAUDE CODE · TERMINAL
claude mcp add deepl --env DEEPL_API_KEY=<YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY> -- npx -y deepl-mcp-serverClaude Desktop, Cursor
JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"deepl": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"deepl-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DEEPL_API_KEY": "<YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}VS Code
VS CODE · JSON
{
"servers": {
"deepl": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"deepl-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DEEPL_API_KEY": "<YOUR_DEEPL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}
