# Do.translate

> Translate documents smartly. Accepts a URL or a PDF file as input. Detects if it is an arXiv URL or paper. If yes, runs do.arxiv-translator. If it is a standard PDF, runs do.pdf-to-markdown followed by do.translate-markdown.

- Skill: `dull-bird/do-translate` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dull-bird/do-translate`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dull-bird/do-translate/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- Author: dull-bird (https://skillmd.com/u/dull-bird)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dull-bird/do-translate

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# Translate (Smart Router)

This skill acts as a smart router for translation requests, automatically detecting the input type and invoking the correct specialized skills.

## Workflow

### 1. Identify Input Type
- Extract the input from the user's request (e.g., an arXiv URL, a web URL, or a local PDF file path).
- Determine if the input is an arXiv paper. Examples:
  - The URL contains `arxiv.org`.
  - The URL contains `arxiv:` followed by an ID.
  - The file is a PDF downloaded from arXiv.

### 2. Route to Specialized Skill
- **If arXiv Paper:**
  - Execute the `do.arxiv-translator` skill on the input. This is optimal for arXiv papers as it compiles LaTeX source directly.
- **If Standard PDF (Non-arXiv):**
  - Step 2.1: Execute the `do.pdf-to-markdown` skill on the PDF to convert it to high-fidelity Markdown. Wait for the conversion checklist and promises to complete.
  - Step 2.2: Execute the `do.translate-markdown` skill on the resulting Markdown file to translate it into the target language.

### 3. Archive & Standardize Output
- After the PDF translation process is complete, you **MUST** move the final translated Markdown document (`.md`) and any extracted assets (like images) into the vault's paper directory: `60_Notes/papers/<Paper_Title>/`.
- Ensure the file naming is standardized, such as `60_Notes/papers/<Paper_Title>/<Paper_Title>_<LANG>.md` (e.g. `60_Notes/papers/Attention Is All You Need/Attention Is All You Need_CN.md`).
*(Note: If routed to `do.arxiv-translator`, it handles its own `.pdf` archiving internally).*

## Guidelines
- Do not process the translation natively inside this skill. This is only a routing step.
- Ensure you wait for `do.pdf-to-markdown` to completely finish before triggering `do.translate-markdown`.

## Rules
- Read `deeporbit.json` from the workspace root to determine the interaction language. Use this language for all your responses and generated note contents (e.g. `zh-CN`). **The Obsidian folder paths themselves will ALWAYS remain in English.**
- Set `author: ai` in frontmatter for every note you create; switch to `author: mixed` when substantially rewriting a human-authored note. Authorship lives in frontmatter only — never add visible badges.