CLI Flags

Usage

yaku [flags] [text]

Text can be provided as positional arguments, via -f (files), or piped through stdin. See Input & Output for details.

Translation flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--to	string	config default-target	Required. Target language code (e.g., zh-TW, ja, en).
--from	string	auto-detect	Source language code. Omit to let the LLM detect automatically.
--mode	string	translate	translate — translate to target language. polish — refine writing already in the target language. See Polish Mode.
--context	string		Domain hint for the LLM (e.g., "Kubernetes docs", "formal email"). Helps resolve ambiguous terms.

Input / output flags

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description
--file	-f	string[]		Input file path(s). Repeat for multiple files: -f a.md -f b.md.
--output	-o	string	stdout	Write translated text to a file instead of stdout.
--format		string	auto-detect	Force input format: text, md, json, yaml. Auto-detected from the -f file extension when omitted.
--stream		bool	false	Stream output to stdout as the LLM generates it. Text and Markdown formats only.

Backend flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--backend	string	hosted	LLM backend: hosted, gemini, openai, anthropic. See Backends.
--model	string	backend default	Override the model name (e.g., gemini-2.5-flash, gpt-4o, claude-sonnet-4-5-20250514).
--api-base	string		API base URL for OpenAI-compatible providers (e.g., https://api.groq.com/openai/v1).

Glossary flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--glossary	string	auto-detect	Path to a glossary YAML file. Overrides auto-detection. See Glossary.
--no-glossary	bool	false	Skip glossary loading entirely, even if a glossary file exists in the default locations.

Prompt flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--prompt	string	built-in	Path to a custom system prompt file. Replaces the entire built-in prompt. See Custom Prompts.

Diagnostic flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--verbose	bool	false	Print model name, token counts, and elapsed time to stderr after translation.

Example --verbose output (on stderr):

Model: gemini-2.5-flash | Tokens: 42 in / 38 out | Time: 1.2s

Subcommands

yaku config

Manage the configuration file at ~/.config/yaku/config.yaml.

Command	Description
yaku config set <key> <value>	Set a configuration value.
yaku config get <key>	Read a configuration value (file only, no env overlay).
yaku config path	Print the config file path.

See Configuration for all available keys.

yaku login

Authenticate with the hosted service using a browser-based device authorization flow. Opens your browser with a pre-filled authorization code — just sign in and click Approve. Credentials are stored in ~/.config/yaku/.credentials.

yaku login
# Opens your browser to complete authentication

yaku logout

Revoke your session on the server and delete local credentials. If the server is unreachable, credentials are kept so you can retry.

yaku logout

# Force-delete local credentials even if server revocation fails
yaku logout --force

Flag	Description
--force	Delete local credentials regardless of whether the server confirmed revocation. The session may remain valid on the server until it expires.

yaku whoami

Show the current authentication status by querying the hosted service.

yaku whoami
# Logged in as user@example.com (github)

If not logged in:

Not logged in (using anonymous quota)

If the session is expired or invalid:

Session expired or invalid. Run yaku login to re-authenticate.

If the server is unreachable:

hosted service unreachable. Check your network connection

yaku quota

Show your current usage quota for the hosted service. Displays your plan tier, daily and monthly request counts, and the per-request character limit. When using a local backend, reports that no quota applies.

See Hosted Service & Plans for plan tiers and limits.

yaku version

Print the CLI version.

yaku version
# yaku v0.1.0