Getting started

Glossa is a Tauri desktop app. You run it locally, configure a translation pipeline, import or prepare source text, and work chunk by chunk: test one representative passage first, then run the full batch.

Download the app

If you want to use Glossa, the correct path is to download a binary release from GitHub. The repository is for development and contribution, not the primary end-user install path.

• Windows: .exe installer or .msi package
• macOS: .dmg
• Linux: .AppImage, .deb, or .rpm

Useful links:

• Latest release
• Current release as of July 4, 2026: glossa-v1.1.0

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or newer
• Rust 1.77 or newer
• npm for frontend dependencies
• Linux users also need the Tauri system libraries listed in the root README.md

Develop from source

Clone the repository only if you want to develop Glossa, test local changes, or contribute code.

git clone https://github.com/nikazzio/glossa.git
cd glossa
npm install

Run the desktop app in development

npm run tauri:dev

This starts the Vite frontend and the Tauri shell together.

Build the app locally

npm run tauri:build

Run the docs locally

npm run docs:start

Build the static docs site with:

npm run docs:build

Recommended first-run path

1. Open the app and configure your provider credentials in Settings.
2. Create or open a workspace and then create a project.
3. Set the source and target languages.
4. Choose a provider and model for the first stage.
5. Import a document. For a short trial, import or paste only a sample and use Test on one chunk.
6. Run a test chunk before launching a full batch.

What you should configure first

• Provider keys in Settings
• Pipeline mode: Standard for simpler jobs, Editorial for multi-stage refinement, DeepL Hybrid when you want a DeepL first pass followed by LLM refinement
• Glossary if terminology is non-negotiable
• Chunking if the source text is long or structurally sensitive

Local docs and app scope

• docs/ is the public static site
• docs-dev/ holds internal notes for maintainers
• src/ and src-tauri/ are the actual application codebases

Development checks

npm run lint
npm test
npm run build

Backend checks are run from src-tauri/:

cargo check --all-targets
cargo test

Next steps

• Read the document pipeline guide
• Read glossary and phrase memory
• Read audit and review
• Review keyboard shortcuts
• Check provider support