🌉 Lingo-Bridge: Multilingual Repo Onboarding Agent

Breaking the language barrier in Open Source, one repository at a time.

Built for the Lingo.dev Multilingual Hackathon 2026.

---

📖 The Problem

Open Source is global, but documentation is not. Over 75% of the world's population does not speak English fluently, yet the vast majority of top GitHub repositories are English-only. This creates a "Language Wall" that prevents thousands of talented developers from contributing to world-changing projects.

✨ The Solution: Lingo-Bridge

Lingo-Bridge is an AI-powered onboarding sidekick that transforms any English-centric repository into a localized, welcoming environment for global contributors. By leveraging the Lingo.dev ecosystem, it allows developers to interact with codebases, read documentation, and track issues in their native tongue—without the maintainers ever having to manually translate a single line.

---

🛠️ Tech Stack & Lingo.dev Integration

To maximize impact and technical depth, Lingo-Bridge utilizes the full Lingo.dev suite:

• Lingo MCP (Model Context Protocol): Connects the AI Agent (Cursor/Claude) directly to Lingo’s translation engine, allowing the agent to "understand" and translate repo context on the fly.
• Lingo SDK: Used for dynamic, real-time translation of GitHub Issues and contributor discussions.
• Lingo Compiler: Powering our web dashboard with a "Zero-Refactor" approach—ensuring the UI is localized instantly for every user.
• Lingo CLI: Automates the creation of localized documentation (README.es.md, CONTRIBUTING.zh.md, etc.) via GitHub Actions.

---

🚀 Key Features

• Context-Aware Translation: Uses AI to ensure technical terms (like "middleware" or "rebase") are translated accurately within a developer's context.
• On-the-Fly Docs: Generate localized versions of any .md file in the repo with a single command.
• Interactive Issue Bridge: Submit issues in your native language; Lingo-Bridge translates them for maintainers while keeping your view localized.

---

⚙️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• A Lingo.dev API Key
• An MCP-enabled IDE (like Cursor)

Installation

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/ShoaibAh/lingo-bridge.git
   cd lingo-bridge

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Initialize Lingo:

   npx lingo.dev@latest init

4. Set up the MCP Server: Add the following command to your IDE's MCP settings:

     "mcpServers": {
       "lingo-github-contents": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["./lingo-agent.js"],
         "env": {
           "GITHUB_TOKEN": "${GITHUB_TOKEN}",
           "LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY": "${LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY}"
         }
       },
       "lingo-i18n": {
         "url": "https://mcp.lingo.dev/main"
       }
     }

   • Server 1: user-lingo-agent (lingo-agent)

   • 1. localize_github_issue
     • Fetches a GitHub issue and uses lingo.dev to translate it for non-English contributors
     • Parameters: owner, repo, issueNumber, targetLocale, optional outputPath
     • Saves to {owner}-{repo}-issue-{issueNumber}-{targetLocale}.md by default
   • 2. localize_github_readme
     • Fetches a GitHub repository README and uses lingo.dev to translate it for non-English contributors
     • Parameters: owner, repo, targetLocale, optional readmePath

   • Server 2: user-lingo-i18n (lingo-i18n)

   • 1. get_framework_docs
     • Retrieves framework documentation from official repositories
     • Supports: nextjs-app-router, nextjs-pages-router, tanstack-start, react-router
     • Parameters: framework (required), version (default: "latest"), action ("index" or "read"), section_id (for reading)
   • 2. get_i18n_library_docs
     • Retrieves documentation for i18n libraries (currently react-intl)
     • Parameters: library (required, currently only "react-intl"), version, action, section_id
   • 3. get_project_context
     • Captures project architecture to inform i18n implementation strategy
     • Parameters: detectionResults (required) - complex object with framework detection, TypeScript, package manager, locales, etc.
   • 4. i18n_checklist
     • Mandatory tool for all i18n work - provides a structured 13-step checklist
     • Parameters: step_number (1-13), done (boolean), evidence (array), build_passing (boolean)

---

🎥 Demo: Try These Prompts in Your IDE

• prompts like Translate this repo README to Spanish (owner: facebook, repo: react) will translate the README content via localize_github_readme and save it as README.es.md.
• prompts like Translate issue #2000 from facebook/react to es-ES will fetch the issue via localize_github_issue and save it as facebook-react-issue-2000.es by default (or to your outputPath).

Quick demo video

Sidenote: If the video doesn’t render on GitHub, open ./demo/hackathon_demo.mov directly.

🌍 Impact

By making onboarding accessible, we increase the diversity of the Open Source community and accelerate innovation by inviting the "next billion developers" to the table.

---

🤝 Acknowledgments

• Powered by Lingo.dev
• Hackathon hosted via Luma