tisfeng/Raycast-Easydict

Raycast Easydict – AI‑enhanced dictionary & translation for the Raycast launcher

What it is

• A free Raycast extension that lets you look up words, translate snippets of text, and save the results for later review.
• Works on macOS and Windows (through Raycast’s cross‑platform client).
• Besides classic services (Youdao, Linguee, Google, DeepL, etc.) it can call Raycast AI or any OpenAI‑compatible endpoint to generate translations or full‑dictionary entries.

Core capabilities

Feature	Details
Instant lookup & translation	Detects the source language automatically, queries the selected text (or an OCR screenshot) and shows pronunciations, parts‑of‑speech, example phrases, and web results.
Multiple back‑ends	Dictionary: Youdao, Linguee. Translation: Apple System, DeepL, Google, Bing, Baidu, Tencent, Volcano, Youdao, Caiyun. AI: Raycast AI or any OpenAI‑compatible API (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude).
AI‑generated dictionary mode	When the input is a single word/term, the AI provider can build a structured entry (pronunciation, senses, examples, word forms) that looks like a traditional dictionary entry.
Audio playback	Plays the word’s pronunciation automatically (Youdao TTS for most languages, Youdao dictionary audio for English).
Learning tools	Save results as Favorites, view Chinese character stroke‑order diagrams, and export the collection to Anki via the AnkiConnect add‑on for spaced‑repetition review.
Cache & proxy	Optional caching for dictionary, machine‑translation, and AI results; optional use of the system proxy (useful in regions where some services are blocked).
Customizable providers	A Manage Providers command lets you reorder, enable/disable, and configure API keys for any AI endpoint.

Why it matters for AI/ML enthusiasts

• Demonstrates a practical integration of LLM‑based translation and prompt‑driven dictionary generation inside a desktop productivity workflow.
• Shows how to combine traditional APIs (Youdao, DeepL) with LLM endpoints in a single UI, handling fallback, caching, and rate‑limit concerns.
• The extension’s source code (Node.js/TypeScript) can serve as a reference for building similar “AI‑augmented” plugins for other launchers or editors.

Getting started

1. Install Raycast (free launcher) from https://www.raycast.com/.
2. In Raycast’s Store click the Install button for Easydict (or run the manual install commands shown in the README).
3. Open the Manage Providers command to add your OpenAI‑compatible API key if you want AI translation/dictionary mode.
4. Use the hot‑key (default Cmd + E on macOS, Ctrl + E on Windows) to look up the currently selected text, or invoke the extension from Raycast’s command palette.

Typical workflow

1. Highlight a word in any app → press the hot‑key → Easydict shows definitions, pronunciations, and translations from the enabled services.
2. If you need a richer entry, switch the provider to an AI model and enable Dictionary mode – the LLM returns a structured entry.
3. Click ★ to add the result to Favorites.
4. Later, open Favorites and press Add to Anki to create flashcards for language study.

Configuration highlights

• Preferred languages: set your default source/target languages (default: Simplified Chinese ↔ English).
• Automatic query selected text: on by default; the extension will query whatever you have highlighted without extra clicks.
• Cache settings: choose Off, Words Only, or All Text for both regular and AI queries.
• System proxy: toggle if you need to route requests through a corporate or regional proxy (required for Google Translate in China, for example).

Extensibility

• Adding a new AI provider is as simple as creating a JSON preset with the endpoint URL, model name, and API key field (see docs/development/adding‑ai‑provider.md).
• The code is open‑source (Node.js/TypeScript) and can be forked to integrate additional dictionaries, custom prompts, or UI tweaks.

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TL;DR: Raycast Easydict is a cross‑platform Raycast extension that blends classic dictionary/translation services with LLM‑powered AI translation and dictionary generation, plus learning features like Anki export. It’s a concrete example of how AI can be embedded into everyday desktop tools.