Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or newer
• Ollama installed and running
• A GPU with sufficient VRAM for your chosen model (about 17 GB for the default 27B model, minimum 3.3 GB for the 4B model)

1. Install Ollama

Download from ollama.com and start it:

ollama serve

On Windows, Ollama typically installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Ollama. Polyglot checks this location automatically when attempting to auto-start Ollama.

2. Pull a model

ollama pull translategemma:27b   # 17 GB  — the default, highest quality
# or
ollama pull translategemma:12b   # 8.1 GB — faster, for GPUs with less VRAM
# or
ollama pull translategemma:4b    # 3.3 GB — fastest, lower quality

You can skip this step – Polyglot auto-pulls the default model (27B, about 17 GB) on first use. Pull progress is streamed to stderr so you can monitor the download. On a smaller GPU, set POLYGLOT_MODEL first (see below).

3. Add to your MCP client

Claude Code / Claude Desktop – add to claude_desktop_config.json or .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "polyglot": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mcptoolshop/polyglot-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

From source:

git clone https://github.com/mcp-tool-shop-org/polyglot-mcp.git
cd polyglot-mcp
npm install && npm run build
node dist/index.js

That’s it. Ask Claude to translate something and it will use the translate tool automatically.

Configuring the default model

The default model is translategemma:27b. Set POLYGLOT_MODEL to use another one, for example on a GPU with less VRAM:

POLYGLOT_MODEL=translategemma:12b npx @mcptoolshop/polyglot-mcp

Configuring concurrency

By default, Polyglot sends one Ollama request at a time to avoid GPU OOM. If you have plenty of VRAM, increase the limit:

POLYGLOT_CONCURRENCY=2 npx @mcptoolshop/polyglot-mcp

Using a remote Ollama (optional)

By default Polyglot talks to Ollama on localhost:11434. Set OLLAMA_HOST to use another Ollama server. For Ollama Cloud, also set OLLAMA_API_KEY: the key is sent as a Bearer token, and only to a non-loopback host.

OLLAMA_HOST=https://ollama.com OLLAMA_API_KEY=... npx @mcptoolshop/polyglot-mcp

Verifying the setup

Ask Claude to run check_status or use the tool directly. It reports whether Ollama is running and which TranslateGemma models are installed, with their sizes.