Smartling

Name: Smartling MCP Server
Availability: InStock
Author: Smartling

Productivity51 tools

Machine translate text, manage translation jobs and triage quality issues from your AI assistant. 51 tools, OAuth sign-in, one advertised scope that narrows nothing.

Verified connector

Listed by Anthropic as a partner connector in its Connectors Directory.

Connection checked by Agentman on 18 August 2026.

Anthropic states this reflects the level of review a connector received, not a security audit.

Connect Smartling via MCP

https://mcp.smartling.com/mcp

Works in any MCP-compatible client. In Agentman Studio it is one click — no config file to edit.

Smartling Tools & Capabilities (51)

Tool names from Anthropic's directory listing. This server requires sign-in, so we could not read tool descriptions or parameter schemas.

Limits

Authorizing a job commits spend and cannot be undone. smartling_authorize_job releases content to translation vendors at agreed rates. Smartling states a cancelled or deleted job cannot be undone and that you may still be liable for work already performed. This is the single highest-consequence tool on the connector.
The OAuth grant narrows nothing. Both discovery documents advertise offline_access alone — a refresh-token mechanism, not a permission. There is no read-only variant of this connection to approve at consent time. Constrain access through the Smartling role you connect with.
The granular permission mapping is undocumented. Smartling documents that Account Owner is needed for every tool, but publishes no per-tool reference, so which specific permission gates which specific tool is not answerable from public documentation.
PKCE plain is still accepted. The authorization server advertises both S256 and plain as code challenge methods. plain offers materially weaker protection than S256.
No file translation. Smartling attributes this to MCP restrictions on uploading files to remote servers, with limited support for small text-formatted files only. Use smartling-cli-mcp for file workflows.
Nothing enters your translation workflow. Smartling states that content translated this way is not uploaded as strings, not written to translation memory, and does not pass through a workflow — so there is no human review step and no reviewer sign-off on the output.
Machine translation consumes AI Hub usage. Instant MT counts toward your account's AI Hub budget, visible in the AI Hub Usage Report.
You must name Smartling in the prompt. Smartling documents that otherwise the assistant will typically return a generic translation rather than calling the MT API, and that glossary term insertion must be requested explicitly even when enabled in settings.
Rate limits are the platform's, and are not documented for MCP. Smartling documents API frequency and concurrency limits counted per user, project or account, returning HTTP 429. No MCP-specific limit is published.
The tool list is a directory snapshot, not a vendor reference. Smartling publishes no per-tool documentation for the remote server — only prose capability groups — and its own page says the list "will continue to grow". The 51 names here are Anthropic's snapshot of 2026-08-16.
We did not exercise any tool. Our check was an anonymous protocol request that returned an OAuth challenge, plus reads of the server's two OAuth discovery documents. No credential was used and no tool was called.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Smartling MCP server need a paid plan?

Smartling documents no plan gate on the connector. Its Growth versus Enterprise comparison covers roles, workflows, linguistic assets and machine translation without mentioning MCP at all. What the docs do gate is the role: using every available tool requires the Account Owner role, and other users reach only the tools their own permissions allow.

Can the Smartling MCP server spend money?

Yes, through two separate paths. Authorizing a translation job releases content to your translation vendors at agreed rates, and Smartling warns that a cancelled job may still leave you liable for work already done. Separately, instant machine translation counts toward your account's AI Hub usage, tracked in the AI Hub Usage Report.

Can you undo an authorized Smartling translation job?

Not cleanly. Cancelling unauthorizes in-progress strings and unassigns linguists, but Smartling states plainly that a cancelled or deleted job cannot be undone, and that you may be liable for translation costs already incurred. Published strings stay published. Treat authorization as a commitment rather than a reversible state change.

Can the Smartling MCP server upload files for translation?

No. Smartling's documentation attributes this to MCP security restrictions that prevent uploading files to remote servers, and describes only limited support for small text-formatted files. For file-based workflows Smartling publishes a separate local Docker product, smartling-cli-mcp, which mounts a folder on your own machine.

Are translations from the Smartling MCP server saved to translation memory?

No. Smartling states that no files or text are uploaded to a Smartling project, translations are not saved to translation memory, and content does not pass through a translation workflow. There is no human in the loop. Smartling also states that requested content is not stored or ingested into Smartling.

What OAuth scopes does the Smartling MCP server request?

One, and it is not an application scope. Both of the server's OAuth discovery documents advertise offline_access alone, which only requests a refresh token. No scope describes what the connector may read or change, so the consent screen has nothing to narrow. Authorisation comes from your Smartling account role instead.

Do you need the Account Owner role to use Smartling with Claude?

Not to connect, but to reach everything. Smartling documents that the server exposes both project-level and account-level tools, that using every available tool requires the Account Owner role, and that users without it can still authenticate and use the tools their permissions allow. Account Owner is the highest-permission Smartling role.