MT and LLM Provider Credentials (BYOK)

 

Smartling allows for full flexibility when it comes to machine translation (MT) and LLM Translation, supporting a wide range of providers.

If you would like to bring your own key (BYOK) for an MT provider or LLM of your choice*, you will need to store your provider credentials in Smartling, as described in this article. The provider credentials can then be added to an MT Profile and used for translation in Smartling.

*See a list of supported MT providers and LLMs here. 

Tip: Not sure which provider to choose?
Smartling's fully pre-configured MT Profile, Smartling Auto Select, automatically selects the best NMT provider for each language pair. This profile is readily available and no MT key is required to get started.

Accessing provider credentials

From your Account Settings, access the Machine Translation Settings.
Navigate to the tab Provider Credentials. Here, you can view and manage your existing MT or LLM provider credentials, or add a new one. 

The following information is displayed for each MT or LLM key stored in Smartling:

• Credential Name: A custom name you assign when adding a new provider credential, allowing for easy identification. 
• Provider: The selected MT or LLM provider.
• Associated MT Profiles: In order to be used in a translation workflow or in an MT integration, provider credentials need to be associated with an MT Profile (see step 2 below). Any existing associations are displayed in this column.
• Actions: Delete credentials to remove them permanently.
  
  

Adding new provider credentials

To use your own credentials for a preferred MT provider or LLM, follow the steps below to configure them for use in translation.

1. Obtain credentials from a provider of your choice

Provider credentials from any supported NMT or LLM provider can be used for translation in Smartling. 

Tip: If you would prefer for Smartling to provision provider credentials for you, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

2. Store provider credentials in Smartling

Once you have obtained provider credentials, store them in Smartling to use them for translation: 

1. From Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings, access the Provider Credentials tab.
2. Click Add Provider Credential.
   
   This opens a modal where you can save your provider key. Please enter the following information: 
   
   • MT or LLM Provider (required):
     From the dropdown, select the desired MT provider or LLM that you would like to use to translate your content. 
   • Credential Name (required):
     Enter a name for your provider credential to help identify it. Ideally, this nickname should reflect which team owns the credential, which provider is used, and any other valuable information to help you identify this provider key.
     For example: DeepL Marketing Key
   • Depending on the selected MT provider or LLM, you will be asked to fill in the necessary information for your provider credentials.
     • Typically, you will be asked to enter the provider API key.
     • If required for your provider, fill in any additional fields, such as the region or routing data. For example, for Google AutoML, the projectID and JSON credentials need to be added.
     • When creating a provider credential, you only need to enter the information required to get access to the selected MT provider or LLM. Additional information related to the actual translation output (such as language-specific rules or TM Match Insertion) needs to be configured in the next step, as part of the MT Profile and Settings.
   • Test Credential:
     Once you have provided all required information, please click "Test Credential" to check if the provider credential is fully functional.
     
     • A success message will be displayed if the credential is working correctly. You can now proceed to associate this credential with an MT Profile.
     • In case of any issues, an error message will be displayed. Please check if a valid provider credential was obtained, and if the API key and other details were entered correctly.
     • For providers requiring a language-specific configuration (e.g., Google AutoML, Google Adaptive or Custom.MT), the "Test Credential" button is not available. For these providers, please ensure to click "Test integration" when creating an MT Profile.
3. Click Save to create the credential.
   
   

3. Use provider credentials in an MT Profile

Once the provider credential has been saved and tested successfully, it can now be used to create an MT Profile. An MT Profile allows you to configure additional preferences to further customize the translation output.

1. From Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings, navigate to the Profiles tab.
2. Click Create MT Profile.
3. Enter the required information:
   
   • MT or LLM Provider: From the drop-down menu, select the MT provider or LLM that you created the credential for.
   • MT Profile Name: Choose a name to identify the profile. We recommend including the provider name and any other relevant identifiers. 
     For example: DeepL Formal Profile
   • Provider Credentials: From the drop-down menu, select the credential you created in the previous step.
   • Provider-specific information: Depending on the selected provider, you may be asked to fill in additional, provider-specific information.
   • Test integration: Click "Test integration" to check if the MT Profile is fully functional. If an error message is displayed, please ensure that all information has been entered correctly.
4. Click Save to create the MT Profile.

Tip: As an optional step, configure TM Match Insertion to apply existing translations from your Translation Memory where available.

 

4. Use the MT Profile in an MT workflow or MT integration

The MT Profile can now be used to translate your content, either within the Smartling platform (using an MT workflow or MT suggestions in the CAT Tool), or through one of Smartling's MT integrations to display machine translations directly where needed.

• MT Profiles can be used as a translation provider in a Machine Translation workflow.
  Machine Translation Workflows allow you to translate any content in the Smartling platform, using your preferred provider and configurations. For more information, please visit this article.
  
  
• MT Profiles can be used to translate content with Smartling's MT API or one of Smartling's MT integrations, which provide Machine Translations directly where they should be displayed - without the need to upload the content into the Smartling platform first.
  To select the desired MT Profile for each of these integrations, please navigate to your Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings > Settings. 
  
  
  
•  MT Profiles can be used to provide translation suggestions in the CAT Tool.
  To select the desired MT Profile for translation suggestions in the CAT Tool, please navigate to your Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings > Settings > CAT Tool. 
  

 

Editing provider credentials

To view and edit a provider credential, click on the Credential Name. 

You can now view and/or modify the following details: 

• Date Added and Last Modified: View when the credential was added and last modified, and by whom.
• MT or LLM Provider: This cannot be modified. If you would like to add credentials for a different provider, please add a new credential.
• Credential Name: This nickname for your provider credential can be edited.
• Provider API key: The provider API key can be edited.
• Provider-specific information: Other provider-specific information may be available to update.
  • From the Provider Credentials tab, you can only edit the information required to get access to the selected MT provider or LLM (such as the API key and where applicable, the region or routing data).
  • Additional information related to the actual translation output (such as language-specific rules or TM Match Insertion) needs to be configured as part of the MT Profile and Settings.

Tip: If you make any updates to the provider API key or other provider-specific settings, please click Test Credential to check if the updated credential is fully functional.

To confirm any changes, please click Save.

 

Deleting provider credentials

If you would like to permanently remove provider credentials, you can delete them.

Deleting provider credentials is a permanent action and cannot be undone.

To delete a credential:

• From Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings, access the Provider Credentials tab.
• From the column "Associated MT Profiles", ensure that the credential is not currently associated with any MT Profile.
• Click Delete from the Actions column.

• Confirm that you wish to proceed with deleting the credential.

A success message will be displayed once the credential has been deleted.

Note: Credentials can only be deleted if they are not currently in use in an MT Profile. If the credential you would like to delete is currently used in an MT Profile, please select a different credential for the associated Profile(s) before proceeding with the deletion.