MemoQ AI Sidecar Editor

AI-powered external editor for MemoQ with Ghost Text autocompletion.

Architecture

MemoQ (Preview SDK) --> Named Pipe --> Sidecar (WPF + WebView2) --> AI (Ollama)
                                              |
                                              v
                                     WinAPI Injection --> MemoQ

Components

1. MemoQ Plugin (DLL)

• Path: MemoQPlugin/
• Role: Listens to cursor movement events in MemoQ via Preview SDK
• Output: MemoQAISidecarPlugin.dll
• Installation: Copy to MemoQ plugin folder (usually %APPDATA%\MemoQ\Addins)

2. Sidecar App (WPF)

• Path: SidecarApp/
• Role: Hosts the WebView2 editor, manages Named Pipe communication, handles keyboard injection
• Output: SidecarApp.exe
• Features:
  • Transparent/overlay window support
  • WinAPI integration for focus switching
  • Named Pipe server for receiving segment data

3. Frontend (CodeMirror 6)

• Path: Frontend/
• Role: Modern code editor with Ghost Text (inline AI suggestions)
• Technologies: CodeMirror 6, Vanilla JS (ES Modules)
• Features:
  • Real-time AI suggestions (debounced)
  • Tab to accept, Ctrl+Enter to confirm
  • VS Code-inspired dark theme

Prerequisites

1. .NET 6 SDK (for Sidecar)
2. .NET Framework 4.8 SDK (for MemoQ Plugin)
3. Node.js 16+ (for Frontend build)
4. MemoQ SDK (Download from MemoQ developer portal)
5. Ollama (Install from https://ollama.ai)

Build Instructions

Quick Build (PowerShell)

.\build.ps1

Manual Build

1. Frontend

cd Frontend
npm install
npm run build

2. Sidecar App

cd SidecarApp
dotnet build -c Release

3. MemoQ Plugin

1. Copy MemoQ SDK DLLs to MemoQPlugin/lib/:
   • MemoQ.PreviewInterfaces.dll
   • MemoQ.Addins.Common.dll
2. Build:

cd MemoQPlugin
dotnet build -c Release

Installation

Step 1: Install MemoQ Plugin

1. Locate the built DLL: MemoQPlugin/bin/Release/net48/MemoQAISidecarPlugin.dll
2. Copy to: %APPDATA%\MemoQ\Addins\
3. Restart MemoQ
4. Enable in: Tools > Options > Preview > AI Sidecar Assistant

Step 2: Setup Ollama

# Install Ollama (Windows)
winget install Ollama.Ollama

# Start Ollama server
ollama serve

# Pull a model (in another terminal)
ollama pull llama2

Step 3: Run Sidecar

cd SidecarApp/bin/Release/net6.0-windows
./SidecarApp.exe

Usage

1. Start Ollama: ollama serve
2. Launch Sidecar: Run SidecarApp.exe
3. Open MemoQ: Load a translation project
4. Activate Preview: Enable "AI Sidecar Assistant" in MemoQ preview settings
5. Navigate Segments: Move to a segment in MemoQ
6. Edit in Sidecar: Type in the external editor
7. Accept AI Suggestions: Press Tab to accept Ghost Text
8. Confirm Translation: Press Ctrl+Enter to inject back to MemoQ

Configuration

Ollama Model Selection

Edit SidecarApp/OllamaClient.cs:

public OllamaClient(string baseUrl = "http://localhost:11434", string model = "llama2")

Replace "llama2" with your preferred model (e.g., "mistral", "codellama").

UI Customization

Edit Frontend/style.css to change colors, fonts, or layout.

Troubleshooting

"Sidecar not available (timeout)" in MemoQ logs

• Ensure SidecarApp.exe is running before opening MemoQ
• Check Windows Firewall settings for Named Pipe access

"Frontend not found" error in Sidecar

• Run npm run build in the Frontend folder
• Verify Frontend/editor.bundle.js exists
• Check SidecarApp/bin/.../Frontend/ contains HTML/CSS/JS files

AI suggestions not working

• Verify Ollama is running: curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags
• Check Sidecar console for [Ollama] Connection failed messages
• Ensure you've pulled a model: ollama list

Keyboard injection not working

• Verify MemoQ process name is "MemoQ" (case-sensitive)
• Check if MemoQ segment editor allows clipboard paste (Ctrl+V)
• Try running Sidecar as Administrator

Architecture Details

Named Pipe Communication

• Pipe Name: MemoQ_Sidecar_Pipe
• Direction: Plugin (Client) → Sidecar (Server)
• Format: JSON

Example message:

{
  "Type": "SegmentUpdate",
  "Source": "Hello world",
  "Target": "안녕하세요",
  "SourceLang": "en-US",
  "TargetLang": "ko-KR"
}

WinAPI Injection Flow

1. SetForegroundWindow(MemoQ) - Focus MemoQ
2. SendKeys("^a") - Select all text in segment
3. SendKeys("{DEL}") - Delete existing text
4. SendKeys("^v") - Paste from clipboard
5. SendKeys("^{ENTER}") - Confirm and move to next segment

Ghost Text Implementation

• Uses CodeMirror 6's StateField + Decoration.widget
• Rendered as inline, non-editable text
• Cleared on any user input
• Accepted via Tab key

Development

Debug Frontend in Browser

1. Modify MainWindow.xaml.cs to enable DevTools:

await MainWebView.EnsureCoreWebView2Async(null);
MainWebView.CoreWebView2.OpenDevToolsWindow();

2. Use browser console:

window.debugEditor.setSource("Test source text");
window.debugEditor.setContent("Test translation");
window.debugEditor.injectGhost(" suggested continuation");

Testing Without MemoQ

Use PowerShell to send test data to Named Pipe:

$pipe = New-Object System.IO.Pipes.NamedPipeClientStream(".", "MemoQ_Sidecar_Pipe", "Out")
$pipe.Connect(1000)
$writer = New-Object System.IO.StreamWriter($pipe)
$json = '{"Type":"SegmentUpdate","Source":"Hello","Target":"","SourceLang":"en","TargetLang":"ko"}'
$writer.WriteLine($json)
$writer.Flush()
$pipe.Close()

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Credits

• MemoQ SDK: Kilgray Translation Technologies
• CodeMirror 6: Marijn Haverbeke
• WebView2: Microsoft
• Ollama: Ollama Team

Support

For issues and feature requests, please create an issue on the GitHub repository.