---
title: "Flavor — AI-powered WordPress translation plugin"
description: "WordPress translation with single-table storage, OpenAI integration, WPML API compatibility, and WP-CLI. No per-language post duplication."
url: https://symonov.com/projects/flavor/
---

# flavor

AI-powered WordPress translation. Single-table storage, OpenAI integration, WPML public-API compatible.

**2026** · by **Serhii Symonov** · beta · `wordpress` `openai` `i18n` `php`

## the problem

WordPress translation is dominated by two heavy plugins (WPML, Polylang) that bolt onto the existing post/term schema and bring decades of edge-case scaffolding. For new sites that want clean multilingual content and AI-assisted drafts, the plugin tax is steep — performance penalty, schema sprawl, and migration risk.

## the approach

Flavor stores all translations in a single custom table keyed by `(object_type, object_id, field_name, language, string_key)` — one indexed lookup instead of a JOIN tree across per-language post copies. No post duplication, no taxonomy multiplication.

Key capabilities:

- **Single-table architecture** — `{prefix}_flavor_translations`, no per-language post copies
- **AI translation, opt-in** — OpenAI Chat Completions API, administrator-triggered, no telemetry; nothing sent until an admin configures a key and clicks “Translate”
- **WPML public-API compatible** — `icl_object_id`, `wpml_translate_single_string`, `wpml_*` filter shims; existing code keeps working after migration
- **Addon extension points** — `flv/pre_translate`, `flv/pre_translate_batch`, `flv/translation_provider` filters let addons short-circuit or swap the provider
- **WP-CLI ready** — `wp flavor translate`, `wp flavor migrate-wpml`, batch processing
- **REST API** — `/wp-json/flavor/v1/...` with per-route capability checks
- **ACF aware** — text, textarea, wysiwyg, and repeater group strings are translatable
- **URL-prefixed locales** — `/fr/about/`, `/de/about/`, automatic hreflang and sitemap entries
- **Block-aware translator** — Gutenberg block content translated with byte preservation

## stack

- WordPress 6.0+, PHP 8.0+
- Custom DB table with composite index
- OpenAI Chat Completions API (opt-in)
- WP-CLI commands
- REST API
- React-based admin UI (`@wordpress/components`)