Overview - koharu

Skip to content

How-To Guides

Explanation

Reference

Contribute

Now available:<br>llama.cpp local inference

Run GGUF models locally with CUDA, Vulkan, or Metal acceleration.

Translate manga locally, privately, and with a real production pipeline.

Koharu is a Rust desktop application for manga translation. It handles OCR,<br>cleanup, translation, review, and export on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Local models include

sakura<br>vntl-llama3<br>hunyuan<br>lfm2

Download

Free and open source.

No-GUI Deployment

Run Koharu without the desktop window when you need a local Web UI or a scriptable translation runtime.

The desktop app is the primary interface, but the same runtime can also run<br>headless. Use it for browser-based access, repeatable batch work, or local<br>automation that still depends on Koharu's page-aware pipeline.

Headless mode

Start Koharu without the desktop window and keep the same translation<br>runtime available through a browser session on a fixed local port.

# macOS / Linux<br>koharu --port 4000 --headless

# Windows<br>koharu.exe --port 4000 --headless

What headless is for

Use it when you need the desktop workflow in a form that is easier to<br>script, schedule, or expose to other local tools.

Local Web UI<br>Batch jobs<br>Scripts<br>Remote desktop host

MCP Integration

Let agents drive Koharu while models and page data stay on the local machine.

Koharu includes MCP support so the desktop UI, headless mode, and agent<br>workflows all talk to the same local translation runtime instead of drifting<br>into separate stacks.

One runtime, multiple entry points

The same page pipeline powers the desktop UI, the headless Web UI, and MCP<br>tools, so automation stays aligned with normal editing sessions.

Agent-friendly translation tasks

Use agents for batch translation, review loops, exports, and helper tooling<br>that needs access to OCR, cleanup, translation, and page-level outputs.

Developer Friendly

Build from source and reuse the same runtime in your own tooling.

Koharu is designed to be practical to build and practical to integrate. Use<br>Bun and Rust for local builds, stable runtime flags for deployment, and<br>headless mode or MCP when you need automation around the app.

Build

Build the desktop app from source with the same Bun and Rust toolchain<br>used by the project.

bun install<br>bun run build

Runtime flags

The desktop binary exposes a small set of runtime flags for local<br>deployment and automation without introducing a separate backend service.

--headless<br>--port<br>--download<br>--cpu

Automation

Reuse the same page pipeline in headless mode or through MCP when Koharu<br>needs to participate in larger local workflows.

Desktop app<br>Headless mode<br>Local Web UI<br>MCP agent workflows<br>Local integrations