Glossaries

Glossaries are a powerful tool to make sure your translations are consistent and accurate. On this page, we'll dive into the different glossary endpoints you can use to manage glossaries programmatically. We'll look at how to create, update, and delete glossaries.

The glossary model

The glossary model contains metadata about your glossaries, such as their name, description, and base language. It also contains a reference to the entries in the glossary and information about when the glossary was created and last updated.

Properties

Name
id
Type
integer
Description
Unique identifier for the glossary.
Name
name
Type
string
Description
The name of the glossary.
Name
description
Type
string
Description
An optional description of the glossary.
Name
base_language
Type
string
Description
The base language for the glossary. All glossary entries need to contain at least a term in the base language.
Name
is_active
Type
boolean
Description
Whether or not the glossary is active and can be used.
Name
updated_at
Type
timestamp
Description
Timestamp of when the glossary was last updated.
Name
created_at
Type
timestamp
Description
Timestamp of when the glossary was created.

GET/v1/glossaries

List all glossaries

This endpoint allows you to retrieve a paginated list of all your glossaries. By default, a maximum of 50 glossaries are shown per page.

Request

GET

/v1/glossaries

curl -G https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}"

Response

{
  "glossaries": [
    {
      "id": 0,
      "name": "string",
      "description": "string",
      "base_language": "string",
      "is_active": true,
      "created_at": "2025-12-09T10:30:29.114Z",
      "updated_at": "2025-12-09T10:30:29.114Z"
    }
  ],
  "total": 0,
  "limit": 0,
  "offset": 0
}

POST/v1/glossaries

Create a glossary

This endpoint allows you to add a new glossary. To add a glossary, you must provide a name and base language.

Required attributes

Name
name
Type
string
Description
The name for the glossary.
Name
base_language
Type
string
Description
The base language for the glossary.

Optional attributes

Name
description
Type
string
Description
A description for the glossary.

Request

POST

/v1/glossaries

curl https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}"
  -d name="Standard Glossary" \
  -d base_language="en"

Response

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Standard Glossary",
  "description": "",
  "base_language": "en",
  "is_active": true,
  "created_at": "2025-12-09T10:34:41.135Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-09T10:34:41.135Z"
}

GET/v1/glossaries/:glossary_id

Retrieve a glossary

This endpoint allows you to retrieve a glossary by providing its id. Refer to the list at the top of this page to see which properties are included with glossary objects.

Request

GET

/v1/glossaries/1

curl https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}"

Response

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Standard Glossary",
  "description": "",
  "base_language": "en",
  "is_active": true,
  "created_at": "2025-12-09T10:34:41.135Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-09T10:34:41.135Z"
}

PUT/v1/glossaries/:glossary_id

Update a glossary

This endpoint allows you to perform an update on a glossary. All attributes are optional - only include the fields you want to update.

Optional attributes

Name
name
Type
string
Description
The name for the glossary.
Name
description
Type
string
Description
A description for the glossary.
Name
base_language
Type
string
Description
The base language code for the glossary.
Name
is_active
Type
boolean
Description
Whether or not the glossary is active and can be used.

Request

PUT

/v1/glossaries/1

curl -X PUT https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Standard Glossary",
    "description": "Standard Glossary for Acme Inc.",
    "is_active": false
  }'

Response

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Standard Glossary",
  "description": "Standard Glossary for Acme Inc.",
  "base_language": "en",
  "is_active": false,
  "created_at": "2025-12-09T10:39:04.329Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-12-09T10:39:04.329Z"
}

DELETE/v1/glossaries/:glossary_id

Delete a glossary

This endpoint allows you to delete glossaries. Note: This will also delete all entries in this glossary.

Request

DELETE

/v1/glossaries/1

curl -X DELETE https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}"

POST/v1/glossaries/import

Import glossary from CSV

This endpoint allows you to create a new glossary from a CSV file. The CSV format should have language codes in the first row and term translations in subsequent rows.

CSV Format

First row: language codes (e.g., en, de, fr)
First column: base/primary language
Subsequent rows: term translations

Example CSV:

en,de,fr
car,Auto,voiture
house,Haus,maison

All imported terms default to 'preferred' term type.

Required form fields

Name
file
Type
file
Description
The CSV file to import.
Name
name
Type
string
Description
The name for the new glossary.
Name
base_language
Type
string
Description
The base language code (must match the first column in the CSV).

Optional form fields

Name
description
Type
string
Description
A description for the glossary.

Request

POST

/v1/glossaries/import

curl https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/import \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}" \
  -F "file=@glossary.csv" \
  -F "name=Technical Glossary" \
  -F "base_language=en" \
  -F "description=Technical terms for product documentation"

Response

{
  "glossary_id": 1,
  "entries_imported": 150,
  "terms_imported": 450,
  "message": "Glossary imported successfully"
}

POST/v1/glossaries/:glossary_id/import

Import to existing glossary

This endpoint allows you to import entries from a CSV file into an existing glossary. The CSV format should match the glossary's base language in the first column.

CSV Format

First row: language codes (e.g., en, de, fr)
First column: must match the glossary's base language
Subsequent rows: term translations

Example CSV:

en,de,fr
car,Auto,voiture
house,Haus,maison

All imported terms default to 'preferred' term type. Duplicate terms (same term+language already in glossary) will be skipped.

Required form fields

Name
file
Type
file
Description
The CSV file to import.

Request

POST

/v1/glossaries/1/import

curl https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/1/import \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}" \
  -F "file=@additional-terms.csv"

Response

{
  "glossary_id": 1,
  "entries_imported": 25,
  "terms_imported": 75,
  "duplicates_skipped": 5,
  "message": "Import completed successfully"
}

POST/v1/glossaries/:glossary_id/analyze

Analyze text against glossary

This endpoint allows you to analyze text against glossary terms using AI to find matches and violations. It returns matches (correctly used terms) and violations (forbidden terms used, preferred terms not used, etc.).

Required attributes

Name
text
Type
string
Description
The text to analyze against the glossary.

Optional attributes

Name
source_language
Type
string
Description
The source language code of the text being analyzed.
Name
provider
Type
string
Description
The AI provider to use for analysis (default: "openai").

Request

POST

/v1/glossaries/1/analyze

curl -X POST https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/1/analyze \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "The API provides a programming interface for developers.",
    "source_language": "en",
    "provider": "openai"
  }'

Response

{
  "matches": [
    {
      "term": "API",
      "position": 4,
      "glossary_term_id": 1,
      "term_type": "preferred"
    }
  ],
  "violations": [
    {
      "term": "programming interface",
      "position": 22,
      "violation_type": "forbidden_term_used",
      "suggested_term": "API"
    }
  ],
  "analyzed_text": "The API provides a programming interface for developers.",
  "glossary_id": 1
}

POST/v1/glossaries/search

Search glossary terms

This endpoint allows you to search for terms across all glossaries in your organization. Returns partial matches across all languages and glossaries with context.

Required attributes

Name
query
Type
string
Description
The search query to find matching terms.

Optional attributes

Name
limit
Type
integer
Description
Maximum number of results to return (default: 50, max: 100).
Name
offset
Type
integer
Description
Number of results to skip for pagination (default: 0).

Request

POST

/v1/glossaries/search

curl -X POST https://api.elanlanguages.ai/v1/glossaries/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
  -H "X-Org-Id: {orgId}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "interface",
    "limit": 10,
    "offset": 0
  }'

Response

{
  "results": [
    {
      "term_id": 1,
      "term": "API",
      "lang": "en",
      "description": "Application Programming Interface",
      "term_type": "preferred",
      "glossary_id": 1,
      "glossary_name": "Technical Glossary",
      "entry_id": 1
    },
    {
      "term_id": 3,
      "term": "Interface",
      "lang": "en",
      "description": "An alternative term",
      "term_type": "forbidden",
      "glossary_id": 1,
      "glossary_name": "Technical Glossary",
      "entry_id": 1
    }
  ],
  "total": 2,
  "limit": 10,
  "offset": 0
}