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Smartling

Smartling is a translation management platform. This connector calls the Smartling REST API at api.smartling.com, so an agent can look up projects, source files and their translation status, strings, and translation jobs. It is read-only: it ships eight read tools and nothing that creates, changes, or deletes content.

Why not Smartling's own MCP server

Smartling hosts an MCP server at https://mcp.smartling.com/mcp. For new connections it only accepts an OAuth 2.1 browser login, so a Smartling API token and secret can't be used with it (Smartling MCP Server help article). Connecting it with a token and secret fails with Invalid client_id. Use this connector when you want to connect with an API token.

Authentication​

The connector uses Client Credentials. Smartling API tokens consist of a user identifier and a user secret. Willow sends them to Smartling's Authenticate endpoint (POST https://api.smartling.com/auth-api/v2/authenticate) and uses the short-lived access token it gets back as Authorization: Bearer <token>. Smartling access tokens expire after about 5 to 10 minutes (Authentication). The user secret stays in Willow and is never shown to the agent.

Create the API token in Smartling​

Only users with the Account Owner or Project Manager role can create API tokens (API Tokens).

  1. Sign in to Smartling and go to API → Create Token.
  2. Scope the token. Tokens can cover a whole account or one project, and Smartling recommends project-specific tokens (Authentication). The connector only reads, so a project token is enough for every tool except List Projects.
  3. Copy the user identifier and user secret. The secret can't be viewed again after you leave the confirmation page.
  4. Optional: note your Account UID, shown in the Smartling Dashboard under Account Settings → API. List Projects needs it.

If authentication fails with valid credentials, check whether your Smartling account has an IP allowlist and whether Willow's requests come from an allowed address.

Configure in Willow​

  1. In Willow, go to MCP Servers → + Add MCP server.
  2. Find the Smartling card with the By Willow badge and click + Use.
  3. Under Authentication, choose Client Credentials.
  4. Enter the user identifier as Client ID and the user secret as Client Secret.
  5. Check that Token URL is https://api.smartling.com/auth-api/v2/authenticate. The connector supplies it. Enter it if the field is empty.
  6. Optional: under the connector's settings, enter your Account UID. List Projects uses it when the caller doesn't pass one.
  7. Use Test credentials, then Save Changes.
  8. Run List Projects (or Get Project with a project ID) to confirm the connection.

Available Tools​

The Smartling connector ships 8 read-only tools.

Projects (2 tools)​

  • List Projects — list the projects in an account, optionally filtered by name or including archived projects.
  • Get Project — get a project's name, type, source locale, and target locales.

Files (2 tools)​

  • Search Recent Files — list up to 100 recently uploaded source files, filtered by URI substring or upload date.
  • Get File Status — get a file's authorized, completed, and excluded string and word counts for each target locale.

Strings (1 tool)​

  • Search Strings — search a project's strings with Smartling's Content Search API. Filter by source text, locale, hashcode, file, namespace, or workflow status. Returns source text, file and key, and translations per locale.

Jobs (3 tools)​

  • List File Jobs — find up to 100 translation jobs that contain a given file.
  • Get Job — get a job's name, number, status, dates, source files, target locales, and issue counts.
  • Get Job Progress — get a job's overall percent complete and word count, and for each target locale the string and word counts at every workflow step.

Troubleshooting​

Invalid client_id when connecting​

Cause: The connection is the hosted Smartling MCP server (mcp.smartling.com/mcp) set up with Proxy OAuth. That server only accepts an OAuth browser login for new connections, and a token and secret are not an OAuth client ID.

Solution: Use this connector with Client Credentials, or switch the hosted server's connection to its OAuth sign-in.

401 or AUTHENTICATION_ERROR on every call​

Cause: The user identifier or user secret is wrong, the token was deleted in Smartling, or the account has an IP allowlist that doesn't include Willow.

Solution: Create a new token in Smartling and update Client ID and Client Secret. Check the account's IP allowlist.

AUTHORIZATION_ERROR or 403 on one project​

Cause: Most likely the token is scoped to a different project, or its user has no access to this one.

Solution: Use a token scoped to that project, or an account-scoped token.

List Projects fails with a missing account​

Cause: No Account UID is set in the connector settings and none was passed to the tool.

Solution: Enter the Account UID under the connector's settings, or pass account_uid to the tool.

429 MAX_OPERATIONS_LIMIT_EXCEEDED​

Cause: Smartling limits request rate and concurrent requests, per user, project, or account depending on the endpoint (Overview of the API).

Solution: Pause and retry.

Additional Resources​

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