Adobe Express Translate Connectors Overview

What is an Adobe Express Connector?

An Adobe Express Connector is a manifest-driven integration that lets your external service plug directly into Adobe Express workflows. You implement a set of HTTP endpoints, generate a manifest.json file, and Adobe Express handles the UI rendering, credential exchange, and API orchestration on behalf of your users.

Your service provides translation capabilities and Adobe Express surfaces them through the built-in Translate panel.

What you can build

Build a Translate connector backed by your own service
Host it yourself, or let Adobe host it for you as serverless actions on Adobe I/O Runtime using the App Builder Template
Configure the connector in Connector Playground
Test the connector in the Adobe Express Translate panel
Distribute the connector through an internal listing for users in your enterprise organization, a public listing reviewed by Adobe and enabled for the users and enterprises you designate, or a private share link for targeted testers. Start at Submit your Connector to compare options.

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Currently supported for enterprise Adobe Express users

Translate connectors, whether private, internal, or public, are currently supported for Adobe Express users signed in with an enterprise account.

Development workflow

Implement the required Translate connector endpoints in your service.
Open Connector Playground in Adobe Express.
Use the form builder to define your connector configuration.
Connector Playground generates a manifest.json for your connector.
Select Connect to validate the manifest and verify service availability.
Open the Translate panel and test your connector in Adobe Express.
Submit your connector as an internal listing, public listing, or private share link when it's ready to share.

How Adobe Express calls your service

When a user opens the Translate panel in Adobe Express with your connector active, the following sequence occurs:

Adobe Express reads your connector manifest to discover endpoints, authentication, and UI configuration.
Adobe Express renders the Translate panel UI based on your uiConfig.
If your manifest declares API-sourced form inputs (for example, a locale picker backed by your /locales endpoint), Adobe Express calls that endpoint immediately to populate the input. This happens when the panel opens, so slow responses here affect how quickly the panel becomes usable.
When the user selects options and submits the translation request, Adobe Express sends a POST request to your /translate endpoint with the source text, target locale, and any selected options such as tone.
Adobe Express displays the translated result to the user.
If the user rates the translation, Adobe Express sends a POST request to your /feedback endpoint with the rating type, reason, and optional note.

This sequence means your /locales and /tones endpoints are called on panel open, not on translation submit. If those responses are slow, users see a loading state before the panel is ready. Consider caching those responses on your service side if the option lists are mostly static.

Core concepts

Connector

A connector is an integration that allows Adobe Express to call your service and render a product-defined UI based on your manifest configuration.

Connector type

A connector type defines the capabilities and runtime contract for a specific category of integration. The first phase supports the Translate connector type.

Manifest

The manifest.json describes your connector to Adobe Express. It includes metadata, endpoint configuration, authentication settings, and UI configuration.

Connector Playground

Connector Playground is the development environment inside Adobe Express. Use it to configure a connector, generate the manifest, validate the configuration, and connect your service for testing.