Detect Language & Dialect - Developer Platform

Detect language, dialect, script, and text direction from any text input. Uses local NAGL modules only — no external AI call, so responses return in under 100ms.

Cost: $0.002 per request (2 credits). Semantic cache hits are free (X-NAWA-Cache: HIT).

Request

Headers

Header	Required	Description
`Authorization`	Yes	`Bearer nawa_live_sk_xxx` or `Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx`
`Content-Type`	Yes	`application/json`

Body parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`text`	string	Yes	The text to detect. Max 5,000 characters.

Example request

curl -X POST https://api.trynawa.com/v1/detect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟"}'

import { Nawa } from '@nawalabs/sdk'

const nawa = new Nawa({ apiKey: process.env.NAWA_API_KEY })

const { data, error } = await nawa.detect({
  text: 'وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟'
})

from nawa import Nawa

nawa = Nawa(api_key="your_api_key")

result = nawa.detect(text="وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟")

Response

Success response (200)

{
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "id": "det_nw_pon1yom9bkfe",
    "object": "detection",
    "text": "وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟",
    "language": "ar",
    "dialect": "gulf",
    "dialect_confidence": 0.95,
    "script": "arabic",
    "text_direction": "rtl",
    "word_count": 4,
    "fallback_used": false,
    "cached": false,
    "cost_usd": 0.002,
    "credits_used": 2
  },
  "errors": [],
  "request_id": "req_nw_4c11w71e44cb"
}

Result fields

Field	Type	Description
`text`	string	The original input text
`language`	string	Detected language: `ar`, `en`, or `mixed`
`dialect`	string or null	Detected Arabic dialect: `gulf`, `egyptian`, `levantine`, `msa`. Null if not Arabic.
`dialect_confidence`	number or null	Confidence score 0—1 for dialect detection. Null if not Arabic.
`script`	string	Script type: `arabic`, `latin`, or `mixed`
`text_direction`	string	Text direction: `rtl` or `ltr`
`word_count`	number	Number of words in the input text
`fallback_used`	boolean	Always `false` for this endpoint (local detection only)
`cached`	boolean	Whether served from semantic cache
`cost_usd`	number	Cost in USD
`credits_used`	number	Credits deducted

Detection examples

Gulf Arabic

Input: “وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟” Result: language: ar, dialect: gulf, confidence: 0.95, script: arabic, direction: rtl

curl -X POST https://api.trynawa.com/v1/detect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "وش رايكم بالمحتوى الجديد؟"}'

Egyptian Arabic

Input: “الفيديو ده جامد أوي” Result: language: ar, dialect: egyptian, script: arabic, direction: rtl

curl -X POST https://api.trynawa.com/v1/detect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "الفيديو ده جامد أوي"}'

English

Input: “This is a great video” Result: language: en, dialect: null, script: latin, direction: ltr

curl -X POST https://api.trynawa.com/v1/detect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "This is a great video"}'

Mixed script

Input: “awesome محتوى” Result: language: mixed, dialect detected, script: mixed, direction: rtl

curl -X POST https://api.trynawa.com/v1/detect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nawa_test_sk_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "awesome محتوى"}'

Error responses

Status	Type	When
400	`invalid_request_error`	Missing `text`. Text too long.
401	`authentication_error`	Invalid or missing API key
402	`insufficient_credits`	No credits remaining
429	`rate_limit_error`	Rate limit exceeded
500	`api_error`	Internal error

​Request

​Headers

​Body parameters

​Example request

​Response

​Success response (200)

​Result fields

​Detection examples

​Error responses

Request

Headers

Body parameters

Example request

Response

Success response (200)

Result fields

Detection examples

Error responses