android-localisation 1.0.0

Zero-dependency Android strings.xml translation and verification using LLMs (Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama).

Android LLM Localization

A zero-dependency Python tool to translate, fix, and verify Android strings.xml resources using Large Language Models (LLMs) — Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), or any local model via Ollama.

Why this exists?

Localizing Android apps usually involves paying for services, exporting CSVs, or manually using Google Translate. This tool translates strings.xml directly in your project using modern LLMs, giving significantly better context-aware translations.

Zero dependencies — no pip install of extra libraries required. Uses only Python's built-in networking.

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Installation

pip install android-localisation

To update to the latest version:

pip install --upgrade android-localisation

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Quick Start

# 1. Translate (Gemini free tier recommended)
android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY

# 2. Fix any XML escaping issues introduced by the LLM
android-localise fix

# 3. Verify no format specifiers were corrupted (requires Java JDK)
android-localise verify

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The Three Commands

1. translate — Translate strings into all locale directories

Reads app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml (English) and writes translated strings.xml into every values-* directory it finds.

Prerequisites:

• Create empty values-<lang>/ folders for each language you want (e.g. values-hi/, values-es/)
• Get an API key — Google Gemini AI Studio has a generous free tier

# Basic — Gemini (default)
android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY

# With app context for better translations
android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_KEY --app-context "a fitness tracking app"

# OpenAI
android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_KEY --provider openai --model gpt-4o

# Anthropic (Claude)
android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_KEY --provider anthropic

# Local model via Ollama
android-localise translate --provider custom --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions --model llama3

Full arguments:

Argument	Description	Default
--api-key	API key (or set GEMINI_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env vars)	None
--provider	AI provider: gemini, openai, anthropic, custom	gemini
--model	Model name (e.g. gemini-2.5-flash, gpt-4o, claude-3-5-sonnet-latest)	provider default
--app-context	Short description of your app to improve translation quality	None
--res-dir	Path to the Android res/ directory	app/src/main/res
--base-url	Base URL for custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints	None
--sleep	Seconds between requests to avoid rate limits	5.0

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2. fix — Fix XML escaping issues

LLMs occasionally introduce malformed characters — curly apostrophes ('), unescaped quotes, or broken % symbols. This command cleans them all up.

android-localise fix
# or with a custom res dir:
android-localise fix --res-dir path/to/res

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3. verify — Catch format specifier crashes before they happen

LLMs can corrupt Android format specifiers like %1$s or %d, which causes UnknownFormatConversionException crashes at runtime. This command compiles a Java verifier and dry-runs String.format() against every translated string.

android-localise verify

Requires javac in your system PATH. Run from Android Studio's terminal if needed.

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Recommended Workflow

1. Update your English strings.xml
2. Create empty values-<lang>/ folders for the languages you want
3. android-localise translate --api-key YOUR_KEY
4. android-localise fix
5. android-localise verify
6. Build and test your app

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Supported Providers

Provider	Default Model	API Key Env Var
gemini (default)	gemini-2.5-flash	GEMINI_API_KEY
openai	gpt-4o-mini	OPENAI_API_KEY
anthropic	claude-3-5-sonnet-latest	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
custom	(must specify)	OPENAI_API_KEY or none

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Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome at github.com/BharathKmalviya/android-llm-localization.

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Created to make Android localization accessible, free, and completely automated.