translate-messages 1.5.1

Translate en/messages.json (chrome.i18n format) to 100+ locales automatically.

> translate-messages

Translate en/messages.json (chrome.i18n format) to 100+ locales automatically.

Installation

pip install translate-messages

Usage

Run the CLI:

translate-messages [options] # or translate-msgs

If no options are passed, the CLI will:

1. Prompt for message keys to ignore
2. Auto-discover closest child _locales dir
3. Translate found en/messages.json to target languages

Note: Any messages.json in the chrome.i18n format can be used as a source file.

Options

Options can be set by using command-line arguments:

Option	Description	Example
-d, --locales-dir	Name of the folder containing locale files (default: _locales)	--locales-dir=_messages
-t, --target-langs	Comma-separated list of languages to translate to (default: all 100+ stable_locales)	--target-langs=es,fr
-k, --keys	Comma-separated list of keys to translate (default: all found src keys missing in target files)	--keys=app_DESC,err_NOT_FOUND
--exclude-langs	Comma-separated list of languages to exclude	--exclude-langs=es,zh
--exclude-keys	Comma-separated list of keys to ignore	--exclude-keys=app_NAME,author
--only-stable	Only use stable locales (skip auto-discovery)
--config	Use custom config file	--config=path/to/file
init, -i, --init	Create .translate-msgs.config.json5 in project root to store default options
-f, --force	Force overwrite of existing config file when using init
-n, --no-wizard	Skip interactive prompts during start-up
-h, --help	Show help screen
-v, --version	Show version
--docs	Open docs URL

Examples

Translate all keys except app_NAME from _locales/en/messages.json to all stable_locales:

translate-messages --ignore-keys=app_NAME  # prompts for more keys to ignore

Translate app_DESC key from messges/en/messages.json to French:

translate-messages -n --keys=app_DESC --locales-dir=messages --target-langs=fr  # no prompts

Translate app_DESC + err_NOT_FOUND keys from _msgs/en/messages.json to Spanish and Hindi:

translate-msgs -n -k app_DESC,err_NOT_FOUND -d _msgs -t es,hi  # no prompts

Config file

Run translate-msgs init to create .translate-msgs.config.json5 in your project root to set default options.

Example defaults:

{
  "locales_dir": "_locales", // name of the folder containing locale files
  "target_langs": "",        // languages to translate to (e.g. "en,es,fr") (default: all 100+ supported locales)
  "keys": "",                // keys to translate (e.g. "app_DESC,err_NOT_FOUND")
  "exclude_langs": "",       // languages to exclude (e.g. "en,es")
  "exclude_keys": "",        // keys to ignore (e.g. "app_NAME,author")
  "force": false,            // force overwrite existing config file when using init
  "no_wizard": false         // skip interactive prompts during start-up
}

Note: CLI arguments always override config file.

MIT License

Copyright © 2023–2026 Adam Lui.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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