Guides
Translation files are source code that somebody else edits.
Practical guides on the parts of i18n that are not the library: branch workflows, machine translation, and the shape of the JSON. Written for whoever owns the locale folder.
A graph of the branch checkout-redesign leaving the main branch, gaining 12 keys, then translations in de, fr, es, then a review, before merging back into main.
Workflow
Getting translations to move at the same speed as the code that needs them.
AI & review
What a machine can translate, what it cannot, and who checks the difference.
Translating JSON Files With AI
What machine translation gets right in a locale file and what it does not: placeholders, plural forms, missing context — and a review pass that is not reading everything twice.
Translation Review Workflow
Three statuses, one required reason, and a readiness check your CI can wait for: how translation review works, and who is allowed to say yes.
File formats
How locale files are shaped, and what each shape costs you later.
Nested vs Flat JSON for i18n
Dotted keys or nested objects in a locale file? What each shape costs in a diff, at merge time and in a translation tool — and how to convert between them without losing a key.
The ARB File Format
What an ARB file carries beyond keys and values: the @ entry per key, which attributes anything actually reads, and why an annotated file comes back stripped.
The XLIFF Handoff to a Translation Agency
Your locale files are JSON, the agency only takes XLIFF. What one document carries, which part of it is a claim rather than a fact, and how a language gets out and back.
Getting it right
What makes a translation wrong rather than merely worse — and what catches it.
Placeholder Validation for Translations
How a translation loses {count} or %s without anybody noticing — and where Mergua compares the two: the editor, an upload, your pipeline, an AI round.
Context for Translators
Why “Open” is three words in German, and the two fields that settle it: a context note and a character limit, written in your repo and pushed with the strings.
Looking for the manual?
These are guides — they answer a question about translation files whether or not you use Mergua. The product's own documentation is next door.
Or try the thing the guides describe.
Branch your translations, review them, and sync them from the pipeline you already have. Free to start.
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