Lokalise Core Workflow B

Overview

Everything on the "Lokalise to app" side: download translated files, manage translations and review status, leverage translation memory, manage contributors and their language access, and handle format differences across JSON, XLIFF, and PO files.

Prerequisites

• Lokalise API token exported as

  LOKALISE_API_TOKEN

• Lokalise project ID exported as

  LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID

• @lokalise/node-api

  installed for SDK examples

• lokalise2

  CLI installed for CLI examples

• unzip

  available for extracting download bundles

Instructions

1. Download translated files. The download endpoint returns an S3 URL to a zip bundle — request the bundle, download the zip, then extract.

SDK — Download and extract:

import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/node-api";
import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
import { mkdirSync } from "node:fs";

const client = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN! });
const PROJECT_ID = process.env.LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID!;

// Request the download bundle
const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "json",
  original_filenames: false,
  bundle_structure: "%LANG_ISO%.json",     // Output: en.json, fr.json, de.json
  filter_langs: ["en", "fr", "de", "es"],  // Only these languages
  export_empty_as: "base",                 // Use base language for empty translations
  include_tags: ["release-3.0"],           // Only keys with this tag
  replace_breaks: false,
});

const bundleUrl = download.bundle_url;
console.log(`Bundle URL: ${bundleUrl}`);

// Download and extract
mkdirSync("./locales", { recursive: true });
execSync(`curl -sL "${bundleUrl}" -o /tmp/lokalise-bundle.zip`);
execSync(`unzip -o /tmp/lokalise-bundle.zip -d ./locales`);
console.log("Translations extracted to ./locales/");

CLI — Download with structure:

set -euo pipefail
lokalise2 --token "$LOKALISE_API_TOKEN" file download \
  --project-id "$LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID" \
  --format json \
  --original-filenames=false \
  --bundle-structure "locales/%LANG_ISO%.json" \
  --filter-langs "en,fr,de,es" \
  --export-empty-as base \
  --replace-breaks=false \
  --unzip-to .

SDK — Download with original file structure preserved:

const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "json",
  original_filenames: true,
  directory_prefix: "",                    // No extra prefix
  export_empty_as: "skip",                 // Omit untranslated keys
  include_comments: false,
  include_description: false,
});

2. Manage translations — list, update, and mark as reviewed.

SDK — List translations for a language:

const frTranslations = await client.translations().list({
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  filter_lang_id: 673,            // Language ID for French (find via languages endpoint)
  filter_is_reviewed: 0,          // Only unreviewed
  limit: 100,
});

for (const t of frTranslations.items) {
  console.log(`[${t.key_id}] ${t.translation} (reviewed: ${t.is_reviewed})`);
}

SDK — Update a translation:

const updated = await client.translations().update(TRANSLATION_ID, {
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  translation: "Nouvelle traduction",
  is_reviewed: false,              // Mark as needing review after edit
});

SDK — Mark translations as reviewed (batch):

const unreviewed = await client.translations().list({
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  filter_lang_id: LANG_ID,
  filter_is_reviewed: 0,
  limit: 500,
});

for (const t of unreviewed.items) {
  await client.translations().update(t.translation_id, {
    project_id: PROJECT_ID,
    is_reviewed: true,
  });
}

console.log(`Marked ${unreviewed.items.length} translations as reviewed`);

SDK — List translations with cursor pagination (for large datasets):

async function* paginateTranslations(
  client: LokaliseApi,
  projectId: string,
  langId: number
) {
  let cursor: string | undefined;
  do {
    const params: Record<string, unknown> = {
      project_id: projectId,
      filter_lang_id: langId,
      limit: 500,
    };
    if (cursor) params.cursor = cursor;

    const page = await client.translations().list(params);
    yield* page.items;
    cursor = page.hasNextCursor() ? page.nextCursor() : undefined;
  } while (cursor);
}

// Usage
for await (const t of paginateTranslations(client, PROJECT_ID, 673)) {
  console.log(`${t.key_id}: ${t.translation}`);
}

3. Leverage translation memory (TM) for auto-suggestions based on previously translated segments.

SDK — Use TM during upload:

const tmResults = await client.translationProviders().list({
  team_id: TEAM_ID,
});

// TM is automatically applied during file upload when `use_automations: true`
const upload = await client.files().upload(PROJECT_ID, {
  data: base64Data,
  filename: "en.json",
  lang_iso: "en",
  use_automations: true,       // Apply TM and MT suggestions automatically
  slashn_to_linebreak: true,
});

SDK — Leverage TM during download (pre-translate empty keys):

// Pre-translate uses TM + MT before download
// First, trigger pre-translation
// Then download with filled translations
const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "json",
  original_filenames: false,
  bundle_structure: "%LANG_ISO%.json",
  export_empty_as: "base",    // Fallback to base language if TM has no match
});

4. Manage contributors — add translators and configure language access.

SDK — Add a translator with specific language access:

const contributor = await client.contributors().create({
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  contributors: [
    {
      email: "translator@example.com",
      fullname: "Marie Dupont",
      is_admin: false,
      is_reviewer: true,
      languages: [
        {
          lang_iso: "fr",
          is_writable: true,       // Can edit French translations
        },
        {
          lang_iso: "de",
          is_writable: false,      // Read-only access to German
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

console.log(`Added contributor: ${contributor.items[0].email}`);

SDK — List all contributors:

const contributors = await client.contributors().list({
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  limit: 100,
});

for (const c of contributors.items) {
  const langs = c.languages.map(
    (l: { lang_iso: string; is_writable: boolean }) =>
      `${l.lang_iso}${l.is_writable ? "(rw)" : "(r)"}`
  ).join(", ");
  console.log(`${c.fullname} <${c.email}> — ${langs}`);
}

SDK — Update contributor permissions:

await client.contributors().update(CONTRIBUTOR_ID, {
  project_id: PROJECT_ID,
  is_reviewer: true,
  languages: [
    { lang_iso: "fr", is_writable: true },
    { lang_iso: "es", is_writable: true },   // Grant Spanish write access
  ],
});

5. Handle file format differences across JSON flat, JSON nested, XLIFF, and PO.

JSON flat (react-i18next default):

{
  "greeting.hello": "Hello",
  "greeting.goodbye": "Goodbye",
  "errors.network": "Network error"
}

Download config:

const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "json",
  json_unescaped_slashes: true,
  original_filenames: false,
  bundle_structure: "%LANG_ISO%.json",
  placeholder_format: "icu",          // {name} style
  export_sort: "a_z",
});

JSON nested (next-intl, vue-i18n):

{
  "greeting": {
    "hello": "Hello",
    "goodbye": "Goodbye"
  },
  "errors": {
    "network": "Network error"
  }
}

Download config — use

_

.

set -euo pipefail
lokalise2 --token "$LOKALISE_API_TOKEN" file download \
  --project-id "$LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID" \
  --format json \
  --original-filenames=false \
  --bundle-structure "%LANG_ISO%.json" \
  --export-key-name-as "key_name_dot_separated" \
  --unzip-to ./locales

XLIFF 1.2 (iOS, Angular):

const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "xliff",
  original_filenames: false,
  bundle_structure: "%LANG_ISO%.xliff",
  export_empty_as: "empty",
});

PO / GNU gettext:

set -euo pipefail
lokalise2 --token "$LOKALISE_API_TOKEN" file download \
  --project-id "$LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID" \
  --format po \
  --original-filenames=false \
  --bundle-structure "%LANG_ISO%/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po" \
  --unzip-to ./locales

Upload format auto-detection:

// Lokalise detects format from filename extension
// Just make sure the filename matches the content format
await client.files().upload(PROJECT_ID, {
  data: base64Data,
  filename: "messages.xliff",   // Triggers XLIFF parser
  lang_iso: "en",
});

Output

• Downloaded translation files extracted to project directory
• Translations updated and review status managed
• Contributors added with appropriate language permissions
• Files exported in the correct format for your i18n framework

Error Handling

404 Project not found

project_id

client.projects().list()

Empty bundle (0 files)

include_tags

filter_langs

400 Invalid format

json

xliff

po

strings

xml

yaml

Download timeout

filter_langs

403 Forbidden

curl: (28) Operation timed out

Examples

Build-Time Translation Fetch

// scripts/fetch-translations.ts — run in CI before build
import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/node-api";
import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
import { mkdirSync, readdirSync } from "node:fs";

const client = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN! });
const PROJECT_ID = process.env.LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID!;

const download = await client.files().download(PROJECT_ID, {
  format: "json",
  original_filenames: false,
  bundle_structure: "%LANG_ISO%.json",
  export_empty_as: "base",
  export_sort: "a_z",
  replace_breaks: false,
});

mkdirSync("./src/locales", { recursive: true });
execSync(`curl -sL "${download.bundle_url}" -o /tmp/i18n.zip`);
execSync("unzip -o /tmp/i18n.zip -d ./src/locales");

const files = readdirSync("./src/locales").filter((f) => f.endsWith(".json"));
console.log(`Downloaded ${files.length} locale files: ${files.join(", ")}`);

Contributor Onboarding Script

const translators = [
  { email: "hans@example.com", name: "Hans Mueller", langs: ["de"] },
  { email: "yuki@example.com", name: "Yuki Tanaka", langs: ["ja"] },
  { email: "ana@example.com",  name: "Ana Garcia",  langs: ["es", "pt"] },
];

for (const t of translators) {
  await client.contributors().create({
    project_id: PROJECT_ID,
    contributors: [{
      email: t.email,
      fullname: t.name,
      is_admin: false,
      is_reviewer: false,
      languages: t.langs.map((l) => ({ lang_iso: l, is_writable: true })),
    }],
  });
  console.log(`Invited ${t.name} for ${t.langs.join(", ")}`);
}

Resources

• File Download API
• Translations API
• Contributors API
• Export Options Reference
• Bundle Structure Placeholders
• Supported File Formats

Next Steps

For common errors and troubleshooting, see

lokalise-common-errors

lokalise-sdk-patterns