Shipi18n
Officialby Shipi18n
README.md
# Shipi18n
[](https://github.com/Shipi18n/shipi18n/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shipi18n/core)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shipi18n/mcp)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shipi18n/cli)
[](LICENSE)
[](https://smithery.ai/servers/ogreenowow/shipi18n)
**Catch broken translations before you ship them.** An open-source QA gate for your locale files —
and, when you want it, an i18n translation engine that runs on your own LLM key.
Your `es.json` says `Hola` where the English says `Hello {{name}}`. The placeholder is gone, the
build is green, and the bug ships. Shipi18n finds that, and it finds the harder kind too: the string
that has every placeholder and still says the wrong thing.

*A real run, not a mockup — [`docs/check-demo.tape`](docs/check-demo.tape) reproduces it.*
```bash
npx @shipi18n/cli check ./locales -s en
```
No API key, no account, no config. Missing keys, dropped placeholders, collapsed plurals, empty
values and untranslated copy — as human output, JSON, SARIF (GitHub PR annotations) or JUnit.
> If the check catches something in your project, consider starring the repo — stars are how the
> next person with a broken `es.json` finds this.
Then, when you want the **meaning** checked, bring your own key. The judge needs a provider SDK
alongside the CLI:
```bash
npm i -D @shipi18n/cli @anthropic-ai/sdk # or `openai`
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... # or OPENAI_API_KEY
npx shipi18n check ./locales -s en --semantic
```
An LLM reads each pair and reports mistranslations, omissions and additions:
```
⚠ es coverage 100.0% 0 error(s), 1 warning(s)
warning delete semantic-mistranslation — Translation says 'will save' (guardará)
instead of 'will delete' (eliminará/borrará)
```
Every placeholder is intact and every key is present, so structural checks pass this file. Only
reading it catches the bug. Advisory by default — it warns, it does not fail your build.
> **Measured, not asserted.** On a 228-pair corpus committed *before* the judge was written
> ([`60d699b`](https://github.com/Shipi18n/shipi18n/commit/60d699b)) and with thresholds fixed first:
> **54/54 planted errors caught (100%)** and **12/168 false positives on clean pairs (7.1%)**, with
> 6/6 glossary violations found. Reproduced on two independent runs (2026-08-16 and 2026-08-17) using
> `claude-haiku-4-5`, 3 passes, ~59k tokens in 156s. Label accuracy moved between runs (100% →
> 98.1%) — it is a model, so read these as a range, not a constant.
> The harness is [`evals/semantic/`](evals/semantic). Run it against your own model.
Nothing goes through our servers, because there are none. The only network call is from your machine
to the provider you chose.
## Packages
| Package | Description |
| --- | --- |
| [`@shipi18n/core`](packages/core) | The engine: translation checks, the semantic judge, placeholder validation — plus provider-agnostic, structure-preserving translation with incremental mode. |
| [`@shipi18n/cli`](packages/cli) | `shipi18n check ./locales` for CI, `--semantic` for meaning, `lock` to protect hand-edits, `translate` when you need it. |
| [`@shipi18n/mcp`](packages/mcp) | MCP server — check, diff and review locale files from Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client. Validation needs **no API key**. |
| [`vite-plugin-shipi18n`](packages/vite-plugin) | Vite plugin that translates locale files at build time, with caching. |
| [`shipi18n-github-action`](packages/github-action) | GitHub Action that keeps translations in sync on push/PR. |
## Why
Generating translations is a solved problem. Half a dozen good tools will fill your locale files, and
an agent will do it for free. **Nothing checks the result.** Your CI lints your JavaScript, typechecks
your types and runs your tests — and then ships a `de.json` that nobody has read, produced by a model
nobody audited.
The checks that do exist are structural: they diff key sets and stop there. That catches the missing
key. It does not catch the translation that has every key and every placeholder and still tells your
German users the opposite of what you meant.
Shipi18n is that missing gate, in two layers:
- **Deterministic, offline, no key.** Missing and orphaned keys, dropped or malformed placeholders
(`{{name}}`, `{count}`, `%s`, `%d`, `%1$s`, `$t(...)`, `%{name}`, HTML), collapsed plural forms,
empty values, untranslated copy, coverage per language.
- **Semantic, with your own key.** An LLM-as-judge pass over changed keys only, with multi-pass
majority voting because single-pass judge scores are unstable. Reports mistranslation, omission and
addition. Advisory by default — a QA tool that fails your build gets uninstalled.
Plus the parts that make it usable day to day:
- **Formats beyond JSON.** YAML (`.yaml`/`.yml`), Flutter `.arb`, Apple `.xcstrings`, Android `strings.xml`, gettext `.po`/`.pot`, and XLIFF 1.2/2.0 — including `%@`/`%lld` specifiers.
- **CI-native.** Correct exit codes, `--fail-on`, `--min-coverage`, SARIF for PR annotations, JUnit.
- **Adopts on a messy catalog.** `--baseline` accepts today's backlog and fails only on *new* findings
(the Stylelint/RuboCop pattern); `--severity` tunes or silences any rule (`error|warning|info|off`).
- **Runs anywhere, Node or not.** GitHub [Action](https://github.com/Shipi18n/shipi18n-github-action),
a `pre-commit` hook, or the Docker image `ghcr.io/shipi18n/cli` for GitLab / Bitbucket / Jenkins / local
— no Node toolchain required. See the [CLI README](packages/cli/README.md#no-node-run-the-check-in-any-ci-with-docker).
- **WordPress `.po` ↔ JED sync.** `shipi18n wp-sync` catches JS translation JSON that has drifted from
the `.po` because nobody re-ran `wp i18n make-json` — a silent bug no other tool checks.
- **Privacy pre-flight.** Before `--semantic` sends anything to an LLM, a scan withholds any string
carrying a secret or PII (keys, cards, emails); `--detect-secrets` runs it standalone with no LLM.
- **Hand-edits are protected.** `shipi18n lock` records the translations a human blessed and warns
when anything overwrites them, or when the source moves underneath them.
- **Keyless from your editor.** The MCP server's validators call no model at all.
- **It also translates.** Provider-agnostic, structure-preserving, incremental — Anthropic and OpenAI
in the box, and any object with a `complete(prompt)` method is a valid adapter.
## Check from your editor — no API key
`@shipi18n/mcp` brings the checks to any MCP client. The validation tools call no model, so they need
no key at all.
**Claude Code** — one line:
```bash
claude mcp add shipi18n -- npx -y @shipi18n/mcp
```
**Claude Desktop / any MCP client** — paste the config:
```jsonc
// claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"shipi18n": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@shipi18n/mcp"] }
}
}
```
> *"Check ./locales against English and tell me what's broken in Spanish."*
`review_locales` goes further without needing a key either: it hands your agent the translation pairs
and the review criteria, and your agent reasons about meaning with the model it already runs.
## Check in CI — no key needed
The checks work on translations from **any** source — a TMS, another tool, an agent, a human. Run it
on every push:
```bash
npx @shipi18n/cli check ./locales -s en
```
Missing keys, dropped placeholders, collapsed plurals, empty values and untranslated copy — reported
as human output, JSON, SARIF (GitHub PR annotations) or JUnit. Works on plain JSON trees, YAML,
Flutter `.arb`, Apple `.xcstrings`, Android `strings.xml`, gettext `.po`/`.pot` and XLIFF (1.2/2.0).
Deterministic and offline: no LLM, no API key.
### Protect hand-edited translations
Fix a string by hand, lock it, and `check` warns you if anything ever overwrites it — or if the
English moves underneath it:
```bash
npx @shipi18n/cli lock ./locales --keys 'legal.*'
```
`.shipi18n/locks.json` stores hashes only, is safe to commit, and these findings are **warnings** —
protecting human work must never block a pipeline. Details in the
[CLI README](packages/cli/README.md).
## It also translates
Checking works on translations from anywhere, but if you want Shipi18n to produce them too, it does —
with your key, your model, and nothing in between.
```bash
npm i -D @shipi18n/cli @anthropic-ai/sdk # or `openai`
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... # or OPENAI_API_KEY
npx shipi18n translate locales/en.json -t es,fr,de
```
```
✔ es → locales/es.json (2 translated, 0 reused)
```
Or from Node (same SDK requirement):
```js
import { translateJSON } from '@shipi18n/core'
const { result, stats } = await translateJSON({
content: { greeting: 'Hello {{name}}' },
from: 'en',
to: 'es',
provider: 'anthropic', // 'anthropic' | 'openai' | custom { complete } adapter
})
// result → { greeting: 'Hola {{name}}' }
```
Structure-preserving, placeholder-safe and incremental — only new or changed keys are sent to the
model. Then check the result with the same tool.
## Examples
Runnable projects in [`examples/`](./examples) — [react](./examples/react) (Vite + react-i18next),
[nextjs](./examples/nextjs) (App Router), [vue](./examples/vue) (vue-i18n), and
[nodejs](./examples/nodejs) (`@shipi18n/core`). `cd` into one, install, and run its check/translate scripts.
## Development
This is a pnpm + turbo monorepo.
```bash
pnpm install
pnpm test # all packages
pnpm --filter @shipi18n/core test
```
Changesets manage versioning: `pnpm changeset` to add one.
## Contributing
Issues and pull requests are welcome — see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md). `pnpm install && pnpm test`
runs 105 tests against a mock adapter, so you need no API key to work on this.
## License
[Apache-2.0](LICENSE) © Shipi18n. See [NOTICE](NOTICE).
TDQS
A4.2/5.0
Scored across 8 tools
Disambiguation4/5
Tools are mostly distinct, but translate_json and translate_file overlap in purpose, and check_locales/diff_locales/review_locales cover related validation concerns that could occasionally be confused.
Naming Consistency5/5
All tools follow a clear verb_noun pattern (check_, diff_, review_, translate_, list_), with consistent and descriptive naming throughout.
Tool Count5/5
Eight tools is a reasonable, focused set for an i18n workflow, covering validation, diffing, translation, glossary, and language listing without feeling bloated.
Completeness5/5
The toolset covers the core i18n lifecycle: listing languages, translating JSON/files, validating structure, checking glossaries, identifying missing keys, and reviewing translation quality. No major gaps are apparent.
Maintenance
ActivityActive
ResponsivenessSlow