|
Documentation
Book a DemoPlatform
PlatformMCPCLI
APIWorkflows
GuidesChangelog

Lingo.dev CLI

  • How it works
  • Setup
  • Quick Start
  • Monorepos

Configuration

  • Supported Formats
  • i18n.json
  • i18n.lock
  • Supported Locales

Features

  • Existing Translations
  • Adding Languages
  • Overrides
  • Translator Notes
  • Translation Keys
  • Key Renaming
  • Key Locking
  • Key Ignoring
  • Key Preserving
  • Extract Keys with AI

Performance

  • Large Projects
  • Parallel Processing

Retranslation

  • Automatic Retranslation
  • Retranslation
  • Remove Translations

Quick Start

Max PrilutskiyMax Prilutskiy·Updated 2 months ago·2 min read

Get up and running with the CLI in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have Node.js 18.0 or higher installed. Run node --version to check.

Installation#

Install the CLI globally using your preferred package manager:

bash
npm install -g lingo.dev

Verify Installation#

Confirm the CLI is installed correctly:

bash
lingo --version

You should see output like:

plaintext
lingo.dev v0.133.9
Node.js v20.10.0

Initialize Your Project#

Navigate to your project directory and run:

bash
cd my-project
lingo init

This interactive command will:

  1. Connect to your account - Authenticate with your API key
  2. Select a project - Choose an existing project or create a new one
  3. Configure locales - Select which languages to support
  4. Set up file structure - Choose where to store translation files

Configuration Created

The CLI creates an i18n.json file with your settings. You can modify this file later as needed.

Your First Translation#

Create a simple translation file:

json
{
  "welcome": {
    "title": "Welcome to Lingo.dev",
    "subtitle": "The Localization Engineering Platform"
  },
  "auth": {
    "login": "Log in",
    "logout": "Log out"
  }
}

Run Translations#

Translate your content to all configured target languages:

bash
lingo run

The CLI will:

  • ✅ Discover your source files
  • ✅ Compute a delta against the lockfile
  • ✅ Send changed content to your translation backend
  • ✅ Write translations to disk

Watch Mode (Development)#

For active development, enable watch mode to retranslate automatically when source files change:

bash
lingo run --watch

Press Ctrl+C to exit watch mode.

Getting Help#

Need assistance?

bash
# Show help for all commands
lingo --help

# Show help for a specific command
lingo run --help

Join our Discord community for real-time support!

Next Steps#

Extract Keys with AI
AI-assisted i18n setup
Translation Keys
Lock, ignore, and rename keys
Supported Locales
100+ languages and variants
Supported Formats
JSON, YAML, Markdown, and more

Was this page helpful?