ai-i18n

**Automated i18n translation for GitHub workflows, powered by LLMs.**
Translate your app's localization files on every push. Drop in a GitHub Action, point it at your translation files, and get pull-ready translations in seconds — not days.
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Why ai-i18n?
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Translations lag behind development by weeks | Translations ship with the code that needs them |
| Sending files to translators is a manual process | Fully automated — runs on push, commit, or schedule |
| Plural rules differ across languages | CLDR-aware ICU MessageFormat handling for 20+ languages |
| Re-translating unchanged strings wastes money | Content hashing tracks what changed — only new/modified strings hit the API |
| XLIFF inline elements get mangled | Placeholders like are extracted, preserved, and reconstructed |
Supported Formats
| Format | Extensions | Notes |
|--------|------------|-------|
| **XLIFF 1.2** | .xliff, .xlf | Full inline element preservation ( , , , etc.) |
| **XLIFF 2.0** | .xliff, .xlf | Segment-level source/target with , , / |
| **JSON (flat)** | .json | "button.save": "Save" |
| **JSON (nested)** | .json | { "button": { "save": "Save" } } |
Format is auto-detected. Override with format: xliff-1.2 if needed.
Supported Providers
Anthropic Claude
OpenAI
Ollama (self-hosted)
No API key required. Run any model you can host.
AWS Bedrock
Uses the model-agnostic Bedrock Converse API, so any Converse-capable model works — Anthropic Claude, Meta Llama, Amazon Nova/Titan, Mistral, Cohere, and more.
The recommended setup uses aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials (OIDC or keys), which populates the standard AWS credential chain — then the action only needs a region:
Or pass credentials explicitly (they fall back to the default AWS credential chain when omitted):
Make sure the target model is enabled in your account's Bedrock **Model access** settings for the chosen region. Some models require a cross-region inference profile ID (e.g. us.anthropic.claude-...) rather than the plain foundation-model ID.
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Quick Start
1. Translate on push to main
2. Translate XLIFF files from Angular / iOS / Android
3. Dry run (preview without committing)
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Inputs
| Input | Description | Required | Default |
|-------|-------------|----------|---------|
| provider | anthropic, openai, ollama, or bedrock | Yes | anthropic |
| api-key | API key (required for anthropic/openai) | No | — |
| model | Model name | No | Provider default |
| source-language | Source language code (BCP-47) | Yes | en |
| target-languages | Comma-separated target codes | Yes | — |
| files | Glob pattern for translation files | Yes | **/*.xliff |
| format | xliff-1.2, xliff-2.0, json-flat, json-nested, auto | No | auto |
| config-file | Path to config file | No | .i18n-translate.yml |
| commit | Commit translated files | No | true |
| commit-message | Git commit message | No | chore(i18n): update translations |
| batch-size | Strings per API call | No | 10 |
| max-retries | Max retry attempts | No | 3 |