CLI

The CLI (cli/) is an ESM Node 22.12+ package built on commander. It works on the JSON files the extension exports and imports, which makes it useful for translating without running the server, for checking a translation file into a repository, and for reviewing translations in a diff.

cd cli
npm install
npx any-i18n --help

translate

npx any-i18n translate --input _keys.json --language de [--output de.json]

Flag	Required	Meaning
--input <file>	yes	Path to a _keys.json export.
--language <lang>	yes	Target language code, e.g. de, fr, es.
--output <file>	no	Output path; defaults to <language>.json in the working directory.

The input must contain both _meta and keys, and keys must not be empty — otherwise the command exits with status 1 and a message. All keys are sent in a single prompt asking for the same keys with translated values, preserving HTML tags and placeholders.

The prompt is handed to the local claude command (claude -p "<prompt>") with a 120-second timeout and a 10 MB output buffer. If that command is missing or fails, the CLI says so and exits 1. The first { ... } block in the response is parsed as JSON, so a fenced answer is still accepted.

Output shape:

{
  "_meta": {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "language": "de",
    "translatedAt": "2026-01-15T11:00:00.000Z",
    "sourceVersion": "1.0.0"
  },
  "translations": { "welcome_to_our_1a2b3c4d": "Willkommen auf unserer Website" }
}

domain is copied from the key file’s _meta.domain (unknown if absent) and sourceVersion from its _meta.version or _meta.exportedAt. This is exactly the format the extension’s Import button expects.

Server vs CLI

The server splits work into batches, translates them in parallel, caches results in SQLite, and supports several backends. The CLI sends everything in one prompt to one fixed command and caches nothing. Prefer the server for large pages; the CLI is the simpler path for a one-off file.

validate

npx any-i18n validate --input de.json [--keys _keys.json]

Checks the translation file and exits non-zero if anything is wrong:

• _meta must exist and contain domain, language, and translatedAt
• translations must exist
• empty or whitespace-only values are reported and treated as a failure
• with --keys, every key from the source file must be present (missing keys fail the run) and keys not present in the source are reported as extras (warning only)

The number of translations found is printed, then either Validation passed. or Validation failed.. The non-zero exit status makes it usable as a pre-commit or CI check.

bundle

npx any-i18n bundle --input ./translations --output ../extension/translations

Copies every *.json file from the input directory into the output directory (created if needed), skipping files that are not valid JSON with a message, and writes an index:

{
  "generatedAt": "2026-01-15T11:05:00.000Z",
  "translations": [
    { "file": "de.json", "language": "de", "domain": "example.com" }
  ]
}

Language and domain come from each file’s _meta, falling back to the file name and unknown.

Known gap

This index is written as _manifest.json with a flat translations array. The extension’s service worker instead reads translations/manifest.json with a domains map and expects files at translations/<domain>/<lang>.json. So bundle currently gets the files into place but does not produce the manifest the extension indexes — write or update extension/translations/manifest.json yourself, or import the file through the popup instead.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success.
1	Unreadable or malformed input, empty key set, provider command failure, unparseable response, or failed validation.