Deploy Lokalise integrations to Vercel, Netlify, and Cloud Run platforms.
Use when deploying apps with Lokalise translations to production,
configuring platform-specific secrets, or setting up deployment pipelines.
Trigger with phrases like "deploy lokalise", "lokalise Vercel",
"lokalise production deploy", "lokalise Netlify", "lokalise Cloud Run".
Deploy Lokalise integrations to Vercel, Netlify, and Cloud Run platforms.
Use when deploying apps with Lokalise translations to production,
configuring platform-specific secrets, or setting up deployment pipelines.
Trigger with phrases like "deploy lokalise", "lokalise Vercel",
"lokalise production deploy", "lokalise Netlify", "lokalise Cloud Run".
Translations must be downloaded fresh during CI/CD builds to ensure production always ships the latest reviewed content. This skill covers downloading translations as a build step, GitHub Actions workflows for translation sync, Vercel and Netlify build plugin integration, OTA (over-the-air) updates for mobile apps via Lokalise's iOS and Android SDKs, and environment-specific translation bundles.
Prerequisites
Lokalise API token with download permissions (read-only token recommended for CI)
LOKALISE_API_TOKEN and LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID stored as CI secrets
curl and unzip available in CI environment (standard on GitHub Actions runners)
For OTA: Lokalise OTA SDK token (separate from API token, generated in Lokalise dashboard)
Instructions
1. Download Translations in the Build Step
Add a pre-build script that pulls translations from Lokalise before your framework compiles:
Full workflow that downloads translations, builds, and deploys:
# .github/workflows/deploy.ymlname:Build&Deployon:push:branches: [main]
# Trigger from Lokalise webhook (via repository_dispatch)repository_dispatch:types: [translations_updated]
jobs:build-and-deploy:runs-on:ubuntu-lateststeps:-uses:actions/checkout@v4-uses:actions/setup-node@v4with:node-version:20cache:npm-name:Installdependenciesrun:npmci-name:DownloadtranslationsfromLokaliseenv:LOKALISE_API_TOKEN:${{secrets.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}}LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID:${{secrets.LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID}}run:|
chmod +x ./scripts/download-translations.sh
./scripts/download-translations.sh ./src/locales
-name:Verifytranslationintegrityrun:|
# Ensure all expected languages are present
EXPECTED_LANGS="en fr de ja es"
for lang in $EXPECTED_LANGS; do
if [ ! -f "./src/locales/${lang}.json" ]; then
echo "ERROR: Missing translation file for ${lang}"
exit 1
fi
# Validate JSON
jq empty "./src/locales/${lang}.json" || {
echo "ERROR: Invalid JSON in ${lang}.json"
exit 1
}
done
echo "All translation files present and valid"
-name:Buildrun:npmrunbuild-name:DeploytoVerceluses:amondnet/vercel-action@v25with:vercel-token:${{secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN}}vercel-org-id:${{secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID}}vercel-project-id:${{secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID}}vercel-args:--prod
To trigger builds when translations change, set up a Lokalise webhook that fires a GitHub repository_dispatch:
# In your webhook handler (see lokalise-webhooks-events)
curl -X POST \
"https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/dispatches" \
-H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"event_type": "translations_updated"}'
3. Vercel Build Integration
For Vercel, translations download during the build phase. Configure the token as an environment variable:
# Set Lokalise secrets in Vercel
vercel env add LOKALISE_API_TOKEN production preview
vercel env add LOKALISE_PROJECT_ID production preview
In vercel.json, ensure the build command runs the translation download:
{"buildCommand":"./scripts/download-translations.sh ./src/locales && next build","outputDirectory":".next"}
For ISR/SSR apps that need translations at runtime (not just build time), cache translations in a KV store or download on cold start:
Both SDKs fall back to the bundled translations if OTA download fails, so the app always has working strings.
6. Environment-Specific Translation Bundles
Use tags in Lokalise to manage environment-specific content:
# Download only production-tagged translations
./scripts/download-translations.sh ./src/locales # uses "production" tag filter# For staging: modify the script or use an env var
LOKALISE_TAGS="staging,beta" ./scripts/download-translations.sh ./src/locales
Update download-translations.sh to support dynamic tags:
# Add near the top of download-translations.sh
TAGS="${LOKALISE_TAGS:-production}"
TAG_JSON=$(echo"$TAGS" | jq -R 'split(",")' )
# Use in the curl payload:# "include_tags": $TAG_JSON
This lets you maintain separate translation sets:
production — fully reviewed, stable translations
staging — includes new translations under review
beta — experimental copy for A/B testing
Output
CI/CD pipeline downloading fresh translations before every build
GitHub Actions workflow with translation validation and deployment
Vercel/Netlify configured with Lokalise secrets and build commands
Mobile apps receiving OTA translation updates without app store releases
Environment-specific bundles controlled by Lokalise tags
For handling errors during API calls in your pipeline, see lokalise-common-errors. For managing translation data formats and encoding, see lokalise-data-handling.
