translate

name	translate
description	Add or update i18next translation keys across all language files by spawning translator subagents. Use when the user asks to add a new translation, update existing translations, translate text, or work with i18n keys. Triggers on "translate", "add translation", "translation key", "i18n", "localization".

Translate

This skill orchestrates translation of i18next keys by spawning translator subagents. Each key gets its own subagent so multiple keys can be translated in parallel.

How It Works

1. The user provides one or more translation keys (and optionally English values).
2. This skill tells the parent agent to spawn one translator subagent per key.
3. Each subagent independently translates its key into all 35 languages and applies the result using scripts/update-translations.js.

Workflow

Step 1 — Parse the keys

Identify all translation keys from the user's request. Keys may be provided as:

• A comma-separated list: upload_failed, media_hosting, file
• A numbered/bulleted list
• Inline in a sentence: "translate the key upload_failed"

Step 2 — Look up English values

For each key, check if the English value already exists in public/translations/en/default.json. If the user provided new English text, use that instead.

Step 3 — Spawn translator subagents

For each key, spawn a translator subagent using the Task tool with subagent_type: "translator". The prompt for each subagent must include:

• The key name
• The English value
• An instruction to follow the translator subagent's system prompt

Example prompt for a subagent:

You are the translator subagent. Translate the following i18next key into all 35 supported languages and apply it using the project's translation script.

Key: upload_failed
English value: "Upload failed"

Follow your system prompt for the full workflow (create dictionary file, dry run, apply, clean up).

Parallelism rules:

• Spawn up to 4 subagents concurrently.
• If there are more than 4 keys, batch them: spawn 4, wait for completion, then spawn the next batch.

Step 4 — Report results

After all subagents complete, summarize:

• Which keys were translated successfully
• Any failures or issues

Other Operations (No Subagent Needed)

For non-translation operations, run the script directly without spawning subagents:

Copy English value to all languages (fallback only)

Use only when the string is a technical term, brand name, or placeholder.

node scripts/update-translations.js --key some_key --from en --write

Delete a key from all languages

node scripts/update-translations.js --key obsolete_key --delete --write

Audit for unused keys

node scripts/update-translations.js --audit --dry
node scripts/update-translations.js --audit --write

Important Flags

Flag	Description
--key <name>	Translation key to update/delete
--map <file>	JSON file with per-language values
--include-en	Include English in updates (required when using --map)
--from <lang>	Source language to copy from (default: en)
--dry	Preview changes without writing
--write	Actually write the files
--delete	Delete the key from all languages
--audit	Find and remove unused translation keys

Supported Languages

ar, bn, cs, da, de, el, en, es, fa, fi, fil, fr, he, hi, hu, id, it, ja, ko, mr, nl, no, pl, pt, ro, ru, sq, sv, te, th, tr, uk, ur, vi, zh