Lokalise Data Handling

Overview

Lokalise manages translation data through keys, translations, snapshots, and branches. This skill covers the translation data lifecycle (create, update, export), key metadata management (tags, descriptions, screenshots), translation snapshots for versioning, branch-based translation isolation, export format handling (JSON flat/nested, XLIFF, PO), character encoding (UTF-8 BOM handling), and plural form support across locales.

Prerequisites

• @lokalise/node-api SDK installed (npm install @lokalise/node-api)
• API token with read/write access to the target project
• Understanding of i18n key naming conventions for your project
• lokalise2 CLI for bulk file operations (optional)

Instructions

1. Understand the Translation Data Lifecycle

Translation data in Lokalise follows this flow: Create keys (with platforms, tags, descriptions) -> Add base translations (source language) -> Translate (manually or via integrations) -> Review (proofread flag) -> Export (download to codebase).

Create keys with metadata that helps translators: