Imports and exports — i18next JSON

Moves translations in and out of Translately in the i18next JSON format that most modern frontends already speak. Shipped under T301 (import backend), T302 (export backend), T304 (import wizard), and T305 (export modal) in Phase 3. Pairs with the API reference.

Lives on the Keys tab of the project detail route — two buttons in the top-right: Import and Export.

Import wizard

Click Import. The wizard asks for:

  • Language tag — BCP-47 (e.g. en, de, fr-CA). Must be configured on the project.
  • Namespace — auto-created if it doesn’t exist yet. Defaults to the namespace currently filtered in the table (or default).
  • Conflict mode — one of:
    • Merge (default) — fill only blank cells. Existing non-blank values survive.
    • Keep — never touch an existing cell; only new keys get translations.
    • Overwrite — replace every existing value with the imported one.
  • JSON payload — paste the file contents or drop a .json file. Flat and nested shapes are both accepted.

Click Run import. Every row runs through the ICU validator; invalid rows land in the result panel with a [CODE] path — message line so you can fix and re-import. Clean rows still commit — the result panel shows a summary: Imported N — X created, Y updated, Z skipped, W failed.

Accepted payload shapes

Flat:

{
  "nav.signIn": "Sign in",
  "nav.signOut": "Sign out"
}

Nested:

{
  "nav": {
    "signIn": "Sign in",
    "signOut": "Sign out"
  }
}

Both produce the same (key name, value) pair stream. Non-string leaves are coerced to strings; arrays are rejected with a jq-style path (nav.items) so you can pinpoint the offender.

Export modal

Click Export. The modal asks for:

  • Language tag — which locale to dump.
  • Shape — Flat (dotted keys) or Nested (tree).
  • Namespace — optional. Blank exports every namespace.
  • Tags — comma-separated. Keys must carry every listed tag (AND intersection).
  • Minimum state — optional. Pick APPROVED for production dumps, blank to include drafts. States are totally ordered: EMPTY < DRAFT < TRANSLATED < REVIEW < APPROVED.

Click Download. The browser saves the file as {projectSlug}-{languageTag}-{shape}.json.

Out of scope for v0.3.0

  • Async + Quartz + SSE progress streaming for very large payloads (T303, Phase 4).
  • Multi-language single-call import (current API is one language per request).
  • Import preview / diff before commit — use the Keep mode to stage then review.
  • XLIFF + gettext + Android + iOS formats — Phase 6 CLI adds more formats.