Quickstart: translate your first file
This guide takes you from a source string file to translated output in all your target locales — in about 5 minutes.
Prerequisites
- A Lingowright account — sign up free if you don't have one
- A string file in any supported format (.json, .po, .xliff, .strings, .arb)
Step 1 — Install the CLI
Terminal
$ npm install -g @lingowright/cli
added 1 package in 1.4s
$ lwr --version
lingowright/cli v2.4.1
Step 2 — Authenticate
Retrieve your API key from your account settings and configure the CLI:
Terminal
$ lwr auth login
lwr_pk_••••••••••••••••
Authenticated as workspace/your-project
Step 3 — Upload your source file
Point the CLI at your source file and specify your target locales. Lingowright detects the file format automatically.
Terminal
$ lwr push locales/en.json --locales de,fr,ja,ar
Upload complete. Job ID: job_8f2k9n1x
Step 4 — Download translated output
Once the job completes, pull the translated files back in the same format you uploaded:
Terminal
$ lwr pull job_8f2k9n1x --output locales/
locales/de.json — 847 strings ✓
locales/fr.json — 847 strings ✓
locales/ja.json — 847 strings ✓
locales/ar.json — 847 strings ✓ (RTL metadata added)
Step 5 — Review character warnings
If any string exceeded a character limit, the CLI prints a warning summary. You can also inspect warnings in the dashboard:
Character-limit warnings
de / pay.proceed_button — 29/30 chars [NEAR LIMIT]
de / nav.checkout_long — 32/30 chars [OVER — truncated]
Next steps
- Explore the REST API for programmatic access
- Set up the GitHub integration for automatic CI/CD translation
- Add
max_charsannotations to your source file keys to prevent overflows