What is Locize? Continuous Localization in One Page

Locize is a continuous localization platform for software teams. You connect your application to Locize via a backend plugin, the API, or a CLI. Locize collects new translation keys, generates AI first drafts, routes them through a human review workflow, and ships finished translations live via a global CDN — all without redeploying your code.

It is built by the team behind i18next, one of the most widely used JavaScript i18n frameworks, so it integrates cleanly with i18next, React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Svelte, and any framework that consumes JSON-based translations.

This page covers the entire product in a single read. There is also a 12-minute video walkthrough embedded at the bottom for those who prefer watching.

Table of contents

• Why a URL changes everything
• The four-step workflow
• Built by the i18next team
• Connecting your app
• The translation editor
• AI translation, production-grade
• Quality checks and review
• CDN delivery without redeploys
• Versions, branches, multi-tenant
• Built for the whole team — your data stays yours
• Use Locize from your AI assistant (MCP)
• Get started — and watch the 12-min demo
• Frequently Asked Questions

Why a URL changes everything

Most translation tools give you a file. You export it, commit it, ship a build.

Locize works that way too — you can pull translations into your repository as JSON or any of a dozen other formats. But Locize also gives you a URL.

Translators update copy, the URL serves the new version, your app picks it up. No build, no deploy. That single architectural option changes the whole workflow: translation isn't a release-blocking step anymore. It runs alongside your code, and updates ship in seconds instead of days.

The choice between file-based and URL-based delivery is yours, per project and per version. Some teams stay on files for production-critical strings and use the URL only for development. Others let everything stream live. Locize doesn't force the model.

The four-step workflow

Locize fits into a familiar developer loop:

1. Connect — your app connects to Locize via a backend plugin, the API, or the CLI. When code references a translation key that doesn't exist yet — a button label, an error message — it's reported to Locize automatically.
2. Translate — AI or machine translation gives you a first draft. Translators review and refine in a dedicated CAT editor. Optionally, order professional human translation directly from inside Locize.
3. Review — translations enter a configurable review workflow. A reviewer with the right role accepts or rejects each change. Multiple reviewers can weigh in. Only approved translations get published.
4. Deliver — when you publish, the new translations go live via global CDN. Your app fetches them at runtime — a typo fix, a new language, all live without redeploying.

Whether you start from existing JSON files or instrument a fresh app, the whole loop runs without anyone juggling files in pull requests.

Built by the i18next team

Locize is built by the maintainers of i18next — one of the most widely used i18n frameworks in JavaScript. We're a Swiss company, GDPR-compliant, trusted by teams worldwide from solo developers to global brands.

There are no sales reps, no procurement cycles, no MSAs. Pricing is fully laid out — no quotes. You sign up and you're inside the product within a minute, ready to create your first project.

Connecting your app

Setup is short. For i18next users, install the Locize backend plugin, add your project ID and API key, enable saveMissing — three lines of config and your app is live. Missing keys flow into Locize automatically; new translations stream back via CDN.

Not on i18next? You have several integration paths:

• CLI — locize-cli for sync, download, and migrations
• GitHub Action — automated sync on every push, plus a separate download action
• REST API — fine-grained control for any pipeline
• i18next-cli — instrument an existing JavaScript codebase to extract keys automatically

Already have translation files? Drag and drop them into Locize from the project dashboard — JSON, YAML, XLIFF, gettext, .strings, .xcstrings, RESX, and many more. Or use the CLI to migrate the whole project in one command. The full integration walkthrough is on our YouTube channel.

The translation editor

Once keys are in Locize, your team works in the CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) editor. All target languages for a key sit side-by-side. Translators filter by language, state, tags, full-text search — and if you've added the locize-lastused plugin, by keys that haven't been used in months. Gold for cleaning up dead translations before a release.

The glossary highlights approved and forbidden terminology. Pair it with a project styleguide — tone, formality, brand voice — and every translator and every AI prompt sees the same rules. When the glossary spots an inconsistency, it flags it inline through the checks-issues system.

Each key can carry a context description, character limits, and screenshots showing where the string appears in the UI. The screenshot sits right next to the segment — exactly the context that's also injected into AI translation prompts. Machine-translated strings are marked fuzzy with a one-click clear once a human has confirmed.

Beyond the editor, the InContext editor lets translators work in the actual running app via a popup overlay. They click the text in your live app and edit it directly — no copy-paste, no context loss.

AI translation, production-grade

If you're already using ChatGPT or Claude for translations, you've probably hit three walls:

1. Terminology drifts across languages — without a glossary that AI can read, the same brand term gets translated three different ways across markets.
2. No review safety net for production copy — AI output goes straight to users, with all the brand-and-legal risk that implies.
3. Every typo fix means another build — the localization workflow is still tied to your CI/CD pipeline.

Locize is the layer between your AI and your users that solves all three.

AI translates. Locize manages.

When a developer adds a new translation key, automatic translation fires — using either the built-in Locize AI service or your own API key for OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, or DeepL — and fills in every target language with a context-aware first draft. The styleguide, glossary, and key-level descriptions and screenshots are automatically injected into every AI prompt.

The same translation engine drives bulk actions across whole namespaces, single-segment AI suggestions, and the in-editor AI Assistant for rephrasing or shortening to fit a UI constraint.

And when AI isn't enough — legal text, regulated copy, brand-critical messaging — you can order professional human translation directly from inside Locize. We're integrated with Supertext, TextMaster, Blend, and translated.

Quality checks and review

AI gives you speed. Automated quality checks and the review workflow give you the safety net.

Locize runs a set of consistency checks across every translation. The Bulk Actions panel runs them all: glossary consistency, translation memory consistency, i18n syntax (placeholders, nesting, interpolation patterns), exists-in-source, source-changed-after-translation, max characters, length restrictions, invalid nesting, and array size. Run them per segment, across a namespace, or across the whole project.

When a translator edits a key, source-changed warnings cascade automatically across every target — your team sees exactly which translations need a second look after a wording change.

Review goes one step further. Production translations should not ship until a second pair of eyes has signed off. So Locize gives you a configurable review workflow — turn it on per language, like production-facing German, and skip it for languages where it would just slow your team down.

Once enabled, when a translation is created or modified — by a translator, by AI, or by automatic translation — it enters a "pending review" state. A reviewer with the right role sees the proposed change and can accept or reject it. Multiple reviewers can weigh in. Only approved translations get published.

Every change is tracked per key — prior values, who edited them, when. Full history, ready for an audit.

CDN delivery without redeploys

Now back to the URL story.

When you publish, translations are pushed to a global CDN. Your app fetches them at runtime — a typo fix, a new language, all live without redeploying.

The publish modal shows per-language and per-namespace status — what's up to date, what's pending. Publish manually, or turn on auto-publish per version. Pick the right CDN tier — Standard, Pro, or private downloads for authenticated delivery — and set cache duration per version: continuous flow for development, deliberate control for production.

For most projects, this is the most-loved Locize feature. A typo in a button label that would normally take a release cycle to fix becomes a 10-second edit in the editor and a "Publish" click. Your users see the corrected copy on their next page load.

Versions, branches, multi-tenant

Translation work follows the same patterns as your code.

Versions are parallel translation sets. The default version is latest — that's where your team adds new keys and edits ongoing work. Production versions hold what's live for users.

Branches go further. Spin one up alongside a feature branch in your repo. Edit translations in the branch — overrides only show up there, marked clearly so a translator knows what's branch-specific. The parent project is unaffected. Branches inherit styleguide, glossary, and language settings from the parent.

If you're building SaaS, multi-tenant lets each of your customers override translations for their own brand or terminology, without you maintaining separate projects. Each tenant inherits everything from the parent and overrides only what's different. When a tenant overrides a source-language value, downstream target-language translations are flagged automatically so the tenant's translators see exactly which strings need re-checking.

As overrides accumulate, the bulk Run Issue Checks panel surfaces unnecessary ones — overrides where the tenant value matches the parent. One bulk action removes them and keeps your data clean.

Built for the whole team — your data stays yours

Different roles, same project.

• Developers get the CLI, REST API, GitHub Actions for sync and download, and native i18next plugins. Your codebase stays the source of truth.
• Translators get the editor, AI Assistant for rephrasing or shortening, translation memory, glossary, and quality checks — without ever touching a repository. They can also use Locize on its own — see using Locize as a translator.
• Engineering leaders and product managers get role-based access scoped per language, namespace, or version, plus dashboards for translation coverage and word counts across versions.

And your data is yours. Export every language and namespace as a zip from the editor, download via the CLI, or pull through the API. Automated backups with restore-from-snapshot are available on paid plans. There's no lock-in — take your translations with you whenever you want.

Enterprise teams get SAML SSO, project-level MFA enforcement, an audit log for user and permission events, and full GDPR-compliant data processing from a Swiss jurisdiction.

Use Locize from your AI assistant (MCP)

If you use Claude, Cursor, or VS Code with Copilot — the Locize MCP server connects your AI assistant directly to your translation projects. Authenticated with a Personal Access Token, twenty-two tools cover the full lifecycle: check coverage before a release, report new keys from a code review, publish a version, create a branch, manage languages — all from natural language inside your editor.

This is what makes Locize infrastructure for AI workflows, not a tool that competes with AI. Your assistant generates translations. Locize manages them.

A dedicated MCP setup video walks through the install in detail. Background reading: the MCP server announcement post.

Get started — and watch the 12-min demo

That's Locize. Continuous localization, AI you can ship, and a workflow that grows with your team.

Start free at locize.com. Fourteen-day full-feature trial, no credit card required. There's a permanent free plan for small projects, too.

If you prefer watching, here's the same content as a 12-minute video walkthrough:

Companion deep-dives:

• MCP server setup
• saveMissing → CDN core flow
• InContext editor

Frequently Asked Questions