Export Feature

The Export feature allows you to export translation resources from LingoTracker into standard formats (XLIFF and JSON) for integration with translation services and external systems.

Usage

lingo-tracker export --format <format> [options]

Formats

• xliff: XLIFF 1.2 format (standard for translation tools).
• json: JSON format (flexible for developer workflows).

Options

Option	Description	Default
-f, --format <format>	Export format (xliff or json).	Required (or interactive)
-c, --collection <names>	Comma-separated list of collections to export.	All collections
-l, --locale <locales>	Comma-separated list of target locales. The base locale is always excluded.	All target locales
-s, --status <statuses>	Filter by status (new, translated, stale, verified).	new,stale
-t, --tags <tags>	Filter by tags (comma-separated).	None
-o, --output <path>	Output directory. Defaults to exportFolder from config if set.	dist/lingo-export
--filename <pattern>	Custom filename pattern. The extension (.xliff or .json) is appended automatically if omitted.	<locale>.xliff or <locale>.json
--dry-run	Preview export without writing files.	false
--verbose	Show detailed progress.	false

JSON Specific Options

Option	Description	Default
--structure <type>	hierarchical or flat.	hierarchical
--rich	Output rich objects with metadata instead of plain string values.	false
--include-base	Include base locale value. Only applies when --rich is set.	false
--include-status	Include translation status. Only applies when --rich is set.	false
--include-comment	Include comments. Only applies when --rich is set.	true
--include-tags	Include tags array. Only applies when --rich is set.	false

Filename Placeholders

You can use the following placeholders in --filename. If no file extension is included, the correct extension for the format (.xliff or .json) is appended automatically.

• {locale} / {target}: The target locale code (e.g., es, fr-ca). These are interchangeable.
• {source}: The base locale code (e.g., en).
• {date}: Current date (YYYY-MM-DD).

Example:

lingo-tracker export --format json --filename "translations-{source}-to-{target}-{date}"
# Generates: translations-en-to-es-2025-12-13.json

Examples

Export all untranslated and stale strings to XLIFF for all target locales:

lingo-tracker export --format xliff

Export only Spanish strings with new or stale status from a specific collection:

lingo-tracker export --format xliff --locale es --collection marketing --status new,stale

Export all target locales to flat JSON with a custom filename:

lingo-tracker export --format json --structure flat --filename "{locale}-translations"
# Generates: es-translations.json, fr-translations.json, etc.

Export rich JSON including base values and comments (useful for translator context):

lingo-tracker export --format json --rich --include-base --include-comment

Preview an export without writing any files:

lingo-tracker export --format xliff --dry-run

Export Summary

Every export generates an export-summary.md file in the output directory. It contains:

• Metadata: date, format, collections, target locales, status and tag filters applied.
• Results: resources exported, files created, output directory.
• File list: each file generated (or that would be generated in a dry run).
• Warnings: e.g., files that were overwritten.
• Errors: broken down into general errors, malformed files, resources omitted due to missing metadata, and hierarchical key conflicts (JSON only — when a key like a.b.c conflicts with a parent key a.b).

In a dry run, the summary is printed to the console instead of written to disk. Note: even in dry-run mode, the output directory is created on disk if it does not already exist.

Interactive Mode

If you run lingo-tracker export without the --format flag in a TTY terminal, an interactive wizard guides you through all options. In non-interactive environments (CI, pipes), --format is required and omitting it is an error. All other unspecified options fall back silently to their documented defaults — pass all relevant flags explicitly in scripts rather than relying on interactive prompts.