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The gleef translate command (also available as gleef push) sends your translation keys to Gleef for AI-powered translation and makes them available to your team for review.

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Usage

gleef translate
Or using the alias: 
gleef push

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Options

FlagShortDescription
--match-mFilter translations by key pattern
--namespace-nFilter translations by namespace/file pattern (e.g., “auth” or “auth|common”)
--skip-review-sPublish translations immediately instead of creating drafts

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What it does

The translate command:
  1. Analyzes local files - Compares your local translations with remote state
  2. Detects changes - Identifies new keys and modified translations
  3. Handles conflicts - Checks for conflicts with remote edits
  4. Sends for translation - Uploads keys to Gleef’s AI translation service
  5. Updates local files - Merges generated translations back to your files
  6. Creates drafts - Sets up translations for team review (unless --skip-review is used)

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Basic Usage

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Push All Changes

gleef translate
This will process all new and modified translation keys in your project.

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Filter by Key Pattern

gleef translate --match "button.*"
Only processes keys matching the pattern (supports wildcards and regex).

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Filter by Namespace

gleef translate --namespace "auth"
Only processes translations from files matching the namespace pattern. Useful for projects with multiple namespace/feature files.

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Skip Review Process

gleef translate --skip-review
Publishes translations immediately without creating drafts for review.

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Example Output

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Processing New Translations

$ gleef translate
Processing 12 new translations
⠋ Translating with Gleef AI
✔ Your files were translated successfully. Your team can review them from Gleef Studio.

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Processing Mixed Changes

$ gleef translate
Processing 8 new translations
Pushing 3 edited translations
⠋ Translating with Gleef AI
✔ Your files were translated successfully. Your team can review them from Gleef Studio.

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No Changes to Process

$ gleef translate
Nothing new to translate

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Pattern Matching

The --match flag supports flexible pattern matching:

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Wildcard Patterns

# Match all button-related keys
gleef translate --match "button.*"

# Match all keys in a specific namespace
gleef translate --match "auth.*"

# Match keys with specific suffixes
gleef translate --match "*.title"

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Complex Patterns

# Match multiple patterns (OR logic)
gleef translate --match "button.*|nav.*"

# Match nested keys
gleef translate --match "components.*.label"

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Conflict Resolution

If there are conflicts with remotely edited translations, the command will stop and show details: 
$ gleef translate
en-US
  welcome.title
    Local value: Welcome to our app
    Remote value: Welcome to our application
  
Conflict with remotely edited translations. Update keys with the remote value, or change them from the webapp.

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Resolving Conflicts

  1. Update locally - Change your local value to match the remote
  2. Update remotely - Change the value in Gleef Studio
  3. Pull first - Run gleef pull to get latest changes, then translate

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Translation Process

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New Keys

When you add new translation keys: 
{
  "welcome": {
    "title": "Welcome to our app",
    "subtitle": "Get started with our amazing features"
  }
}
The translate command will:
  1. Detect the new keys
  2. Send them to Gleef AI for translation
  3. Generate translations in all your target languages
  4. Update your local files with the generated translations

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Modified Keys

When you change existing translations: 
{
  "welcome": {
    "title": "Welcome to our average app", 
    "title": "Welcome to our amazing app", 
  }
}
The command will:
  1. Detect the modification
  2. Push the edited translation as draft or directly publish it
  3. Preserve translations in other languages

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Review Workflow

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Default Behavior (Draft Mode)

By default, translations are created as drafts for team review:
  1. Translations generated - AI creates translations for all target languages
  2. Drafts created - Translations are marked as drafts in Gleef Studio, where you can ask for a review
  3. Team reviews - Your team can review and approve in Gleef Studio
  4. Pull approved - Use gleef pull to sync approved translations

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Skip Review Mode

With --skip-review, translations are published immediately: 
gleef translate --skip-review
This is useful for:
  • Automated workflows
  • Non-critical translations
  • When you trust the AI output completely

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Examples

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Development Workflow

# Add new keys to your base language file
# Then push for translation
gleef translate

# Ask for review of the draft in the Gleef Studio
# Pull approved translations
gleef pull

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Feature Development

# Work on a specific feature
gleef translate --match "checkout.*"

# Test the translations
gleef pull --match "checkout.*"

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Bulk Updates

# Translate all incomplete navigation-related text
gleef translate --match "nav.*|menu.*|header.*"

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Namespace-Specific Translation

# Translate only authentication-related files
gleef translate --namespace "auth"

# Translate multiple namespaces
gleef translate --namespace "auth|common"

# Combine namespace and pattern filtering
gleef translate --namespace "components" --match "button.*"
Example Use Case: If your project structure is: 
locales/
  en/
    auth.json
    common.json
    components.json
  fr/
    auth.json
    common.json
    components.json
You can push translations for just the auth namespace: 
gleef translate --namespace "auth"

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Error Handling

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Common Errors

Authentication Error: 
Couldn't generate and push translations: Authentication failed
Solution: Run gleef login to re-authenticate Configuration Error: 
Couldn't generate and push translations: No locale files found
Solution: Run gleef init or check your .gleef/config.json Network Error: 
Couldn't generate and push translations: Network request failed
Solution: Check internet connection and try again File Format Error: 
Couldn't generate and push translations: Invalid JSON in locale file
Solution: Fix JSON syntax errors in your locale files

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Best Practices

Always pull latest changes before pushing new translations to avoid conflicts.
  1. Pull latest changes - gleef pull to get recent updates
  2. Use patterns for large translation jobs - Filter with --match for focused updates
  3. Review in Gleef Studio - Check AI translations quality and ask for a review there or publish
  4. Coordinate with team - Ensure reviewers know about pending translations

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Integration Examples

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Git Hooks

This hook would filter keys based on the committed file name, given that the new keys follow a precise naming convention. 
#!/bin/bash
# pre-commit hook
gleef translate --match "$(git diff --name-only --cached | grep -E '\.(json|xml|yaml|strings)$' | head -1 | cut -d'/' -f1).*"

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NPM Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "i18n:push": "gleef translate",
    "i18n:push:publish": "gleef translate --skip-review",
    "i18n:push:feature": "gleef translate --match",
    "i18n:push:namespace": "gleef translate --namespace"
  }
}

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GitHub Actions

- name: Push translations
  run: |
    gleef login --key ${{ secrets.GLEEF_API_KEY }}
    gleef translate --skip-review

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Next Steps

After pushing translations:

Review in Studio

Review and approve translations in Gleef Studio

Pull Updates

Sync approved translations back to your project