Output Formats

Glotfile exports your catalog to the locale formats your apps consume. You configure outputs in config.outputs (via Settings or the file); each entry names an adapter and a path template. glotfile export writes them all.

"outputs": [
  { "adapter": "flutter-arb",  "path": "lib/l10n/app_{locale}.arb" },
  { "adapter": "laravel-php",  "path": "lang/{locale}/{namespace}.php" },
  { "adapter": "i18next-json", "path": "public/locales/{locale}/translation.json" }
]

Adapters

Adapter	Target	Placeholder style	Files written
`flutter-arb`	Flutter `.arb`	ICU	one per locale
`laravel-php`	Laravel `lang/*/.php` arrays	`:named`	one per locale per namespace
`i18next-json`	i18next / generic JSON	`{{named}}`	one per locale
`vue-i18n-json`	Vue I18n JSON	`{named}`	one per locale
`gettext-po`	gettext `.po`	printf (`%s`)	one per locale
`apple-strings`	Apple `.strings`	printf	one per locale
`apple-stringsdict`	Apple `.stringsdict` (plurals)	printf	one per locale
`angular-xliff`	Angular XLIFF 1.2 (`@angular/localize`)	`<x id="INTERPOLATION"/>`	one per locale
`rails-yaml`	Rails i18n `config/locales/*.yml`	`%{named}`	one per locale

Path templates

Two tokens are substituted in path:

{locale} — the locale code (en, fr, …). Used by every adapter.
{namespace} — the first dot-segment of the key. Used by adapters that split files by namespace.

Example: How {namespace} works — with laravel-php and path lang/{locale}/{namespace}.php, the key auth.signIn.button is written as signIn.button inside lang/fr/auth.php. Keys with no dot fall into a messages namespace.

Locale code rendering

By default each adapter renders locale codes in its own convention: flutter-arb and laravel-php use BCP-47 with underscores (en_US, zh_Hant_TW); angular-xliff, rails-yaml and apple-strings use BCP-47 with hyphens (en-US, pt-BR); every other adapter uses glotfile’s internal lowercase-hyphen form (en-us).

`localeCase`

The optional localeCase field on an output entry overrides the adapter default for all locales in that output:

Value	Example
`lower-hyphen`	`en-us`, `zh-hant-tw`
`lower-underscore`	`en_us`, `zh_hant_tw`
`bcp47-hyphen`	`en-US`, `zh-Hant-TW`
`bcp47-underscore`	`en_US`, `zh_Hant_TW`

localeCase applies to the {locale} filename token and any in-file locale token (ARB @@locale, gettext Language:, XLIFF target-language).

`localeMap`

The optional localeMap field maps individual canonical locale codes to exact export tokens, overriding localeCase for those locales:

{ "adapter": "flutter-arb", "path": "lib/l10n/app_{locale}.arb",
  "localeMap": { "zh-hant": "zh_HK" } }

Keys are canonical (lowercase-hyphen) codes and must be locales present in config.locales. Use localeMap for semantic remaps that no style can express — for example, Flutter rejects script subtags so zh-hant must ship as zh_HK; Android requires zh-rHK.

⚠ Locale collision — if two locales resolve to the same export token after applying localeCase and localeMap, glotfile export emits a locale-collision warning and writes only the first locale’s file (in config order), skipping the colliding ones rather than silently overwriting.

Round-trip safety

glotfile import sets localeCase and localeMap automatically: it inspects the filenames it finds, picks the localeCase that reproduces them, and records only the exceptions in localeMap. A subsequent glotfile export produces byte-identical files.

The `style` option

Some adapters accept an optional style to tune their output. For example, vue-i18n-json supports a flat layout:

{ "adapter": "vue-i18n-json", "path": "src/locales/{locale}.json", "style": "flat" }

(Without style, JSON adapters nest keys by their dot segments.)

Lossless where possible, loud where not

Placeholders and ICU plural/select structure are preserved and converted to each format’s native mechanism. Where a conversion would be lossy, glotfile export emits a warning and writes safe output rather than corrupting the file. See Placeholders and ICU.

Round-tripping (import)

glotfile import reads existing files back into the catalog using these same adapters in reverse — inferring localeCase/localeMap from the filenames so a later export reproduces them byte-for-byte. See import.

export · Placeholders and ICU · Plurals · Configuration Reference