Check Android strings.xml in CI

What the gate reads

Detected layout

For a Android project laid out like this:

app/src/main/res/values-fr/strings.xml
app/src/main/res/values-ru/strings.xml
app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

npx shipglot check finds the files without a config. npx shipglot init writes what it detected to shipglot.config.json:

{
  "sourceLocale": "en",
  "files": [
    {
      "format": "android-xml",
      "path": "**/res/values{-locale}/strings.xml"
    }
  ]
}

Add "locales" to restrict target languages, "glossary" for approved terms, and "checks" to change a check's severity. The gate's README lists every option.

GitHub Actions workflow

Save as .github/workflows/translations.yml. The step fails on errors and annotates the pull request; warnings show in the job summary.

name: Translations
on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - "**/*.xml"
      - "shipglot.config.json"
jobs:
  shipglot:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - uses: aurelien64/shipglot@v0
        with:
          fail-on: error

To see findings in GitHub code scanning as well, add sarif-file: shipglot.sarif under with: and upload it with github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3 (the job then needs security-events: write).

Defects the gate catches

Each example below was run through the gate when this page was built, with the config above. The findings under it are the gate's output.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="sync_error">The app could not sync.</string>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="sync_error">L'application n'a pas pu se synchroniser.</string>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="welcome">Welcome back, %1$s!</string>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="welcome">Bon retour parmi nous !</string>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <plurals name="notes_count">
        <item quantity="one">%d note</item>
        <item quantity="other">%d notes</item>
    </plurals>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <plurals name="notes_count">
        <item quantity="one">%d заметка</item>
        <item quantity="other">%d заметок</item>
    </plurals>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="save">Save</string>
    <string name="discard">Discard changes</string>
</resources>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="save">Enregistrer</string>
</resources>

Run it on your machine

npx shipglot check
npx shipglot check --reporter json=shipglot.json

Exit code 0 means clean, 1 means findings at or above --fail-on, 2 means a usage or config error. Checks used on this page: format-validity, placeholder-mismatch, plural-forms, missing-key.

To check a single file without installing anything, use the in-browser checker.

Translation in the same workflow

With a Shipglot account, npx shipglot translate translates new and changed keys and writes them into these files before the check runs. Hosted translation is not open yet; see the signup page.