Product teams
Deliver localized versions of your product faster by automating tedious localization steps.
Localization teams
Streamline your workflows and simplify collaboration with efficient localization management.
Developers teams
Add Transifex to your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deploy new translations.
Marketing teams
Quickly launch multilingual websites to accelerate international growth and conversions.
Translators
Deliver more accurate translations faster, leveraging advanced linguistic tools.
Software localization
Keep software continuously localized and in sync using automated CI/CD workflows.
Website localization
Automate and scale website localization to attract and convert international visitors.
Mobile App localization
Rapidly translate and launch apps globally, ensuring high-quality user experiences across markets.
Get a Personalized Demo Today
Precise, on-brand translations at scale. Language AI delivers context-rich content faster.
Get a personalized demo today
Request a personalized demo to learn how to integrate Transifex into your CI/CD
Product teams
Deliver localized versions of your product faster by automating tedious localization steps.
Localization teams
Streamline your workflows and simplify collaboration with efficient localization management.
Developers teams
Add Transifex to your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deploy new translations.
Marketing teams
Quickly launch multilingual websites to accelerate international growth and conversions.
Translators
Deliver more accurate translations faster, leveraging advanced linguistic tools.
Software localization
Keep software continuously localized and in sync using automated CI/CD workflows.
Website localization
Automate and scale website localization to attract and convert international visitors.
Mobile App localization
Rapidly translate and launch apps globally, ensuring high-quality user experiences across markets.
Get a Personalized Demo Today
Precise, on-brand translations at scale. Language AI delivers context-rich content faster.
Get a personalized demo today
Request a personalized demo to learn how to integrate Transifex into your CI/CD
When you plan to scale globally, speed to market is everything. Imagine rolling out a new feature, only to have your international users wait weeks (or even months) for the localized version. By the time it reaches them, the hype has faded, or your competitors might have already stepped in.
To fill this gap and make localization in sync with the development, continuous localization emerges as a potential solution. In this post, we’ll explain exactly how you can use this concept and integrate it into your CI/CD to reduce your time-to-market and maximize your localization ROI.
Continuous localization is how you integrate localization directly into the software development cycle, rather than handling it as a separate step post-development. So, as soon as any new features, updates, or fixes are introduced, their localized versions get ready for release simultaneously.
As the name suggests, Continuous Localization (CL) follows the Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) logic within Agile development. Just like CI/CD automates the building, testing, and deploying of code, CL aims to automate the localization process in parallel with the development.
While CL is a subset of the Agile approach, it goes a step further by implementing localization in real-time. Let’s look at some of the major differences between the two approaches.
Agile Localization | Continuous Localization |
Localization is done in iterations (e.g., per sprint) | Localization happens in real time, alongside development. |
Localized content is delivered only at the end of each sprint or development phase | Translations are updated instantly at any given point of the development phase |
May not be completely automated | Automated localization flow with no manual efforts required |
Works within Agile development cycles but not always tied to CI/CD pipelines | Fully integrated into CI/CD to allow real-time localization |
Continuous localization is highly inspired and tightly integrated with CI/CD. But what exactly happens when localization is not a part of that process?
One of the biggest mistakes in global product development is treating product localization as an afterthought. When it is handled separately from CI/CD, it creates delays at every stage of the product release.
To give you a complete picture, here’s what your CI/CD process without CL will look like:
Do you see the problem? This fragmented approach delays your product cycles. As new updates roll out, the localization backlog grows, creating a never-ending cycle of delays.
To truly go global, you need automated localization synchronized with every code update. And this is where continuous localization comes into play.
We just discussed what happens to your CI/CD without the CL. Now let’s talk about the major advantages of making it a part of your current CI/CD pipeline.
With CL, translation starts when any new code is pushed. Whether it’s a UI update, new feature, content modification, or bug fixes — any changes are automatically detected and sent for translations.
A localized version is then instantly updated and delivered to the production environment in real time without manual intervention. This process can be done for all your target languages simultaneously.
Traditional localization often requires manual file exchanges that can be error-prone, especially when you are scaling to multiple markets. CL, on the other hand, doesn’t require manual work and automatically flags inconsistencies or errors before deployment. This way, your team can proactively eliminate costly fixes and ensure high-quality localized releases.
One of the biggest advantages of continuous localization is its impact on release timelines. Instead of launching in the source language first and localizing later, the software can be released simultaneously in all your target languages.
When you have the agility to roll out modifications instantly, it’s easier to keep all the language versions up to date and aligned with the evolving market needs.
Every organization has its unique development workflow, with specific technologies, product requirements, and release cycles. That means localization needs to fit into your existing CI/CD process, not disrupt it.
The most effective way to do this is by using a centralized Translation Management System (TMS) that supports continuous localization. Instead of manually uploading and downloading files, a TMS detects new content in your code repository (GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.) or content management system (CMS) and automatically pushes it for translation. Once the translations are complete, they’re automatically merged back into your repo. It also integrates with your existing tools and workflows, so you can start localization from day one.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to integrating Continuous Localization into your CI/CD pipeline.
The goal of continuous localization is to make the process fully automated. But automation doesn’t mean hands-off. You’ll still need your cross-functional teams (product, design, development, QA, etc.) to collaborate throughout the software development lifecycle.
At this point, you can choose to build an in-house localization team (e.g. Localization manager, QA Specialists, etc.) or partner with a trusted localization service provider to ensure everything works smoothly. Either way, you must ensure the teams understand your existing workflow and build the CL on top of it.
Before implementing localization, you must cover some pre-translation tasks. This way, every string is handled efficiently during the actual localization process.
If you need simple translations, a CAT tool or Machine Translation (MT) engine might be enough. But when we talk about automating the end-to-end localization process within your CI/CD, a TMS like Transifex that integrates the above-mentioned tools and more is required.
Once you’ve got the right localization tools in place, the next step is setting up the pre-translation tasks, including:
Finally, localization should be a natural extension of your CI/CD workflow and not a bottleneck. Connect your development, design, and deployment tools to your TMS platform so your translations can be deployed continuously, just like any other code update.
Once you’ve completed the pre-translation tasks, it’s time to set up a translation workflow that fits your needs. Here, you have two main options: human translators or an automated Translation Management System (TMS).
If you prefer a manual approach, you can build a team of professional translators and linguists. But since here we are focusing on continuous localization, we’ll stick to the second approach using the TMS.
Here’s a simple four-step method to do it with Transifex.
No matter how your translations are generated — using translators, MT tools, or a TMS — they must undergo a quality assurance (QA) process to maintain high-quality localized versions.
As we previously mentioned, the Transifex Quality Index TQI is an automated QA feature that leverages machine learning and provides you with a score. It is calculated for each AI translation that evaluates its accuracy, grammatical and syntactical quality, and adherence to your brand voice. As a result, you can automate a significant part of the review process while your team can work on focused edits rather than catching errors.
As TQI is integrated into Transifex AI, it is automatically triggered when AI translations are created, so it works in parallel to your CI/CD.
To learn more about Transifex AI or try it for your localization, request a demo or sign up for a 15-day free trial now.
To leverage continuous localization effectively, you must decide the best insertion points within your CI/CD pipeline. Depending on your workflow, localization can be triggered:
Now, successful CL, just like CI/CD, depends on how well you automate the integration and deployment processes, so your localized versions are always ready for release.
Here are four different ways you can automate end-to-end localization using Transifex:
To localize effectively, follow these best practices when integrating CL into your CI/CD workflow:
The logic is simple: when your business serves a multilingual audience, your product must adapt to the same. This must happen seamlessly for the best user experience. To do this, CI/CD alone is not enough — Continuous Localization (CL) is the missing piece.
Only with CI/CL/CD can you simultaneously release and grow a product that resonates with diverse audiences worldwide while still providing a cohesive brand experience.
Ready to scale your product globally? Learn how Transifex can help by taking our 15-minute free demo.
Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of frequently merging code changes into a shared repository, followed by automated testing to detect issues early. As a part of the CI/CD, it ensures a faster development process with fewer integration conflicts.
Waterfall localization happens in sequential phases, localizing content only after development is complete. Agile localization, on the other hand, runs in parallel with development, enabling continuous updates and faster global releases.
Transifex AI accelerates localization by automating translations, context adaptation, and quality checks. In addition to that, it automates the end-to-end workflows and seamlessly integrates with CI/CD workflows for real-time multilingual updates.
Chris is a B2B & B2C Digital Content Manager and versatile copywriter. Based in Amsterdam, he has helped Tech companies shape and implement multichannel marketing campaigns across earned and owned media.