If your agent is going off-script — writing long explanations instead of making changes, proposing the wrong i18n library, asking questions the skills should already know — it's likely lost the skills context. This is recoverable.
How to recognize it
- The agent writes long explanations instead of making code changes
- It proposes a different i18n library than the one selected
- It starts asking questions the skills should already know how to answer
- Output looks inconsistent with earlier steps in the same session
Recovery steps
Step 1 — Refresh the skills
npx globalize-skills
Re-installs the skill files and resets the agent's localization context.
Step 2 — Re-issue the setup prompt
Set up localization for my project
The agent rescans from the current state of the repo. It won't duplicate work already completed — it picks up where the code is.
Step 3 — Re-issue the conversion prompt
Convert my app
New translation keys merge back into your locale files. Keys from the previous partial run are preserved.
Step 4 — Verify
Use the verification steps to confirm the output looks right before calling it done.
The conversion step is just taking a long time
If the conversion step seems to be running for 30–45 minutes without obvious activity, that's normal on a large codebase. Don't cancel the session. Check your editor's source control panel — if files are still being modified, it's working. Interrupting mid-conversion leaves your codebase in a partial state.
Prevention
- Run setup steps in order, don't skip ahead
- Keep your session focused — avoid mixing i18n work with other code changes in the same agent context
- On very large repos (100+ components), break conversion into batches: "Convert only the
/src/componentsdirectory first"