Before the i18n-guide skill changes anything, it shows you a plan: which library it will add, which files it will touch, whether it will add a language switcher. You approve that plan before any code changes. If the plan looks bigger than you expected, here's how to read it and rein it in.
When the plan proposes a full setup on an app that already has i18n
If your repo already uses next-intl, react-i18next, i18next, or @lingui/*, the agent should detect that and propose connect-only (sync) mode, not a fresh build. If the plan instead proposes installing a library, adding a language switcher, and rewriting many components, the detection missed your existing setup.
Don't approve that plan. Tell the agent directly:
This project already uses [your i18n library]. Connect it in sync mode instead of setting up i18n from scratch.
The agent re-inspects, treats your project as already-internationalized, and switches to connecting your existing locale files for translation on push. Nothing gets rebuilt.
If you already approved a plan that did too much
It's recoverable. Discard the changes locally:
git restore .
git clean -fd
If you committed but didn't push:
git reset --hard HEAD~1
Then re-run setup and, when the plan appears, correct it as above before approving.
What connect-only (sync) mode looks like
For an app that already has i18n, the agent does not touch your code at setup time. It:
- Reads your existing locale files
- Connects your GitHub or GitLab repo
- Watches for pushes to
main - Opens a PR with translated locale files when new keys appear
No language switcher. No file moves. No restructure. The first sign it's working is a PR on your next push.
Tell us if detection keeps missing
If the agent repeatedly fails to detect your existing setup, send us your package.json dependencies and your locale folder layout through the feedback widget (bottom-right on any globalize.now page). We use it to improve detection.
Related
- What project types and frameworks are supported — detection signals and what sync mode does
- What globalize.now does to your code — the branch-safety model