What does globalize.now actually do to your code?
Two questions most users have before starting: what does the install command do, and will it break anything?
What the install command does
npx skills add --all globalize-now/globalize-skills installs the globalize.now skills into your AI coding agent. That's
it, nothing in your codebase changes.
The command copies a set of skill files into your agent's skills directory: .claude/skills/ for Claude Code,
.agents/skills/ for Cursor, Codex, and Copilot. These are plain text instructions that tell the agent how to handle
i18n: which library to use, how to extract strings, how to name keys, how to structure locale files. If the CLI can't
auto-detect your agent, it asks which one to install to, or you can name it with -a (for example -a claude-code).
After installing, you set things up by asking your agent in plain language:
Set up i18n for my project
To wire up auto-translation later, you ask it to connect the project:
Connect globalize.now to my repo
These are things you type into your agent, not output the agent generates.
Will it change your code permanently?
No. Every change goes into the branch you created before starting, not directly to main.
When you ask the agent to set up i18n, the globalize-guide skill first shows you a plan and waits for your go-ahead.
Once you approve, it modifies files in your local branch: it rewrites components to use translation keys instead of
hardcoded strings, adds locale files, and updates configuration. All of this happens in a branch.
At the end, you review a diff like any other pull request. You can inspect every change, test locally, and only merge
when satisfied.
What if something looks wrong?
- Don't merge. Close the branch and nothing reaches main.
- Revert the branch. git checkout main && git branch -D feat/i18n-setup. Main is untouched.
- Fix specific files. Edit them in the branch before merging.
The agent doesn't force-push to main, that's an explicit design constraint.
What about auto-translate?
When globalize.now translates your strings on every push, it creates a pull request with updated locale files. Same
model, you review it, you merge it. The app never commits directly to main.
Where do the skill files go?
Skills install locally to your agent's skills directory: .claude/skills/ for Claude Code, .agents/skills/ for Cursor,
Codex, and Copilot. They're project-scoped, so one repo doesn't affect another, and they're plain text files you can
read in any editor. If you want to review them before installing, browse the skills on GitHub at
globalize-now/globalize-skills and copy the folders in manually, or run the command with --copy instead of the default
symlink.
