Automate Software Localization Across Every Release
Connect Stepes directly to your software development workflow. Synchronize resource files and translation keys, localize new and updated strings, apply product terminology and contextual guidance, coordinate AI and professional human review, and return release-ready localized content through one enterprise API.
Move localization from a manual handoff at the end of development to a continuous process that operates alongside every product release.
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What Is a Software Localization API?
A software localization API connects software development systems directly to the workflows used to translate, review, validate, and deliver localized product content.
Instead of manually exporting language files, sending spreadsheets, consolidating feedback, and importing translations before each release, development teams can manage localization programmatically. Applications and automation pipelines can synchronize resource files, create or update translation keys, assign target locales, submit changed content for localization, monitor progress, and retrieve approved language resources.
A software localization API also preserves the technical relationships ordinary text translation can lose, including file structures, keys, variables, placeholders, plural variants, markup, character limits, screenshots, branch relationships, terminology, and review status.
From Translation Requests to Continuous Product Localization
A general Translation API sends documents, files, text, and business content into a translation workflow. A Software Localization API is designed around recurring development cycles and the software objects required to deliver technically valid, contextually accurate, deployment-ready language resources.
Translation API or Software Localization API?
Stepes provides distinct developer solutions for general translation automation and continuous product localization. The right choice depends on the content, workflow, and delivery model your systems need to support.
| Requirement | Translation API | Software Localization API |
|---|---|---|
| Translate documents, files, or business content | Primary use case | Used when connected to software workflows |
| Create and manage translation projects | Yes | Through software-specific projects and jobs |
| Synchronize translation keys | Not the primary model | Core capability |
| Preserve resource-file structure | File dependent | Core capability |
| Associate screenshots and UI context | General project instructions | String-level and component-level context |
| Validate variables, placeholders, and plurals | General content validation | Software-specific validation |
| Connect repositories and CI/CD | Custom integration | Primary integration model |
| Manage branches and releases | Not the primary model | Designed for release-driven localization |
| Return localized software bundles | Possible for submitted files | Primary output |
| Coordinate professional human review | Yes | Yes, with software-specific workflow routing |
Use the Translation API
Submit documents, text, and managed translation projects; automate enterprise content workflows; and retrieve completed results.
Explore the Translation APIUse the Software Localization API
Synchronize software resources, preserve technical structures, manage branches and locales, and generate release-ready localized files.
View Getting StartedUse Software Localization Services
Add localization engineering, in-context linguistic testing, internationalization support, and end-to-end delivery for complex software programs.
Explore Software Localization ServicesBuild Localization Into Your Software Delivery Lifecycle
Continuous localization lets translated content progress alongside product development instead of waiting for a separate phase after engineering is complete.
Connect Your Software Project
Define the source locale, target locales, resource formats, workflow rules, terminology, review requirements, access permissions, and delivery settings for a repeatable localization program.
Synchronize Files and Keys
Push complete resource files or submit only new and changed strings while preserving the relationships among files, keys, branches, locales, and translations.
Add Technical and Visual Context
Attach key names, developer comments, screenshots, source references, character limits, placeholder definitions, and product terminology so every string can be translated in context.
Translate and Review
Route content through translation memory, terminology-guided AI translation, professional post-editing, linguistic review, subject-matter validation, and product approval.
Run Automated Quality Checks
Validate placeholders, markup, plural structures, terminology, locale completeness, character limits, and other software-specific requirements before release.
Deliver Release-Ready Resources
Generate localized builds, retrieve approved files, trigger downstream testing, create commits or pull requests, and continue deployment workflows through events and APIs.
Manage the Objects Software Teams Actually Use
The Stepes Software Localization API uses a software-specific model built for structured content, recurring updates, controlled review, and multilingual releases.
Projects
The parent container for products, languages, resources, workflows, permissions, and delivery settings.
Repositories
Connections between source-controlled resources and the localization environment, with configurable mappings and synchronization rules.
Branches
Parallel localization versions aligned with feature, staging, production, regional, and long-term-support development branches.
Resource Files
Structured localization files associated with a project, platform, module, branch, source locale, and target locale.
Translation Keys
Stable identifiers that connect source strings with translations, metadata, screenshots, and review history.
Strings and Translations
Source content and target-language values with workflow status, revision history, quality results, and approval state.
Locales
Language-and-region configurations that support market-specific terminology, formatting, product behavior, and regulatory language.
Jobs, Builds, and Exports
Defined localization work and generated delivery packages prepared for testing, integration, or deployment.
Integrate Localization With the Tools Your Developers Already Use
Software localization should operate within the development environment, not require engineers to step outside it for every update.
Connect Source-Control Workflows
Import source resources, map branches, detect changed files, push approved localized files, and support commit or pull-request delivery across common repository workflows.
Add Localization to CI/CD
Trigger localization after resource changes, check locale readiness, validate required translations, retrieve approved builds, and continue automated testing or deployment.
Build on a Consistent Developer Foundation
Use shared Stepes conventions for versioning, authentication, request IDs, environments, errors, and event handling across translation and software-localization workflows.
const stepes = {
version: "v2",
production: "https://api.stepes.com/v2",
sandbox: "https://api.sandbox.stepes.com/v2",
headers: {
Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_STEPES_API_KEY",
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
};Localize New and Updated Strings Without Reprocessing Everything
Software changes incrementally. Your localization workflow should do the same.
The API identifies added keys and modified source content, preserves approved translations for unchanged strings, reuses translation memory, and manages removed keys according to project policy.
- Reduce duplicated translation work
- Preserve approved content across releases
- Shorten localization cycles
- Minimize manual file reconciliation
- Improve release predictability
- Control localization costs
Improve Translation Accuracy With String-Level Context
A short software string can have several meanings when viewed by itself. Context helps linguists understand what the string means, where it appears, and how it must behave in the interface.
Key Names and Source References
Identify the feature, screen, module, or component in which a string appears so short labels are not translated in isolation.
Developer Comments
Explain meaning, user action, grammatical role, space constraints, protected terminology, and runtime behavior.
Screenshots and Visual Context
Associate strings with the interface so linguists can evaluate neighboring content, hierarchy, available space, and intended interaction.
Character and Display Limits
Guide translation for buttons, tabs, menus, notifications, mobile screens, embedded interfaces, and other constrained layouts.
Variables and Placeholders
Protect runtime elements such as {username}, %1$s, {{count}}, {0}, and ${total} while translating the surrounding content.
Plurals, Grammar, and Terminology
Preserve locale-specific plural structures, ICU-style messages, approved product names, interface labels, and technical vocabulary.
{username}%1$s{{count}}{0}${total}
Protect the Code. Translate the Experience.
Stepes keeps variables and syntax intact while linguists translate the surrounding user-facing content.
Explore Terminology ManagementApply the Right Level of Review to Every Software String
An internal diagnostic message, a customer-facing checkout button, a legal disclosure, and a medical-device warning carry different levels of visibility and risk.
Stepes lets organizations combine automation and professional linguistic expertise according to each content category, market, and release requirement.
Explore AI + Human Translation WorkflowsApproved Translation Memory First
Reuse validated product language across platforms, modules, versions, and markets.
Terminology-Guided AI Translation
Generate context-aware first-pass translations using approved terminology, prior translations, locale requirements, and string metadata.
Risk-Based Workflow Routing
Route content according to product visibility, string type, target market, confidence level, regulatory importance, and customer-defined rules.
Professional Linguistic Review
Add native linguists, subject-matter specialists, in-country reviewers, and product approvers when human validation is required.
Prevent Localization Defects Before Release
A translation can be linguistically correct and still cause a software defect. Stepes validates the technical and linguistic details required to keep localized resources usable, complete, and release ready.
Placeholder Validation
Detect missing, added, renamed, reordered, or malformed runtime variables.
Tag and Markup Validation
Protect HTML, XML, Markdown, escape sequences, and application-specific syntax.
Missing Translation Detection
Identify required keys without an approved value for one or more target locales.
Plural-Form Validation
Confirm that the grammatical variants required by each locale remain complete and technically valid.
Character-Length Checks
Flag translations that exceed configured interface or display constraints.
Terminology Validation
Detect prohibited or inconsistent product terminology before localized resources are built.
Locale-Format Checks
Review numbers, dates, times, currencies, units, separators, percentages, and punctuation.
Encoding and Character Checks
Identify corrupted characters, invalid encoding, unsupported characters, and Unicode issues.
RTL Readiness
Support Arabic, Hebrew, and other right-to-left localization requirements and testing workflows.
Duplicate and Conflicting Keys
Find collisions and inconsistent resource definitions before they reach a localized build.
Support the Resource Formats Your Teams Already Use
Localize structured resources across web, mobile, desktop, cloud, embedded, gaming, and cross-platform development environments.
| Development Ecosystem | Representative Formats |
|---|---|
| Web and JavaScript | JSON, YAML, JavaScript resource objects |
| Android | Android XML |
| Apple Platforms | .strings, .stringsdict, XLIFF |
| Microsoft and .NET | RESX |
| Java | .properties |
| GNU Gettext | PO and POT |
| Flutter | ARB |
| Cross-Platform Frameworks | JSON, YAML, XML, XLIFF |
| Games and Custom Software | CSV, TSV, JSON, XML, and structured custom formats |
Keep Every System Updated With Localization Events
Resource imports, translation, review, QA, builds, testing, and deployment often happen asynchronously. Webhooks let connected systems respond when meaningful localization events occur.
- Typed events with unique identifiers
- Signed HMAC-SHA-256 payloads
- Retry behavior and idempotent processing
- Delivery timestamps and request tracing
- CloudEvents-structured JSON
- AsyncAPI event contract and OpenAPI request definitions
resource.file.importedResource synchronizedsource.string.changedReview routing startedtranslation.completed12 locales translatedqa.issue.detectedPlaceholder mismatch flaggedtranslation.approvedProduct approval completebuild.generatedLocalized package readyEnterprise Controls for Business-Critical Software
Software resource files may contain unreleased product information, proprietary terminology, feature names, user-interface logic, and other sensitive business content. Stepes provides the operational controls required to govern localization across products, teams, and environments.
Server-Side Authentication
Protect API keys and keep credentials out of client-side code, public repositories, mobile applications, and browser-delivered scripts.
Scoped Access
Limit integrations to the projects, environments, locales, and actions they require.
Role-Based Permissions
Separate developer, linguist, reviewer, product approver, administrator, and read-only responsibilities.
Encryption
Protect localization data while it is transmitted and stored.
Auditability
Record imports, source changes, translation revisions, reviews, approvals, QA outcomes, builds, exports, and administrative actions.
Environment Separation
Keep sandbox, development, staging, and production workflows distinct.
Credential Management
Rotate and revoke credentials, separate integration identities, and avoid personal credentials for production automation.
Data Governance
Support organizational policies for retention, deletion, regional processing, access, and regulatory obligations.
Built for Every Type of Software Product
Apply the same connected localization foundation across digital products, enterprise systems, applications, devices, games, and regulated software environments.
SaaS and Cloud Applications
Continuously localize dashboards, onboarding, account settings, notifications, billing interfaces, support features, and new product functionality across frequent releases.
Mobile Applications
Coordinate iOS and Android resources through one workflow while preserving platform-specific files, variables, plural structures, and review requirements.
Enterprise Software
Manage multilingual content across product suites, modules, customer portals, administrative tools, and regional editions with controlled access and approvals.
Embedded and Connected Products
Localize device controls, equipment displays, companion applications, and constrained interfaces with technical validation and character-limit controls.
Games and Interactive Products
Manage interface strings, dialogue, gameplay terminology, platform-specific resources, and release branches with linguistic and cultural review.
Regulated Software
Apply professional review, terminology governance, automated QA, controlled approval, and auditable delivery to safety-sensitive and regulated products.
A Typical Continuous Localization Workflow
Consider a SaaS company preparing a multilingual release after its development team adds new account-security settings and updates several interface messages.
The updated resource files are committed to a feature branch. The localization pipeline then detects the changes, synchronizes affected keys, preserves approved translations, applies terminology and translation memory, routes sensitive strings to professional review, validates the localized resources, and generates files for testing.
Detect and Synchronize
Detect modified resource files, synchronize new and changed translation keys, preserve approved translations for unchanged strings, and attach the developer comments and screenshots needed for context.
Translate, Review, and Validate
Apply translation memory and approved terminology, use AI translation for eligible content, route sensitive strings to professional reviewers, and validate placeholders, markup, length, and locale completeness.
Build and Return
Generate approved localized resources for testing, return them to the development workflow, and preserve the translation, QA, review, and delivery history for the release.
Start Your First Software Localization Workflow
Begin with a straightforward integration path, then extend the same foundation to complex enterprise localization programs.
Request API Access
Create approved credentials for your Stepes account and select the appropriate environment.
Review Authentication
Configure your server-side application to use bearer authentication with the sandbox or production API.
Create a Project
Define source and target locales, resource structure, workflow, terminology, and review requirements.
Synchronize Resources
Upload or connect a supported software resource and create the corresponding translation keys.
Start Localization
Submit selected files, branches, keys, or changed strings to the required locales and workflow.
Monitor and Deliver
Track translation and review, respond to events, generate a localized build, and retrieve deployment-ready files.
One Localization API, From Automation to Expert Review
Stepes combines a developer-focused software localization model with the linguistic, quality, and enterprise capabilities required to move products into global markets.
Software-Specific Localization Workflows
Work with projects, branches, files, keys, strings, locales, reviews, and localized builds instead of disconnected text.
AI and Professional Linguists in One Workflow
Automate eligible content while retaining expert review for important, customer-facing, technical, or regulated strings.
Translation Memory and Terminology
Reuse approved translations and maintain consistent product language across platforms, modules, releases, and markets.
Technical Quality Assurance
Validate placeholders, plurals, tags, markup, resource completeness, character limits, and other software-specific requirements.
Enterprise Governance
Control access, workflow routing, approvals, environments, audit records, and delivery across global teams.
Managed Localization Support
Supplement API automation with localization engineering, testing, project management, in-country review, and professional translation.
Build With the Stepes Software Localization API
Move from product evaluation to implementation with technical guidance, reference definitions, event documentation, and operational resources.
Getting Started
Configure authentication and complete your first software-localization workflow.
API Reference
Explore software-localization resources, parameters, schemas, responses, and events.
Authentication
Secure server-side requests and manage API credentials across environments.
Resource Files
Review software-resource formats, import behavior, and localized export requirements.
Translation Keys and Locales
Manage source strings, locale values, metadata, context, and workflow state.
Webhooks and Events
Respond to resource, translation, review, QA, build, and export events.
Errors and Request IDs
Diagnose failed requests and build reliable retry and tracing behavior.
Changelog
Track additions, improvements, changes, and deprecations across the Stepes API.
Software Localization API FAQ
Review common questions about continuous localization, software resource formats, workflow automation, technical QA, review, and API integration.
A Translation API is a general-purpose interface for submitting text, documents, files, and business content to a translation workflow. A Software Localization API is designed around software projects, resource files, translation keys, strings, locales, branches, contextual metadata, reviews, and localized builds. Use the Translation API for broad translation automation and the Software Localization API for continuous, release-driven product localization.
Yes. Development systems can synchronize changed resources, start localization workflows, monitor progress, respond to webhook events, and retrieve approved localized files so localization can operate alongside development rather than after it.
Yes. Change-based synchronization identifies new keys and modified source strings while preserving approved translations for unchanged content. Workflow rules determine whether affected translations should be retained, reviewed, regenerated, or fully retranslated.
Representative formats include JSON, YAML, Android XML, Apple strings resources, XLIFF, RESX, Java properties, PO, POT, ARB, CSV, TSV, and XML. The file-format documentation provides the latest supported formats and processing requirements.
Placeholder definitions remain associated with each software string. Automated QA identifies missing, added, modified, reordered, or incorrectly structured variables before translations are approved or included in a build.
Yes. Software strings can preserve plural and select structures required by the application and target locale. Quality checks confirm that required language-specific variants remain complete and technically valid.
Yes. Strings can include screenshots, developer comments, key names, source references, character limits, component details, and other contextual metadata so linguists understand meaning, function, and interface location.
Yes. Workflows can combine translation memory, terminology-guided AI translation, professional post-editing, linguistic review, subject-matter validation, and product-team approval based on content type, visibility, risk, and target market.
Approved translations can be compiled into localized resource files or builds that preserve file names, directory structures, keys, locale mappings, placeholders, and technical syntax. Applications can retrieve completed packages or respond to export-ready events.
Software-localization workflows can connect with common source-control environments through supported repository integrations or direct API-based automation. Teams can synchronize resources, maintain branch relationships, and return localized files through commit or pull-request workflows.
Yes. CI/CD pipelines can detect resource changes, synchronize strings, check translation readiness, retrieve approved builds, and initiate localized testing or deployment.
Yes. Stepes supports structured translation, professional review, terminology governance, automated QA, approval controls, access management, and auditability. Workflows can be configured according to content risk, regulatory requirements, and validation needs.
Yes. Both products share a consistent Stepes developer foundation, including versioning, bearer authentication, request IDs, errors, environments, and webhook conventions.
Complete technical definitions are available in the Stepes API Reference under the Software Localization endpoint group.
Explore API ReferenceBuild Localization Into Your Next Release
Connect your development workflow to Stepes and automate software localization from resource synchronization through translation, professional review, quality assurance, and release-ready delivery.