Shipi18n vs i18n-check

@lingual/i18n-check is an open-source CLI that checks JSON and YAML locale files for missing and invalid keys, and can scan your source code for unused and undefined keys. Shipi18n is also an open-source checker, with more formats, a GitHub Action and SARIF output — but no source-code scanning.

We make Shipi18n. Every i18n-check fact below links to i18n-check’s own pages, last verified 4 October 2026.

Side by side

	Shipi18n	i18n-check
What it is	A linter for locale files: checks every translation against the source, locally or in CI	Open-source CLI that checks JSON/YAML locale files and scans code for unused keys
Dropped or renamed placeholder	Error, per language — {x}, {{x}}, %{x}, %(x)s, %1$s, %@, ICU arguments	Yes — ICU and i18next messages are parsed and compared; reported as “invalid keys”
Plural forms	Checked against each language’s CLDR categories — ICU plurals, i18next _one/_few/_many keys, Rails YAML, Android and .xcstrings	Compares plural branches present in both files; no CLDR-category check (from its source code)
Locale formats	JSON, YAML (incl. Rails), Flutter ARB, Apple .xcstrings, Android strings.xml, gettext PO, XLIFF	JSON and YAML
In CI	GitHub Action with SARIF annotations; CLI, Docker image, pre-commit hook, single-file download	No Action (README has a sample workflow); text output, exit code 1 on problems
Account or API key	None (an optional LLM review uses your own key)	None
Price	Free	Free
License	Apache-2.0	MIT

Where i18n-check is stronger

Very widely used: about 306,000 npm downloads a week (25 Sep – 1 Oct 2026)
Finds unused and undefined keys by scanning react-intl, i18next and next-intl source code — Shipi18n does not
Parses ICU and i18next messages, so a dropped {name} is caught
No model or API key anywhere

What i18n-check doesn’t cover

JSON and YAML only — no ARB, .xcstrings, Android XML, gettext or XLIFF
No JSON or SARIF output, so no inline PR annotations
No GitHub Action of its own

In short

Running both is reasonable: i18n-check for unused/undefined keys in your source code, Shipi18n for mobile and gettext formats, CLDR plural categories and annotated PRs.

What the check prints

$ npx @shipi18n/cli check ./locales -s en
🔎 shipi18n check — flat layout, source 'en', 2 target language(s)

✗ de  coverage 100.0%  2 error(s), 1 warning(s)
    error  welcome  placeholder-missing — dropped {name}
           fix: restore {name} exactly as written in the source
    error  checkout  placeholder-missing — dropped {amount}
           fix: rename {betrag} to {amount}
    warning  checkout  placeholder-added — unexpected {betrag}
✓ pl  coverage 100.0%  0 error(s), 0 warning(s)

✗ check failed: 2 error(s)

No account and no API key. Exit code 1 fails the CI job; the GitHub Action also annotates the PR lines. Quick start

Last verified 4 October 2026 (2026-10-04) against these primary sources. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, open an issue.