Say hi to Autonomous Localization (i18n) of your app

Updated October 2026

Autonomous localization means letting AI translate your app automatically, with little or no waiting on human translators. Missing context is the main reason teams still pay human translators for every string. Autonomous localization changes that. AI translates your app automatically and uses the context of each string to get the meaning right.

Take the word “save”. On a button under a form, it means save your data. In a banking app, it can mean save money. A classic machine translator does not know which one you mean. So it guesses. And in another language, a wrong guess can look silly or confusing.

This article explains how Tolgee AI Translator collects context from your app and when you still need a human to check the result.

The benefits of autonomous localization

The most important benefit is definitely translation cost reduction. Working with translators might become very expensive, and in many cases, the quality is not even higher because many language service providers don't work with context either, and you have to rely on their knowledge of the scope, which is often insufficient.

Another significant benefit is the speed of translation. Working with translators is a complicated process with too many steps. Without human translators, you can get your translations done in seconds.

Why is machine translation with Tolgee so reliable?

The simple answer would be "Because it uses the context." The missing context was the core reason why translating apps with machine translators like Google Translator or DeepL is so unreliable. For example, if you translate the word "close". Does it mean "Near" or "Dismiss"? You only know once you can see the context of the string, like surrounding keys in the app.

If the translator knows that the Close button is close to some dialog title, they translate correctly. And that's exactly what Tolgee AI Translator does.

Under the hood, the Tolgee AI Translator runs on large language models. On Tolgee Cloud it uses Anthropic and OpenAI models. You can also bring your own LLM provider: OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible API.

Where the context comes from?

One of the most essential benefits of Tolgee is that it has its native JS SDKs. These SDKs provide the in-context dialog, where developers, translators or other team members can edit their strings.

This way, Tolgee collects the context every time you hit the update button.

If the context is available, you can see the ⚡ indicator in the translations section of the Tolgee platform.

Note a context description in the suggestions section in the screenshot. It describes how the context was understood by the Tolgee AI Translator.

But in-context SDK isn’t the only source of context here. Every time the AI Translator translates a key, it can also use:

• Screenshots attached to the key, uploaded manually, captured with one click in the in-context editor, or sent automatically by the Figma plugin

• Key description: a short note on where the string appears and what it does

• Project description and language notes, set in AI settings

• Glossary terms, so your product vocabulary stays consistent (Glossaries)

• Translation memory: similar strings you’ve already translated

You choose which of these the AI uses in the AI Playground, where you can also preview the results before running them on your whole project.

We wrote about this in Get Consistent Translations Using AI Playground and Glossaries. For a look at how real user bugs shaped the prompt behind all this, see How user bugs shaped Tolgee’s AI translation prompt.

How can I get my strings translated?

You have two options.

1. Automatic translation. Turn it on in your project’s machine translation settings, either as a default for all languages or per language. Tolgee then translates every new string as soon as it’s added. It can fill in 100% translation memory matches, use machine translation, or both. It also works for keys imported through the CLI, the Import UI or the REST API. Auto-translated values stay marked, and they keep updating with the base text until someone edits them by hand.

2. Batch operations. Filter your keys (for example, everything untranslated), select them all, and machine-translate them in one click.

Do I need human translators at all?

Well, most projects can replace the first translation with machine translation with the Tolgee AI Translator when the context is correctly provided. However, we still recommend some QA checks against the localized app by native speakers to check everything fits. It's always a good idea to check whether translations haven't broken the layout of the app.

The good news is that reviewing is much faster than translating from scratch. Tolgee can warn you when a translation is too long for its button or when a placeholder went missing. Reviewers can also protect approved translations, so others can only suggest changes instead of overwriting them. Learn more in Introducing Translation Suggestions.

And the future goes even further. We’re now working on agentic localization, where AI agents don’t only translate but also review and fix translations in your app. The first step is already here: your coding assistant can create and translate keys directly from your editor. See how in Localizing a React app with the Tolgee MCP server.

What is the recommended way to localize my app with Tolgee Autonomous Localization?

To get the maximum from Tolgee Autonomous Localization, we recommend using Tolgee SDKs. The SDKs know which strings appear together on each screen of your app, which gives the AI the richest context. Not using them? Project description, language notes, screenshots and key descriptions still give the Tolgee AI Translator a lot to work with.

The recommended way is to make developers add the keys to the Tolgee Platform via the in-context dialog. So they add the key in the source code and add the translation to the Tolgee Platform by Alt + Clicking in the app. That way, the context is provided, and the translation can be done with the so important context.

You can also add the context "manually" by hitting the update button in the in-context editor of any key in your app.

If your team designs in Figma, the Tolgee Figma plugin uploads a screenshot with every key it creates. So the Tolgee AI Translator knows what the screen looks like even before a single line of code is written.

Next steps

Back when we wrote this post, the Tolgee AI Translator was available only on Tolgee Cloud. Today, self-hosted instances can use it too, with the AI provider of their choice (and their own API key).

To see the progress of other features, check out our roadmap.

TL;DR

• Autonomous Localization allows software development teams to autonomously translate their apps with machine translators.

• The Tolgee AI Translator understands the context of the strings used in apps, leading to reliable translations.

• Context is gathered through Tolgee’s SDKs, screenshots, the Figma plugin, key descriptions and more.

• Translation can be fully automatic for every new key, or done in bulk with one click.

• Benefits of this approach include significant cost reduction, faster translation speed while keeping the results high quality.

• While the initial translation can be done by machine translators, QA checks by native speakers are still recommended.

• To utilize Autonomous Localization effectively, it is recommended to use Tolgee SDKs.