Lokalise Install & Auth

Lokalise Install & Auth

Overview

Set up Lokalise SDK/​CLI and configure API token authentication for translation management.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 14+ (v18+ recommended for ESM support)
• Package manager (npm, pnpm, or yarn)
• Lokalise account with project access
• API token from Lokalise profile settings

Instructions

Step 1: Install Node.js SDK

# Node.js SDK (ESM module, v9+)
npm install @lokalise/​node-api

# For CommonJS projects, use v8
npm install @lokalise/​node-api@8

Step 2: Install CLI Tool (Optional)

# macOS via Homebrew
brew tap lokalise/​cli-2
brew install lokalise2

# Linux/​Windows via direct download
# Visit: https://github.com/​lokalise/​lokalise-cli-2-go/​releases

# Verify installation
lokalise2 --version

Step 3: Generate API Token

1. Log into Lokalise
2. Click profile avatar -> Profile Settings
3. Go to "API tokens" tab
4. Click "Generate new token"
5. Choose "Read and write" for full access
6. Copy the token immediately (shown only once)

Step 4: Configure Authentication

# Set environment variable
export LOKALISE_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

# Or create .env file
echo 'LOKALISE_API_TOKEN=your-api-token' >> .env

# CLI configuration (creates ~/​.lokalise2/​config.yml)
lokalise2 --token "$LOKALISE_API_TOKEN" project list

Step 5: Verify Connection

import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/​node-api";

const lokaliseApi = new LokaliseApi({
  apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN!,
});

// Test connection by listing projects
const projects = await lokaliseApi.projects().list();
console.log(`Connected! Found ${projects.items.length} projects.`);

Output

• Installed @lokalise/​node-api package
• Optional: lokalise2 CLI installed
• Environment variable or .env file with API token
• Successful connection verification

Error Handling

Examples

TypeScript Setup (ESM)

import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/​node-api";

const lokaliseApi = new LokaliseApi({
  apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN!,
});

// List all projects
const projects = await lokaliseApi.projects().list();
projects.items.forEach(p => console.log(`${p.project_id}: ${p.name}`));

CommonJS Setup (SDK v8)

const { LokaliseApi } = require("@lokalise/​node-api");

const lokaliseApi = new LokaliseApi({
  apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN,
});

lokaliseApi.projects().list().then(projects => {
  console.log(`Found ${projects.items.length} projects`);
});

CLI Configuration File

# ~/​.lokalise2/​config.yml
token: "your-api-token"
project_id: "123456789.abcdef"

OAuth2 Authentication (for apps)

import { LokaliseApiOAuth } from "@lokalise/​node-api";

// Use token obtained via OAuth2 flow
const lokaliseApi = new LokaliseApiOAuth({
  apiKey: oauthAccessToken,
});

Resources

• Lokalise Developer Hub
• API Authentication
• Node SDK Documentation
• CLI v2 Documentation

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to lokalise-hello-world for your first API call.