DEV Community

Cover image for NuvLoc 1.1.2: The Agent Writes the Culture .resx. The CLI Checks It.
NuvyntraLabs
NuvyntraLabs

Posted on

NuvLoc 1.1.2: The Agent Writes the Culture .resx. The CLI Checks It.

#maui #localization #i18n #nuvyntralabs

A translation vendor wants an API key. An IDE resource manager wants you to stay in that IDE. A MAUI app that already has an English .resx mostly needs to know which keys are missing in Spanish.

NuvLoc answers that question and hands the missing keys to the coding agent you already use. Version 1.1.2 of NuvyntraLabs.NuvLoc.Cli is on nuget.org. The agent writes AppResources.es.resx. The CLI never calls OpenAI, Azure, or any other translation API.

This post is the walkthrough: i18n.json, nuvloc init, the two slash commands, and the CI check that does not need an agent.

What NuvLoc is

NuvLoc is a global dotnet tool for sibling .resx hosts: MAUI, WPF, WinUI, Avalonia, and Uno. MIT licensed. The command is nuvloc. It is not a PackageReference, and it does not bind strings into XAML.
Package NuvyntraLabs.NuvLoc.Cli 1.1.2
Config i18n.json at the project root
Translate /nuvloc.translate — there is no nuvloc translate command
Check nuvloc check --ci
Source github.com/nuvyntralabs/NuvLoc
Docs nuvyntralabs.github.io/toolkits/nuvloc/

Coverage and placeholder checks prove that every key is present and that {0} still matches. They do not prove the sentence is right. Review every culture file with a native speaker before you ship.

Install and configure 

dotnet tool install -g NuvyntraLabs.NuvLoc.Cli --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json
nuvloc version
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Put i18n.json next to the project. init checks this file. It does not create the host.

{
  "platform": "maui",
  "source": "Resources/Strings/AppResources.resx",
  "languages": ["es", "fr"]
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

platform is maui, wpf, winui, avalonia, or uno. source is the English .resx. Culture files are siblings: AppResources.es.resx beside AppResources.resx. WinUI and Uno PRI .resw folders under Strings/{lang}/ stay out of scope.

languages must be BCP-47. es, pt-BR, and zh-Hans are valid. Casing is canonicalized (PT-br becomes pt-BR). Underscores (es_MX), and English source tags (en, en-US, en-GB), are rejected. A bad code does not create a .resx. The CLI exits 2 and prints the reason.

These codes are tested: es, fr, de, it, nl, ja, ko, zh-Hans, pt-BR, ar, hi, ru. Other BCP-47 codes work the same way.

Init, then the agent 

nuvloc init --configfile i18n.json --agent cursor
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

init checks the JSON, confirms the source file exists, and writes .nuvloc/ plus the agent skills. --force overwrites skill files. It does not overwrite a culture .resx. Omit --agent on an interactive terminal to pick from the same Spec Kit set Nuvyn uses (Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, Windsurf, and others). --ci requires --agent.

In Cursor:

/nuvloc.status
/nuvloc.translate
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

/nuvloc.status runs nuvloc status and explains the counts. /nuvloc.translate runs nuvloc plan, writes the sibling culture files, then runs nuvloc check --write-cache.

A plan with gaps looks like this:

Source: Resources/Strings/AppResources.resx

es: 2 current, 1 missing, 0 stale, 0 placeholder, 0 extra
 missing ItemsLeft

fr: 0 current, 3 missing, 0 stale, 0 placeholder, 0 extra
 missing Save
 missing Cancel
 missing ItemsLeft
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

current means the key is present and the source hash still matches. stale means the English value changed after the culture file was written. placeholder means a format item does not match. extra means the culture file has a key the English source does not.

A second agent is nuvloc agent add copilot. nuvloc update refreshes skills and .nuvloc/reference/dotnet-resx.md and leaves i18n.json and the culture files alone.

CI without an agent 

nuvloc check --configfile i18n.json --ci
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Exit 0 means the configured cultures are complete. Exit 1 means a key is missing, stale, or a placeholder is broken. Exit 2 is usage: missing i18n.json, an unknown agent, a language that is not BCP-47, or --lang that is not listed in i18n.json.

--write-cache records source hashes for keys that are present, so the next run can tell stale from current. --ci forces JSON.

On an interactive terminal nuvloc asks every 4 hours whether to update from nuget.org. The cache file is ~/.nuvyntra/cli-updates.json, shared with maui-dev, nuvyn, maui-perf, and maui-pulse. Skip it with --no-update-check or NUVYNTRA_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1. The CLI does not phone home.

When something looks wrong

What you see What to do
Exit 2 on es_MX Use a hyphen: es-MX. Underscores are rejected.
Exit 2 on en-US in languages English is the source file. Do not list it as a target culture.
/nuvloc.translate is missing Run nuvloc init --agent cursor in this repo. init installs the skill.
nuvloc translate fails That command does not exist. Translation is the slash skill.
Check is green and the Spanish is wrong Completeness passed. A native speaker still has to read the file.
You expected XAML to pick up the new culture NuvLoc does not add a markup extension. The host binds AppResources the way it already does.

Where NuvLoc sits next to the other tools

Need Tool
Diff sibling .resx files and let the agent fill the gaps NuvLoc
An IDE resource editor or a translation vendor ResXResourceManager, Crowdin, or Phrase
Doctor the MAUI project MauiDev
Scaffold a new MAUI host Nuvyn

Try it 

dotnet tool install -g NuvyntraLabs.NuvLoc.Cli --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json
nuvloc init --configfile i18n.json --agent cursor
nuvloc status --configfile i18n.json
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then run /nuvloc.translate, and have a native speaker read AppResources.es.resx before the check in CI is the only review it gets.

By Niladri

Top comments (0)