Branch workflow

Translation files cause merge conflicts because every branch edits the same few files. Rodarion solves that by following your git branches.

How it works

• On the default branch, the CLI syncs with the central project.
• On any other branch, the CLI detects the branch name and syncs with a shadow project: a copy of the central project that belongs to that branch only. New keys, changed texts and machine translations stay there.
• When the branch is merged, rodarion promote --branch <name> folds the shadow into the central project, machine-translates what is still missing and downloads the result.
• When a branch is abandoned, rodarion discard deletes its shadow.

Nobody has to remember the promote step: rodarion ci writes a workflow that runs it on every merge. See CI.

Who wins on a conflict

On a feature branch, local wins for keys that are new on that branch. If you write or correct a translation for such a key in your local files, rodarion up pushes it into the shadow and machine translation leaves it alone.

Two things are never overwritten from a branch:

• keys that already exist in the central project, so a stale local file can never replace a shared translation;
• any translation marked approved.

Change those in the app or with rodarion translate.

Trying it without touching your default branch

Set RODARION_CENTRAL_BRANCH=<branch> in .env to make any branch act as the central one. That is how an agent rehearses the full branch, merge and promote cycle in a trial without a commit ever reaching your real default branch.