# Your team edits translations. Nobody touches JSON or git.

> Translators and product managers edit your app's text in the browser. Fink checks it and commits it to the branch you opened on GitHub.

Translators and product managers edit your app's text in the browser. Fink checks the text and saves it as a commit on GitHub. Developers review the change like any other commit.

## How a change gets into your app

1. **Translator or PM:** Open the link a developer sent you. It opens the project in Fink on the branch the developer chose.
2. **Translator or PM:** Pick your language, choose **To do** and type the translations. Choose **Sign in with GitHub** the first time, then **Push**.
3. **Fink:** Commits your changes to the branch your link opened.
4. **Developer:** Opens a pull request on GitHub, checks the changes and merges them.
5. **Developer:** Releases a new version of the app with the new text.

When you push, Fink saves your changes as a **commit** (a saved set of changes) on the **branch** (a separate line of work in the repository) that your link opened. Fink does not open a pull request. The bottom bar shows the branch name. Don't switch branches in the branch menu unless a developer asks you to.

If your link opens the main branch, your changes are there right away and there is no pull request. Your text still appears in the app only after a developer releases a new version. Fink does not publish anything to the app.

## What Fink checks

Fink compares each translation with the source text and marks the message. Most warnings have a button that fixes them. You can push with open warnings. See [Checks](/docs/checks).

- **Missing in German:** The translation is missing or empty.
- **Missing {count} in German:** A variable from the source text is missing. **Insert {count}** adds it.
- **1 form missing:** A plural form is missing, for example the text for "1 file" or "5 files".
- **Unexpected {totl} in French:** The translation uses a variable the source text doesn't have. Fink asks: Did you mean {total}?

## What each person needs

- **Translator or PM:** A free GitHub account with write access to the repository, and the link a developer sent you. Without write access, the Inlang GitHub App must be installed on your account so Fink can push to your fork. A developer can help with this.
- **Developer:** Sets up the project once (one command for i18next, one small file for next-intl, nothing for Paraglide JS), installs the Inlang GitHub App on the repository and sends the translators a link.
- **Viewer:** Nothing, for a public repository. Changes stay in that browser and can't be saved.

Fink has no accounts, invitations or roles of its own. GitHub decides who can push. For a private repository, everyone needs a GitHub account with access to it, and the Inlang GitHub App installed on it.

## Setup for developers

1. Add a `project.inlang` folder to the repository. For i18next, run `npx i18next-cli init --inlang`. For next-intl, add one small settings file, see [next-intl](/docs/next-intl). Paraglide JS projects already have one. See [Set up a project](/docs/set-up-a-project).
2. Install the [Inlang GitHub App](https://github.com/apps/inlang/installations/new) on the repository.
3. Add translators and PMs as collaborators on GitHub, or let them work through forks.
4. Send them a link: `https://fink.inlang.com/?repo=OWNER/REPO&project=project.inlang&branch=BRANCH`. Without `&branch=`, Fink opens the default branch. Fink does not create branches, so create the branch on GitHub first.

## Mistakes and undo

- **Before you push:** undo with ⌘Z or Ctrl+Z in the same browser tab, or edit the text again. Nothing is on GitHub yet.
- **After you push:** edit the text again and push again. A developer can also undo the commit on GitHub.

Before you push, **Review** shows each changed text before and after. Only the files you changed are committed, and only the texts you edited change in them.

## Protected branches and forks

- **Protected branch:** If the branch requires pull requests on GitHub, for example a protected main branch, the push fails. Ask the developer for another branch, such as `translations`.
- **No write access:** The bottom bar shows **Fork**. Choose it. Fink makes a copy of the project in your GitHub account (a **fork**). Choose **Push**. Fink then shows **Open pull request**, a link to GitHub's pull request page. You submit the pull request on GitHub.

## Limits

- Everyone who saves changes needs a GitHub account.
- Only repositories on github.com.
- Only i18next JSON, next-intl and Paraglide JS (inlang message format) files. See [Supported formats](/docs/formats).
- No comments, screenshots or translation memory. Machine translation is not available yet.

Fink is free and open source (MIT).