Self‑Healing Localization (SHL) Library

Automatic, self‑maintaining localization for any Python project

• Author: Tuomas Lähteenmäki
• License: MIT
• Version: 0.2.5
• Type: Library
• Status: Stable

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Primary Links

• Canonical Repository (Codeberg): https://codeberg.org/lahtis/Self_Healing_Localization
• GitHub Mirror: https://github.com/lahtis/Self-Healing-Localization
• Documentation: https://codeberg.org/lahtis/Self_Healing_Localization/src/branch/main/docs

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Overview

Self-Healing Localization Layer (SHL) is a Python localization engine that automatically creates, synchronizes, and maintains language files throughout the lifetime of your application.

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Quick Start

Installation

Stable (PyPI)

pip install self-healing-localization

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Latest Development (TestPyPI)

pip install -i https://test.pypi.org/simple/ self-healing-localization==0.2.4

Environment Variables (.env)

Create a .env file in your project root (optional):

MYMEMORY_EMAIL=your@email.com
LIBRETRANSLATE_API_KEY=your-api-key
LIBRETRANSLATE_URL=https://libretranslate.com

Configuration via config.conf

Create a config.conf in your project root:

[SETTINGS]
language = fi
base_lang = en
m_translation_enabled = true

Quick Start

1. Basic UI Localization

Initialize the engine and start retrieving text. Missing keys are added to your JSON files automatically.

from shl.engine import LocalizationEngine

shl.setup_logging("DEBUG")

# Initialize the engine (user language = Finnish, base = English)
engine = LocalizationEngine(base_lang="en")

# If 'welcome_msg' is missing, it is created with the given default value
title = engine.ui_text("welcome_msg", "Welcome to the App!")

print(title)  # "Tervetuloa sovellukseen!" (if translation exists)

SHL interprets this as:

• base_lang="en" → source code strings are English
• lang_code="fi" → user wants Finnish UI

So SHL does:

• 1. Look for welcome_msg in fi.json
• 2. If missing:

• Create the key in fi.json
• Use the default value "Welcome to the App!" as the English source
• Translate English → Finnish

• 3. Return the Finnish result

Core takeaway

• base_lang = the language your source JSON files are written in
• lang_code = the language the user wants to see in the UI right now Everything else in SHL’s behavior flows from that.

How SHL interprets these two parameters

1) base_lang

This is the language of your canonical UI strings — the language your codebase “speaks”.

Examples:

• If your app is written in English → base_lang="en"
• If your app is written in Finnish → base_lang="fi"
• If your app is written in Italian → base_lang="it"

SHL uses base_lang to:

• now which JSON file is the authoritative source
• know what language missing keys should be stored in
• know what language to translate from when generating other languages

2) lang_code

This is the language the user wants to see.

Examples:

• Finnish user → lang_code="fi"
• English user → lang_code="en"
• Italian user → lang_code="it"

SHL uses lang_code to:

• decide which JSON file to read from
• decide which JSON file to write new keys into
• decide which language to translate to

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3. Enable Machine Translation

Machine translation is disabled by default. Enable it when you want missing texts to be translated automatically.

config = {"m_translation_enabled": True} 					# you can overwrite config in code
engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="fi", config=config)

text = engine.ui_text("new_key", "Hello World!")

# → "Hei maailma!" (automatically translated to Finnish)

4. Prompt Templates

SHL handles localized AI prompt templates the same way as UI text.

prompt = engine.template("summarize_task", "Please summarize the following text:")

If the template file for the current language does not exist, it is created automatically using the base language as the source.

5. Dynamic Language Switching

Switch languages at runtime without restarting the application.

engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="en", config={"m_translation_enabled": True})

# Switch to Finnish
engine.set_language("fi")
print(engine.ui_text("greeting", "Hello!"))  # "Hei!" (Machine-translated)

# Switch to Swedish
engine.set_language("sv")
print(engine.ui_text("greeting", "Hello!"))  # "Hej!" (Machine-translated)

6. Region Subtag Support

# Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese in separate files
engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="pt-BR")  # → pt-br.json
engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="pt-PT")  # → pt-pt.json

# Traditional and Simplified Chinese in separate files
engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="zh-TW")  # → zh-tw.json
engine = LocalizationEngine(lang_code="zh-CN")  # → zh-cn.json

7. Direct Translation (Smart Routing)

from shl.engine.translation import translate_text

# Automatically chooses the best provider
result = translate_text("Hello World", target_lang="fi")
print(result)  # "Hei maailma"

8. UI translations

Check the latest documentation files.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome.
This project aims to become a new standard for open‑source localization — simple, automatic, and self‑maintaining.

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License

MIT License — free for personal and commercial use.

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Vision

Localization should never be a burden.

With SHL, any project can become multilingual — automatically, reliably, and without manual maintenance.

No more missing translations.
No more incomplete language packs.
Localization that heals itself.

#localization • #i18n • #l10n • #self-healing • #translation • #multilingual #json • #python • #developer-tools • #automation • #templates • #cli #ai-assisted • #language-files • #internationalization • #localization-engine