Integration of inlang into Parrot

[martin-lysk]

Discussion for now - we can split it up later

Hey Everybody - with a look at inlangs infrastructure I sketched some first thoughts on an integration of inlang into parrot.

Happy Path:

• User starts parrot the first time on a design file - sees two options:

1. Start from scratch
2. Use an inlang configured project

• When user decides to go with inlang the user is asked to enter the repo url (like in inlang editor) inlang server returns (?) the localization files / full repo.

From that point on Parrot can use the inlang sdk - that gives you an api for operations on the messages - and move all non design related persistence from the figma file into a inlang configured repo.

Namely:

Access and edit configuration

• get a list of locales and the reference locale for the connected project
• add / remove a locale
• ...

Message management:

• get a list of all messages
• do a fulltext search in the messages
• update messages
• create messages
• get the history of changes of a message (?)
• ...

Design Localization:

Localizing a design doesn't mean switching a language of a frame. It involves filling a message with sample data.
Design should not show "%firstname has reached %reached_goals goal".
It should show "Jenny has reached one of her goals".

Based on the input parameters provided, in this case the
%firstname -> "Jenny"
%reached_goals -> 1
%gender -> female

• Inlangs SDK internally creates an AST from the given locale files and abstracts away the logic of rendering the correct message based on the provided parameters.

Open Questions

1. When i connect to the repo using inlang - will the whole repo be cloned to the client?
2. Well each user authenticate against the repo or would commits be done in the name of the user configuring the project?
3. How does the process of a text change look like in the sdk?

• a call to the SDK that generates the locale files and internally commits the change back to git? One Commit per change?
• when does a push to remote happen

4. How does parrot get informed about updates on the locale files done by a developer / designer?

5. If i need to have the full repo available in a memoryfs within figma - How to handle large repos in Figma (same problem the editor faces).

6. How can i get the version of a particular Message - not a locale file. Something like the last sha where the line of a message has changed?
   Parrots USP is - it keeps messages and design in sync without push and pull.
   Updating characters in a huge Design file with hundreds of thousands text nodes can become, and had been, a performance bottleneck. Parrot would need to be able to know if a particular message has changed within a file since the last updated. This problem will be faced by inlangs editor as well as soon as reviewing becomes a topic - you wan't to know if a message has changed since the last review.

Ask for support
An integration of Parrot seems to touch all parts of Inlangs projects

• Editor to understand current sync mechanism with git and usage of sdk to push messages
• sdk plugins to understand how messages are filled
• ....

You can help me a lot by point me to right spots to look at for each of those topics to get a better understanding.

[samuelstroschein]

Notes:

• there is no need for "happy path" user choice. parrot uses the inlang SDK that stores data locally in a figma file.
• you can add repo as a storage layer at a later stage
• thus, any repo-related issue (size, auth, etc.) is not a concern for the initial integration
• i need to know more about the performance issues in (6). inlang uses signals to inform about updates without the bottleneck of diffing changes. not sure why you need to diff
• you can't get version history yet with lix. either store version data yourself, or drop the feature. i doubt that ppl choose parrot because of version history/the benefit of inlang > version history