# Translation Pipeline > How translatable strings flow from source to runtime (xgettext → Weblate → PO → PHP) --- The module ships its own translations through the standard gettext chain, hosted on [**Codeberg Weblate**](). ## Flow

flowchart TB
    subgraph Extraction["1️⃣ Code → POT"]
        direction LR
        PHP["📝 src/*.php"] -->|npx gulp updatepo| POT["📄 messages.pot"]
    end

    subgraph Translation["2️⃣ Translation"]
        direction LR
        WEBLATE["🌐 Weblate"] -->|download| PO["🗝 <lang>.po"]
    end

    subgraph Rendering["3️⃣ Webtrees"]
        direction LR
        PHPARR["📦 lang.php"] -->|I18N| RENDER["✅ Render"]
    end

    POT -->|upload| Translation
    PO -->|npx gulp po2php| Rendering

    classDef sourceStyle fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1565C0,stroke-width:2px
    classDef fileStyle fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#2E7D32,stroke-width:2px
    classDef weblateStyle fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7B1FA2,stroke-width:2px
    classDef renderStyle fill:#fce4ec,stroke:#C2185B,stroke-width:2px

    class PHP sourceStyle
    class POT,PO,PHPARR fileStyle
    class WEBLATE weblateStyle
    class RENDER renderStyle

## Extracting strings update-po-files.sh runs `xgettext` over every `*.php` / `*.phtml` except `util/`, `vendor/`, `node_modules/` and `tests/`: ```bash xgettext -L PHP \ --keyword=translate --keyword=plural:1,2 --keyword=translateContext:1c,2 \ --add-comments=I18N --from-code=utf-8 \ --output=resources/lang/messages.pot … ``` Two marker helpers control what gets extracted: - `I18N::translate()` / `MoreI18N::translate()` — **module-specific** strings. `translate` is an xgettext keyword, so these are picked up. - `MoreI18N::xlate()` — strings **already covered by the webtrees core** POT. Same runtime behaviour, different name, therefore invisible to xgettext. After a core update, re-compare `messages.pot` with the core POT and switch any newly-covered msgid to `xlate()`. Add `/* I18N: … */` comments to give translators context (picked up via `--add-comments=I18N`). ## PO → PHP `.po` files are **not** merged locally — that is Weblate's job, to prevent conflicts. Once Weblate delivers updated `.po` files, compile them: ```bash npx gulp po2php ``` > **Note:** a former `.po` → `.mo` step is obsolete (translation format switch, [issue #88]()).