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Overview Installation Set up a project Configuration File formats Use the CLI in CI Commands ct push ct pull ct status ct translate ct check ct merge ct tag ct init ct snippet
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Commands

ct init

Create a ct.yml in the current folder.

1 min read · Updated October 2026

Writes a ct.yml in the current folder. It does not need an API key, and it fails when a ct.yml already exists.

SH 
ct init --project 0197a3c2-5b1e-7c4a-9d2f-3e8b6a1f0c55 --source locales/en.json --pattern "locales/{lang}.json"
OptionRequiredEffect
--project <uuid>yesThe id of the project, shown in the Use the CLI card under Project settings → API keys
--source <file>yesThe file with your source strings
--pattern <path>yesWhere translations are written. It must contain {lang}
--format <format>noThe file format, json by default. See File formats
--source-language <code>noLanguage code of the source file, en by default
--default-branch <name>noThe Git branch that maps to main, main by default

For the settings in the file, see Configuration.