Locale JSON Guard — Catch Missing Keys & Broken Variables

Synthetic local checker demonstration

These are complete captured CLI reports from the bundled examples, with the local project-root path normalized to <project>. This is a mechanism demonstration, not a customer outcome or an independent agent evaluation.

Broken catalog — actual exit code 1

{
  "tool": "locale-json-guard",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "status": "REVIEW",
  "exit_code": 1,
  "style": "i18next",
  "scope": [
    "leaf_keys",
    "empty_strings",
    "unique_json_keys",
    "string_dictionary",
    "interpolation_signature"
  ],
  "summary": {
    "target_files": 1,
    "findings": 4,
    "by_code": {
      "EMPTY_VALUE": 1,
      "EXTRA_KEY": 1,
      "MISSING_KEY": 1,
      "PLACEHOLDER_MISMATCH": 1
    }
  },
  "base": {
    "file": "<project>/skills/locale-json-guard/examples/en.json",
    "sha256": "dd2368f3975ccbb9030f12a88d229e7ee1a4ecf71171a4754da89b4b2f7eb96c",
    "leaf_count": 4,
    "findings": []
  },
  "targets": [
    {
      "file": "<project>/skills/locale-json-guard/examples/zh-broken.json",
      "sha256": "14e6fa2fe10f1e934005a170d75eb56efa32f5be470dea38f21f1527b92c0d43",
      "leaf_count": 4,
      "findings": [
        {
          "code": "EMPTY_VALUE",
          "pointer": "/checkout/pay",
          "detail": "String is empty or whitespace-only."
        },
        {
          "code": "MISSING_KEY",
          "pointer": "/nav/home",
          "detail": "Source leaf key is missing from this target."
        },
        {
          "code": "EXTRA_KEY",
          "pointer": "/nav/old",
          "detail": "Target leaf key is absent from source; review plural conventions before removal."
        },
        {
          "code": "PLACEHOLDER_MISMATCH",
          "pointer": "/checkout/total",
          "detail": "Interpolation variable or escaping signatures differ.",
          "expected": [
            "escaped:amount"
          ],
          "actual": [
            "escaped:price"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Corrected catalog — actual exit code 0

{
  "tool": "locale-json-guard",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "status": "PASS",
  "exit_code": 0,
  "style": "i18next",
  "scope": [
    "leaf_keys",
    "empty_strings",
    "unique_json_keys",
    "string_dictionary",
    "interpolation_signature"
  ],
  "summary": {
    "target_files": 1,
    "findings": 0,
    "by_code": {}
  },
  "base": {
    "file": "<project>/skills/locale-json-guard/examples/en.json",
    "sha256": "dd2368f3975ccbb9030f12a88d229e7ee1a4ecf71171a4754da89b4b2f7eb96c",
    "leaf_count": 4,
    "findings": []
  },
  "targets": [
    {
      "file": "<project>/skills/locale-json-guard/examples/zh-fixed.json",
      "sha256": "d43a70f5c7053e1e5cd61e487d1f8454d4d7033d8c78d6f8eb93f55eacce74ad",
      "leaf_count": 4,
      "findings": []
    }
  ]
}

The first report identifies an empty value, a missing key, an extra key and a changed interpolation variable. The corrected example passes the selected structural checks. Translation quality, runtime behavior and layout are outside this check. Review extra keys against the localization convention before deleting anything.