intelligent-terminal localization.instructions.md

Localization guidance for Microsoft Terminal’s translated text files, including both XML resource files and Rust YAML files. It explains supported language folders, locale names, and where localized strings belong.

In plain words
What is it for?
Adding or changing translated strings, checking supported languages, and keeping Terminal’s XML resources aligned with the Rust tool’s locale files.
Why use it?
It prevents language lists and translations from drifting between Terminal components and the Rust tool. It also helps developers update the correct files and preserve non-translatable text.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add instructions/microsoft/intelligent-terminal/localization
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/intelligent-terminal

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 2,935 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 2,935 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.02935 $0.02935
Opus 5 $0.01468 $0.01468
Sonnet 5 $0.00587 $0.00587
Haiku 4.5 $0.00294 $0.00294

Measured yesterday against content hash 82c42be81a18, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

intelligent-terminal localization.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/instructions/localization.instructions.md · 242 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 242 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Localization Instructions for .resw Resource Files

Overview

This project uses .resw (XML resource) files for localization. Resources live under each component's Resources/{locale}/Resources.resw path.

Important: The set of locale folders is the authoritative source for how many languages we support. Never hardcode the count — discover it dynamically from the folders. The Rust WTA project (wta/locales/*.yml) must always match this same set.

Components with localized resources

Component Path Key count (approx)
TerminalApp src/cascadia/TerminalApp/Resources/ 300+
TerminalSettingsModel src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsModel/Resources/ 270+
TerminalSettingsEditor src/cascadia/TerminalSettingsEditor/Resources/ 700+
CascadiaPackage src/cascadia/CascadiaPackage/Resources/ brand names only
ContextMenu src/cascadia/ContextMenu/Resources/ brand names only

Locale categories

  • Major translation locales — have full translations for TerminalApp, TerminalSettingsModel, and TerminalSettingsEditor (e.g., de-DE, ja-JP, zh-CN, etc.)
  • Pseudo-localesqps-ploc, qps-ploca, qps-plocm — use English fallback text (not real translations)
  • Minor locales — only have ContextMenu/Resources.resw and CascadiaPackage/Resources.resw with {Locked} brand keys

To determine the full locale set:

# Authoritative locale list (from TerminalApp)
Get-ChildItem "src/cascadia/TerminalApp/Resources/" -Directory | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name

Adding or Updating Localized Strings

Step 0: Discover what needs localization

Before translating, determine which strings are new or changed:

# Compare en-US keys against a locale to find missing keys
$enUS = [xml](Get-Content "src/cascadia/TerminalApp/Resources/en-US/Resources.resw")
$target = [xml](Get-Content "src/cascadia/TerminalApp/Resources/zh-CN/Resources.resw")
$enKeys = $enUS.root.data | ForEach-Object { $_.name }
$targetKeys = $target.root.data | ForEach-Object { $_.name }
$missing = $enKeys | Where-Object { $_ -notin $targetKeys }
$missing  # Keys that need translation

Read the full file on GitHub · 242 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 242 lines · 2,935 tokens per session scan A 82c42be81a18

Subscribe to this mod's changes

intelligent-terminal localization.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository microsoft/intelligent-terminal (1,895 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 2,935 tokens to every session, about $0.0147 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.