macos-language-manager

Simple shell tooling for macOS language management:

• managing the preferred macOS language order
• changing the Atlassian account language preference used by Jira and other Atlassian Cloud apps through Safari automation
• reading or reordering the preferred language list in a Google account through Safari automation
• managing the shared Safari browser-profile cache used by browser-automation modules
• managing application interface languages for Steam, Anki, Epic Games Launcher, Factorio, Wingspan, and Terraforming Mars

Scripts

manage-languages.sh

Reads or changes macOS and application languages via dynamically loaded modules.

Usage:

./manage-languages.sh <module> [<module> ...] [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f] [language]
./manage-languages.sh <module> [<module> ...] --inherit-macos [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f]
./manage-languages.sh <module> [<module> ...] --restore [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f]
./manage-languages.sh all [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f] [language]
./manage-languages.sh all --inherit-macos [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f]
./manage-languages.sh all --restore [--dry-run|-n] [--force|-f]
./manage-languages.sh everything [--dry-run|-n] [language ...]
./manage-languages.sh --list-apps|--list-modules
./manage-languages.sh --self-test

Notes:

• The script discovers modules from language-modules/.
• You can target multiple application modules in one run, for example ./manage-languages.sh steam anki ja.
• The google module keeps its own browser-automation CLI and is not part of all or everything.
• The atlassian module keeps its own browser-automation CLI and is not part of all or everything.
• The safari-profiles module manages the shared Safari browser-profile cache and is not part of all or everything.
• The pseudo-module all runs the shared application-language flow across every simple application module.
• In all mode, a requested language may be applied only to the modules that support it; unsupported modules are skipped and left unchanged.
• The pseudo-module everything runs all and then macos all in one command.
• The macos module keeps its own target-based CLI under ./manage-languages.sh macos ..., but it is still loaded through the same module lifecycle as the other modules.
• macos, all, and everything stay exclusive and cannot be combined with other module names.
• --inherit-macos uses the first tag from the current macOS AppleLanguages list and lets the selected module map it to its own language format.
• --restore restores the module's declared backup set from existing .bak files.
• --self-test verifies that every discovered module exposes the required shell hooks and metadata for CI or manual contract checks.
• Shell completion files are available in completions/ for Bash and Zsh.

Technical details:

• languages-manager.md

manage-languages.sh macos

Changes macOS language-related settings for the current account, login window, locale, startup language, or all of them together.

Usage:

./manage-languages.sh macos account [--dry-run|-n] [--restart|--reboot|-r] [language ...]
./manage-languages.sh macos login-window [--dry-run|-n] [--restart|--reboot|-r] [language ...]
./manage-languages.sh macos locale [--dry-run|-n] [--restart|--reboot|-r] [language ...]
./manage-languages.sh macos startup [--dry-run|-n] [--restart|--reboot|-r] [language ...]
./manage-languages.sh macos all [--dry-run|-n] [--restart|--reboot|-r] [language ...]

Common token examples:

Token	Meaning
ja or +ja	Move or add Japanese at the front
ja:cs or +ja:cs	Move or add Japanese immediately before Czech
ja: or +ja:	Move or add Japanese at the end
-ja	Remove matching Japanese entries after ordering
+-ja	Invalid
ja:-cs	Invalid
ja:+cs	Invalid

Technical details:

• macos-language-manager.md

Verbose supported-language help uses Apple's renderable UI language list from IntlPreferences.framework.

manage-languages.sh google

Reads or reorders the preferred language list in the signed-in Google account through Safari automation.

Usage:

./manage-languages.sh google
./manage-languages.sh google --all-browser-profiles --dry-run "English"
./manage-languages.sh google --browser-profile work --browser-profile personal
./manage-languages.sh google --disable-auto-add
./manage-languages.sh google --enable-auto-add
./manage-languages.sh google --inherit-macos
./manage-languages.sh google --dry-run "English:Czech"
./manage-languages.sh google "English" "-Czech"

Notes:

• The command-line token syntax matches the macOS module: xx, +xx, -xx, xx:yy, and xx:.
• --inherit-macos replaces the Google Account language list with the full current macOS preferred language order.
• --browser-profile NAME can be repeated to target one or more browser profiles.
• --all-browser-profiles applies the same operation to every valid browser profile.
• Use ./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles to inspect or refresh the shared Safari profile cache.
• --disable-auto-add turns off Google's Automatically add languages setting before writing, and it can be used on its own without language arguments.
• --enable-auto-add turns Google's Automatically add languages setting back on, and it can also be used on its own.
• Version 1 reorders, removes, or adds languages through Safari automation.
• Arguments are the visible labels from the Google Account page, not a separate ISO-tag mapping layer.
• If Google still shows a language as Added for you, the command warns about it after reading or writing.
• Safari may prompt for sign-in or 2-step verification.
• There is no public Google API in this repository for preferred-language ordering.

Technical details:

• google-language-manager.md

manage-languages.sh atlassian

Reads or changes the Atlassian account language preference through Safari automation.

Usage:

./manage-languages.sh atlassian
./manage-languages.sh atlassian Czech
./manage-languages.sh atlassian "English (US)"
./manage-languages.sh atlassian --inherit-macos
./manage-languages.sh atlassian --browser-profile work Czech
./manage-languages.sh atlassian --all-browser-profiles --dry-run Japanese

Notes:

• This targets the Atlassian account preference that Jira and other Atlassian Cloud apps inherit for the signed-in account.
• The module uses Safari automation because the locally available acli does not expose an account-language command.
• --inherit-macos maps the first current macOS AppleLanguages tag to a supported Atlassian account language.
• --browser-profile NAME can be repeated to target one or more browser profiles.
• --all-browser-profiles applies the same operation to every valid browser profile.
• Use ./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles to inspect or refresh the shared Safari profile cache.
• Safari may prompt for sign-in or additional verification.

Technical details:

• atlassian-language-manager.md

manage-languages.sh safari-profiles

Inspects or refreshes the shared Safari browser-profile cache used by browser-automation modules.

Usage:

./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles
./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles --refresh
./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles --clear-cache
./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles --list-cache
./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles --list-effective
./manage-languages.sh safari-profiles --show-cache-path

Notes:

• The module does not change languages.
• --refresh updates the shared Safari profile cache through Safari UI automation.
• --clear-cache removes the stored cache file.
• --list-cache prints only cached names.
• --list-effective prints the current effective names using cache first, then local Safari data, then default.

Technical details:

• safari-profiles-manager.md

extract-system-settings-languages.swift

Extracts the preferred language list and the full addable-language list from System Settings > Language & Region via Accessibility.

Usage:

./extract-system-settings-languages.swift
./extract-system-settings-languages.swift --json

Notes:

• Requires Accessibility permission for the terminal or app that runs it.
• The addable-language list comes from the + dialog in System Settings.
• Preferred languages are read only from the visible System Settings UI.

Technical details:

• extract-system-settings-languages.md

Shell Completion

Installer:

./install-manage-languages-completion.sh

The installer does two things:

• links the completion file into a per-shell completion directory
• adds one loader block to the shell rc file that sources every completion from that directory

Default completion directories:

• Zsh → ~/.config/zsh/completions
• Bash → ~/.config/bash/completions

Explicit shell selection:

./install-manage-languages-completion.sh --shell zsh
./install-manage-languages-completion.sh --shell bash

Bash:

source ./completions/manage-languages.bash

Zsh:

source ./completions/manage-languages.zsh

Both completion files register completions for manage-languages and ./manage-languages.sh.

Application Technical Details

• steam-language-manager.md
• anki-language-manager.md
• epic-games-launcher-language-manager.md
• factorio-language-manager.md
• wingspan-language-manager.md
• terraforming-mars-language-manager.md
• google-language-manager.md
• atlassian-language-manager.md
• safari-profiles-manager.md

Tests

• ./tests/test-manage-languages.sh
• ./tests/test-manage-languages-macos.sh
• ./tests/test-manage-languages-completion.sh
• ./tests/test-install-manage-languages-completion.sh

Repository Workflow

• Use gh for GitHub-related work when appropriate.
• Keep project-specific rules in English.
• Commit and push after every change.

License

MIT. See the LICENSE.txt file.