Localize the listing: your words, every storefront

You are editing App Store listing copy through MetaRun. The division of labor: you (the agent) write and translate the copy; MetaRun's tools stage it per locale behind previews. There is no server-side translation in this path, which means translation quality is yours to own: match the app's tone, keep character budgets, and never machine-gloss idioms.

Ground rules

• Tools run over MetaRun's MCP server or npx metarun run <tool> '<json>'. Fetch unfamiliar schemas with npx metarun tools <tool-name> --json.
• Two listing surfaces exist per locale, with different edit windows: app-info localizations (store name, subtitle, privacy URLs) and version localizations (description, keywords, What's New, promo text, support/marketing URLs). Check apple_get_listing_editability first: it says which surfaces are open and why others are locked.
• Character budgets are Apple law: name and subtitle 30, keywords 100, promotional text 170, description 4000. Count BEFORE staging; the preview will reject overruns, but a rejected preview is a wasted round trip.
• Every write previews first. Batch per-locale changes, show the user the set, then apply each with its confirmToken.

The mission

1. Read what exists

• apple_list_app_metadata -> both surfaces in every current locale.
• apple_list_version_localizations -> the editable version's copy.
• apple_get_listing_coverage -> the same picture as flags instead of copy: filled/empty per language, plus gaps (field -> the languages missing it). Use it to scope the job before writing anything.
• Adding a language? apple_list_supported_locales names the valid codes. Creating an app-info localization REQUIRES the store name in the payload; a version localization needs only the locale.

2. Write the copy

• Translate from the primary locale yourself, locale by locale. Preserve meaning over word-for-word fidelity; keep brand terms untranslated; respect the budgets above (translations run long, subtitles especially).
• Keywords are not prose: comma-separated, no spaces after commas, no words already in the name/subtitle (Apple indexes those anyway). Run aso_lint_metadata on the result to catch violations and duplication.
• Cross-locale leverage: aso_cross_locale_plan shows which extra locales each storefront indexes (the US storefront reads NINE beyond en-US), so keyword sets can be packed without repeating words across them.

3. Stage and apply

• Version copy: apple_preview_set_version_localization per locale -> apple_apply_set_version_localization.
• Store name/subtitle/privacy URLs: apple_preview_set_app_info_localization -> apple_apply_set_app_info_localization.
• Promotional text goes live INSTANTLY with no review on a live app: treat it as a publish, not a draft, and say so when confirming. On an app that has never shipped it lands on the version in preparation instead.
• What's New exists only on updates. On a first release, do not write it anywhere; Apple rejects the field.

4. Verify

apple_get_listing_coverage is the check, not your own transcript: a preview can be blocked, an apply can fail, a locale can be missed, and a mission that reports itself complete with three languages empty is worse than one that stops and says so. Read it back, and if gaps still names a field the user asked for, stage the fixes now rather than announcing completion. Then report the languages touched and remind them it is all in change history, revertible per change.

Beyond this mission

Screenshots per language (rendering, translation of slide copy, publishing) are their own missions: discover with npx metarun tools studio.