blog-multilingual

Blog Multilingual, One-Command International Publishing

The flagship multilingual orchestrator. Combines blog writing, translation, cultural adaptation, and full international SEO into a single command. Produces publication-ready blog posts in every target language with hreflang tags, localized JSON-LD schema, and CMS-integration metadata.

Dependencies

Invoked internally by this orchestrator:

| Component | Source | Required | |-----------|--------|----------| | blog-write | claude-blog (this plugin) | Yes | | blog-translate | claude-blog (this plugin) | Yes | | blog-localize | claude-blog (this plugin) | Yes (when --localize is on, default) | | seo-hreflang | claude-seo (sibling plugin) | No, falls back to a self-contained generator |

If seo-hreflang is not installed, the orchestrator emits hreflang tags using its own minimal generator (Phase 5 below) and notes the limitation in the delivery summary. Hreflang validation in that case is structural only, not the deeper validation seo-hreflang provides.

Command Syntax

/blog multilingual <topic> --languages <lang1,lang2,...> [--source <lang>] [--no-localize] [--format <md|mdx|html>]

| Argument | Required | Default | Description | |----------|----------|---------|-------------| | <topic> | Yes | , | Blog topic or working title | | --languages | Yes | , | Comma-separated ISO 639-1 codes (e.g. de,fr,es,ja,pt-BR) | | --source | No | en | Source language to write the original in | | --no-localize | No | off | Skip cultural adaptation (translation only) | | --format | No | auto | Output format: md, mdx, or html |

If --languages is missing, ask the user once before running anything: "Which languages should the blog be published in? Provide ISO 639-1 codes separated by commas (e.g., de,fr,es,ja,pt-BR). The post will be written in <source> first, then translated."

Workflow

Phase 1: Configuration

1. Parse arguments. Extract topic, target languages, source, format.
2. Validate each language code against ISO 639-1 (region suffixes like pt-BR, es-MX, zh-TW are also accepted).
3. Detect output format from the project (frontmatter convention, file extensions, framework hints) or use --format.
4. Resolve source language. If a target language equals --source, drop it from the translation list with a notice.
5. Create the output directory inside the current working directory: ``` multilingual/ {source-lang}/ {lang-1}/ {lang-2}/ ... ``` Output MUST stay inside the project root. Never write outside the cwd.

Progress: Phase 1: Configuration complete, [N] languages selected ([codes])

Phase 2: Write Original Blog

Invoke the blog-write sub-skill (route through /blog write so all existing rules apply: template auto-selection, sourced statistics, citation capsules, FAQ schema, internal-link zones, charts, image embedding). Pass the topic and any blog-write parameters surfaced by the user.

Save the original to multilingual/{source-lang}/{slug}.{ext}.

Progress: Phase 2: Original written, multilingual/{source-lang}/{slug}.{ext}

Phase 3: Translate to All Target Languages

For each target language, invoke blog-translate:

• Input: the original blog post produced in Phase 2.
• Target: the specific language code.
• Run targets in parallel where the runtime supports it (one Task per language) to reduce wall-clock time.

Save translations to multilingual/{lang}/{localized-slug}.{ext}.

Progress: Phase 3: Translating to [lang] ([X]/[N]) per language, then Phase 3: All translations complete.

Phase 4: Cultural Adaptation

If --no-localize is NOT set, invoke blog-localize for every translated post:

• Input: the translated blog post.
• Locale: the target language or region code.
• Run in parallel.

Update files in place. The localizer swaps brand examples, adapts CTAs, substitutes legal references, and adjusts formality. See ../blog-localize/SKILL.md for the full adaptation pass.

Progress: Phase 4: Cultural adaptation complete for [N] languages.

Phase 5: International SEO Generation

Generate three artifacts plus localized schema. If the seo-hreflang skill from claude-seo is installed, delegate validation to it. Otherwise use the self-contained generator below.

5a. Hreflang Tags (HTML)

Copy-paste ready tags for <head>:

<!-- Hreflang tags. Paste into <head> of each language version. -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="{source}" href="{source-url}" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="{lang-1}" href="{lang-1-url}" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="{lang-2}" href="{lang-2-url}" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="{source-url}" />

Rules (mirrored from seo-hreflang):

• Every page references all alternates including itself (self-referencing).
• x-default points to the source-language version.
• All URLs use the same protocol (HTTPS) and trailing-slash convention.
• Bidirectional: every relationship is reciprocal.

Save to multilingual/hreflang-tags.html.

5b. Hreflang Sitemap Fragment

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
        xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <url>
    <loc>{source-url}</loc>
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="{source}" href="{source-url}" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="{lang-1}" href="{lang-1-url}" />
    <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="{source-url}" />
  </url>
  <!-- Repeat one <url> block per language version -->
</urlset>

Save to multilingual/hreflang-sitemap.xml.

5c. Hreflang Map (JSON)

Machine-readable mapping for CMS integration:

{
  "sourceSlug": "how-to-avoid-ai-slop",
  "sourceLanguage": "en",
  "generatedDate": "YYYY-MM-DD",
  "versions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "slug": "how-to-avoid-ai-slop",
      "file": "en/how-to-avoid-ai-slop.md",
      "title": "How to Avoid AI Slop in 2026",
      "description": "..."
    },
    {
      "lang": "de",
      "slug": "wie-man-ki-slop-vermeidet",
      "file": "de/wie-man-ki-slop-vermeidet.md",
      "title": "KI-Slop vermeiden in 2026",
      "description": "..."
    }
  ],
  "hreflang": {
    "method": "html",
    "x-default": "en"
  }
}

Save to multilingual/hreflang-map.json.

5d. Localized Schema (Optional)

If the user asks, or if a frontmatter schema: true flag is present, attach or update JSON-LD on every language version with inLanguage and translationOfWork fields:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "[Localized title]",
  "description": "[Localized description]",
  "inLanguage": "[lang-code]",
  "isPartOf": { "@type": "Blog", "inLanguage": "[lang-code]" },
  "translationOfWork": {
    "@type": "BlogPosting",
    "inLanguage": "[source-lang]",
    "url": "[source-url]"
  }
}

Use the existing /blog schema sub-skill if richer schema (FAQ, Person, Breadcrumb) is wanted on each version.

Phase 6: Delivery Summary

## Multilingual blog complete: [Title]

### Original
- Language: [source]
- File: multilingual/{source}/{slug}.{ext}

### Translations
| Language | File | Localized | Keywords adapted |
|----------|------|-----------|------------------|
| de | multilingual/de/{slug}.md | yes | [N] |
| fr | multilingual/fr/{slug}.md | yes | [N] |
| es | multilingual/es/{slug}.md | yes | [N] |

### International SEO assets
- multilingual/hreflang-tags.html
- multilingual/hreflang-sitemap.xml
- multilingual/hreflang-map.json
- Localized schema embedded per version (if requested)

### Total
- [N] posts in [N] languages
- [N] SEO assets generated

### Next steps
- Replace `{url}` placeholders in hreflang tags with your real URLs.
- Merge `hreflang-sitemap.xml` into your existing sitemap.
- Run `/blog locale-audit multilingual/` to verify completeness.
- Resolve `[INTERNAL-LINK]` placeholders with locale-specific URLs.
- If claude-seo is installed, run `/seo hreflang multilingual/` for
  deeper validation.

Cross-References

| When | Run | |------|-----| | To regenerate or reword the source | /blog write <topic> | | To translate one existing file only | /blog translate <file> --to <codes> | | To deepen cultural fit on one file | /blog localize <file> --locale <code> | | To audit a multilingual directory | /blog locale-audit <directory> | | For deeper hreflang validation | /seo hreflang <directory> (claude-seo, optional) |

Error Handling

| Scenario | Action | |----------|--------| | blog-write missing | Error: "This skill requires blog-write. Reinstall claude-blog." | | One translation fails | Complete the rest, report partial results, suggest a retry command | | Source language equals a target | Skip that target, log a notice | | More than 10 target languages | Warn about wall-clock time, proceed if confirmed | | seo-hreflang not installed | Use the self-contained generator, note it in the summary |

Commands Recap

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | /blog multilingual <topic> --languages de,fr,es | Write source, translate, localize, emit hreflang assets | | /blog translate <file> --to de,fr,es | Translate one file into target languages | | /blog localize <file> --locale de-DE | Cultural deep-adaptation of one translated file | | /blog locale-audit <directory> | Multilingual QA across a directory |