# Creating a web-extension i18n tool

**URL:** <https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/creating-a-web-extension-i18n-tool/22864>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [December 1, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/creating-a-web-extension-i18n-tool/22864 "2017-12-01T22:28:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 14

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mig](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/mig/32/30725_2.png) [@mig](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/mig)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/creating-a-web-extension-i18n-tool/22864/14 "2017-12-03T01:27:18Z")

</div>

WebExtensions provide a [native messaging API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Native_messaging), i.e. a clean way to dialog with an application running on the computer. So you can have your add-on providing the user interface of your translation app, and whenever you need to do something that cannot be done using the regular WebExtensions add-ons API, like say creating a ZIP file, the add-on uses the services provided by the native app.

An example of this is the [Video DownloadHelper addon](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/). The latest version uses a companion app to provide services missing from Firefox Quantum, like a file manipulation/writing API, or unrestricted downloads. The companion app that works with DownloadHelper is [available in open-source](https://github.com/mi-g/vdhcoapp), based on node.js, and provides the full build procedure to generate an .exe installer for Windows, .pkg and .dmg packaging for Mac, .deb and .targz for Linux.

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/creating-a-web-extension-i18n-tool/22864)._