Metadata sync

gplay metadata treats your store front as code: per-locale listing text and store images live in a directory you commit, review, and apply. The metadata model page covers the semantics; this is the working loop.

First sync: pull what's live

gplay metadata pull                  # text listings → ./metadata
gplay metadata images pull           # store images  → ./metadata/<locale>/images
git add metadata && git commit -m "snapshot store front"

pull writes one directory per locale with title.txt, short_description.txt, full_description.txt, optional video.txt — the same names fastlane supply uses, so an existing fastlane tree drops in.

Edit, validate, preview

$EDITOR metadata/en-US/full_description.txt

# Offline checks: field limits (30/80/4000 chars), locales, file shape.
gplay metadata validate

# Exactly what would change, with no HTTP call.
gplay metadata apply --dry-run

Apply

gplay metadata apply

apply is additive: it upserts the locales and fields present on disk and never deletes anything by omission. A locale live on Play but absent locally is reported, not touched. To actually delete online-only locales, opt in with --prune (it still refuses to remove the app's default-language listing).

Remember the missing-vs-empty rule: deleting a file means "stop managing this field"; an empty file means "clear this field online".

Images

gplay metadata images list                    # live slots and hashes
gplay metadata images validate                # offline: types, extensions
gplay metadata images apply --dry-run         # diff by content hash
gplay metadata images apply

Images reconcile per slot (icon, featureGraphic, screenshot galleries…) by SHA-256: identical content and order → no-op; any difference → the slot is cleared and re-uploaded in filename order. Removing online-only images from a managed slot is the separate destructive mode images apply --prune, which requires --confirm.

In CI

A metadata job fits naturally next to your release job:

- run: gplay metadata validate
- run: gplay metadata apply --dry-run --output json
- run: gplay metadata apply