diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/README.md b/subprojects/extensions-tool/README.md
index 1416abe1d..dc2e2d794 100644
--- a/subprojects/extensions-tool/README.md
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ create an extension bundle as part of continuous integration).
 
 Bugs should be reported to the GNOME [bug tracking system][bug-tracker].
 
+## Building
+Before the project can be built stand-alone, the po directory has
+to be populated with translations (from gnome-shell).
+
+To do that, simply run the included script:
+```sh
+$ ./generate-translations.sh
+```
+
 ## License
 gnome-extensions-tool is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
 License, version 3 or later. See the [COPYING][license] file for details.
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/generate-translations.sh b/subprojects/extensions-tool/generate-translations.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9f630812d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/generate-translations.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+
+cd $(dirname $0)
+
+sed -e '/subprojects\/extensions-tool/!d' \
+    -e 's:subprojects/extensions-tool/::' ../../po/POTFILES.in > po/POTFILES.in
+
+for l in $(<po/LINGUAS)
+do
+  cp ../../po/$l.po po/$l.po
+done
+
+builddir=$(mktemp -d -p.)
+
+meson -Dman=False $builddir
+ninja -C $builddir gnome-extensions-tool-pot
+ninja -C $builddir gnome-extensions-tool-update-po
+
+rm -rf $builddir
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build b/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
index 426c90188..ca7e67ce2 100644
--- a/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/meson.build
@@ -40,3 +40,7 @@ if get_option('man')
 
   subdir('man')
 endif
+
+if not meson.is_subproject()
+  subdir('po')
+endif
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/.gitignore b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b2228d1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+*.po
+*.pot
+POTFILES.in
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/LINGUAS b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/LINGUAS
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..4fb83a533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/LINGUAS
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../../po/LINGUAS
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/meson.build b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a1b0e29d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/extensions-tool/po/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+i18n.gettext(package_name, preset: 'glib')