If you want to keep WP-CLI local and run with php wp-cli.phar, here’s what you do:

1. Download WP-CLI locally

Inside your WordPress project root (where wp-config.php lives):

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar

2. Run WP-CLI with PHP

Instead of wp, use:

php wp-cli.phar –info

That should print WP-CLI version + PHP info.

3. Generate the .pot file

Now, run the i18n make-pot command like this:

php wp-cli.phar i18n make-pot . languages/my-plugin.pot –domain=my-plugin –exclude=node_modules,vendor,tests

. → scan current directory

languages/my-plugin.pot → output file

--domain=my-plugin → your plugin/theme text domain