diff --git a/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish b/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
index 6d027b62e..68095c03e 100755
--- a/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
+++ b/build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 #
 # Tool to generate gettext messages template file.
 # Writes to stdout.
+# Intended to be called from `update_translations.fish`.
+
+argparse use-existing-template= -- $argv
+or exit $status
 
 begin
     # Write header. This is required by msguniq.
@@ -15,17 +19,25 @@ begin
         echo ""
     end
 
-    set -l rust_extraction_file (mktemp)
+    set -g repo_root (status dirname)/..
 
-    # We need to build to ensure that the proc macro for extracting strings runs.
-    FISH_GETTEXT_EXTRACTION_FILE=$rust_extraction_file cargo check
-    or exit 1
+    set -l rust_extraction_file
+    if set -l --query _flag_use_existing_template
+        set rust_extraction_file $_flag_use_existing_template
+    else
+        set rust_extraction_file (mktemp)
+        # We need to build to ensure that the proc macro for extracting strings runs.
+        FISH_GETTEXT_EXTRACTION_FILE=$rust_extraction_file cargo check
+        or exit 1
+    end
 
     # Get rid of duplicates and sort.
     msguniq --no-wrap --strict --sort-output $rust_extraction_file
     or exit 1
 
-    rm $rust_extraction_file
+    if not set -l --query _flag_use_existing_template
+        rm $rust_extraction_file
+    end
 
     function extract_fish_script_messages --argument-names regex
 
@@ -54,7 +66,7 @@ begin
             sed -E -e 's_\\\\_\\\\\\\\_g' -e 's_"_\\\\"_g' -e 's_^(.*)$_msgid "\1"\nmsgstr ""\n_'
     end
 
-    set -g share_dir (status dirname)/../share
+    set -g share_dir $repo_root/share
 
     # This regex handles explicit requests to translate a message. These are more important to translate
     # than messages which should be implicitly translated.
diff --git a/build_tools/update_translations.fish b/build_tools/update_translations.fish
index dd0ff6042..298c062a4 100755
--- a/build_tools/update_translations.fish
+++ b/build_tools/update_translations.fish
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@
 #   - Specify `--dry-run` to see if any updates to the PO files would by applied by this script.
 #     If this flag is specified, the script will exit with an error if there are outstanding
 #     changes, and will display the diff. Do not specify other flags if `--dry-run` is specified.
+#
+# Specify `--use-existing-template=FILE` to prevent running cargo for extracting an up-to-date
+# version of the localized strings. This flag is intended for testing setups which make it
+# inconvenient to run cargo here, but run it in an earlier step to ensure up-to-date values.
+# This argument is passed on to the `fish_xgettext.fish` script and has no other uses.
+# `FILE` must be the path to a gettext template file generated from our compilation process.
+# It can be obtained by running:
+#   set -l FILE (mktemp)
+#   FISH_GETTEXT_EXTRACTION_FILE=$FILE cargo check
 
 # The sort utility is locale-sensitive.
 # Ensure that sorting output is consistent by setting LC_ALL here.
@@ -44,7 +53,7 @@ function cleanup_exit
     exit $exit_status
 end
 
-argparse --exclusive 'no-mo,only-mo,dry-run' no-mo only-mo dry-run -- $argv
+argparse --exclusive 'no-mo,only-mo,dry-run' no-mo only-mo dry-run use-existing-template= -- $argv
 or exit $status
 
 # Make sure that the template file is not included in $po_files.
@@ -84,7 +93,11 @@ if set -l --query _flag_only_mo
 end
 
 if set -l --query extract
-    $build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish >$template_file
+    set -l xgettext_args
+    if set -l --query _flag_use_existing_template
+        set xgettext_args --use-existing-template=$_flag_use_existing_template
+    end
+    $build_tools/fish_xgettext.fish $xgettext_args >$template_file
     or exit 1
 end