diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3d15529e1c..0ee4c3e331 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -28,12 +28,13 @@
     "test"
   ],
   "bin": {
-    "reskindex": "scripts/reskindex.js"
+    "reskindex": "scripts/reskindex.js",
+    "matrix-gen-i18n": "scripts/gen-i18n.js"
   },
   "scripts": {
     "reskindex": "node scripts/reskindex.js -h header",
     "reskindex:watch": "node scripts/reskindex.js -h header -w",
-    "i18n": "node scripts/gen-i18n.js",
+    "i18n": "matrix-gen-i18n",
     "build": "npm run reskindex && babel src -d lib --source-maps --copy-files",
     "build:watch": "babel src -w -d lib --source-maps --copy-files",
     "emoji-data-strip": "node scripts/emoji-data-strip.js",
diff --git a/scripts/gen-i18n.js b/scripts/gen-i18n.js
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index c6e162cfb0..609c6b00c5
--- a/scripts/gen-i18n.js
+++ b/scripts/gen-i18n.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
 /*
 Copyright 2017 New Vector Ltd