i18n

LobeHub Internationalization Guide

• Default language: English (en-US)
• Framework: react-i18next
• Only edit files in packages/locales/src/default/ - Never hand-write translations in locales/ JSON (except en-US/zh-CN previews); generated locales change only through lobe-i18n, plus the key deletions described in Changing an existing key's English text
• Leave generated locales to the daily auto-i18n.yml workflow by default; run bun run i18n manually only when they are needed immediately

Key Naming Convention

Flat keys with dot notation (not nested objects):

// ✅ Correct
export default {
  'alert.cloud.action': '立即体验',
  'sync.actions.sync': '立即同步',
  'sync.status.ready': '已连接',
};

// ❌ Avoid nested objects
export default {
  alert: { cloud: { action: '...' } },
};

Patterns: {feature}.{context}.{action|status}

Parameters: Use {{variableName}} syntax

'alert.cloud.desc': '我们提供 {{credit}} 额度积分',

Avoid key conflicts:

// ❌ Conflict
'clientDB.solve': '自助解决',
'clientDB.solve.backup.title': '数据备份',

// ✅ Solution
'clientDB.solve.action': '自助解决',
'clientDB.solve.backup.title': '数据备份',

Workflow

1. Add keys to packages/locales/src/default/{namespace}.ts
2. Export new namespace in packages/locales/src/default/index.ts
3. For dev preview: manually translate locales/zh-CN/{namespace}.json and locales/en-US/{namespace}.json
4. Leave all other locales to .github/workflows/auto-i18n.yml, which runs daily and opens an automated translation PR
5. Run bun run i18n manually only when the branch needs those translations immediately; it is slow and requires OPENAI_API_KEY

Changing an existing key's English text

lobe-i18n (both the daily workflow and bun run i18n) only translates keys that are missing from a locale. It never re-translates a key whose English value changed, so editing an existing value leaves every generated locale on the old text indefinitely (e.g. expanded settingsSearch.tabKeywords.* stayed stale in 16 locales for weeks).

When a change alters an existing key's meaning or content (not just a typo), do one of:

• Rename the key, so it is missing everywhere and gets translated fresh.
• Re-translate it in the same PR: delete the key from every generated locales/*/{namespace}.json (all except en-US/zh-CN), run bun run i18n, and commit only those keys — the run also fills unrelated missing keys, which belong to the daily workflow PR.
• If the stale translation is harmless until the daily run, delete the key from the generated locales so they fall back to English and the workflow re-translates it. Do not do this when the localized text is load-bearing (e.g. search keywords users type in their own language).

Usage

import { useTranslation } from 'react-i18next';

const { t } = useTranslation('common');

t('newFeature.title');
t('alert.cloud.desc', { credit: '1000' });

// Multiple namespaces
const { t } = useTranslation(['common', 'chat']);
t('common:save');

Common Namespaces

Most used: common (shared UI), chat (chat features), setting (settings)

Others: auth, changelog, components, discover, editor, electron, error, file, hotkey, knowledgeBase, memory, models, plugin, portal, providers, tool, topic