next-intl-split

About

A loader for next-intl to split translation files properly inside a Next.js app. Using next-intl-split you can separate your translations for maintaining purposes while the package automatically merges the content into a single translation object.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• What about next-intl built-in split approach?
• How to use the package?

Installation

Run the following command to install the package:

npm i next-intl-split

Note: You need to have the next.js and next-intl installed to make the next-intl-split work as expected.

What about next-intl built-in split approach?

The approach provided by next-intl itself can be convincing but as it puts everything together, you may end up with duplicated names or very long key names for your translation strings. So in some cases, this can be its cons:

• Long prefixes for a name to avoid conflicts like homeHeroMainButtonTitle
• You may not be able to use the namespace approach properly.

On the other hand next-intl-split is a tiny package (just a few utilities to help you) that lets you have a cleaner way of managing your translations and not worry about naming conflicts.

• No need to worry about the prefixes as they will automatically be prefixed by the parent's folder name. You split your files and you can have something like this home.hero.button.main
• Have the namespace approach. Using the namespace the above name could be like button.main
• Split translations freely, without worrying about hardcoding the file names in the getRequestConfig utility.
• Smaller JSON files.
• Cleaner JSON files.

How to use the package?

After installation,

Step One

In your desired path, create your dictionaries (or whatever you name that). It is important to name the translation files index.json

Example view of translation files:

// /src/i18n
└── dictionaries
    // English
    ├── en
    |   ├── shared
    |   |   └── header
    |   |       └── index.json
    |   ├── home
    |   |   ├── hero
    |   |   |   └── index.json
    |   |   └── featured
    |   |       └── index.json
    |   └── about
    |       └── hero
    |           └── index.json
    // Spanish
    ├── es
    |   ├── shared
    |   |   └── header
    |   |       └── index.json
    |   ├── home
    |   |   ├── hero
    |   |   |   └── index.json
    |   |   └── featured
    |   |       └── index.json
    |   └── about
    |       └── hero
    |           └── index.json
    // Persian
    └── fa
        ├── shared
        |   └── header
        |       └── index.json
        ├── home
        |   ├── hero
        |   |   └── index.json
        |   └── featured
        |       └── index.json
        └── about
            └── hero
                └── index.json

Step Two

App Router

In the getRequestConfig function, wrap the messages object with loadI18nTranslations utility.

• With i18n routing

import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
import { getRequestConfig } from 'next-intl/server';
import { loadI18nTranslations } from 'next-intl-split/load';

// Can be imported from a shared config
const locales = ['en', 'es', 'fa'];

export default getRequestConfig(async ({ locale }) => {
  // Validate that the incoming `locale` parameter is valid
  if (!locales.includes(locale as any)) notFound();

  const messages = loadI18nTranslations('./src/i18n/dictionaries/', locale);

  return {
    messages,
  };
});

• Without i18n routing

import { getRequestConfig } from 'next-intl/server';
import { loadI18nTranslations } from 'next-intl-split/load';

export default getRequestConfig(async () => {
  const locale = 'en';

  const messages = loadI18nTranslations('./src/i18n/dictionaries/', locale);

  return {
    locale,
    messages,
  };
});

Pages Router

In the getStaticProps function, wrap the messages object with loadI18nTranslations utility.

// ...
export async function getStaticProps(context) {
  const messages = loadI18nTranslations(
    './src/i18n/dictionaries/',
    context.locale
  );

  return {
    props: {
      messages,
    },
  };
}