Internationalization (i18n) for Shopify Apps
Shopify merchants exist globally. Your app MUST support multiple languages to be featured or widely adopted.
1. Stack
- •Library:
i18next(Standard) - •React:
react-i18next - •Remix:
remix-i18next
2. Setup
Installation
bash
npm install i18next react-i18next remix-i18next i18next-fs-backend i18next-http-backend
Configuration (app/i18n.server.ts)
Create a server-side instance to detect language.
typescript
import { RemixI18Next } from "remix-i18next/server";
import { createInstance } from "i18next";
import i18n from "~/i18n"; // client config
import { resolve } from "node:path";
export const i18nServer = new RemixI18Next({
detection: {
supportedLanguages: i18n.supportedLngs,
fallbackLanguage: i18n.fallbackLng,
},
// This is the configuration for i18next
i18next: {
...i18n,
backend: {
loadPath: resolve("./public/locales/{{lng}}/{{ns}}.json"),
},
},
});
Root Loader (app/root.tsx)
Inject the locale into the document.
typescript
export async function loader({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) {
const locale = await i18nServer.getLocale(request);
return json({ locale });
}
export const handle = {
// In the handle export, we can add a reference to a translation namespace
// This will load the translations for this namespace for this route
i18n: "common",
};
export default function App() {
const { locale } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
useChangeLanguage(locale); // Syncs remix locale with i18next
return (
<html lang={locale} dir={i18n.dir(locale)}>
{/* ... */}
</html>
);
}
3. Translation Files
Store JSON files in public/locales.
code
public/
locales/
en/
common.json
fr/
common.json
vi/
common.json
Example common.json:
json
{
"welcome": "Welcome to my app",
"dashboard": {
"title": "Dashboard",
"stats": "Statistics"
}
}
4. Usage in Components
typescript
import { useTranslation } from "react-i18next";
export function DashboardHeader() {
const { t } = useTranslation("common");
return (
<Page title={t("dashboard.title")}>
<p>{t("welcome")}</p>
</Page>
);
}
5. Detecting Shopify Admin Language
Shopify passes the locale in the URL query params (?locale=fr-FR) or you can fetch it from the GraphQL Admin API (Shop.billingAddress.country or similar, though strictly speaking the Admin UI language is preferred).
Typically, remix-i18next detection handles the request headers/query params automatically if configured correctly.
6. Translating App Extensions
For Theme App Extensions or Checkout UI Extensions, they have their own locales folder in their directory. They do NOT share the Remix app's locales.
- •Theme Extension:
extensions/my-ext/locales/en.default.json - •Checkout UI:
extensions/checkout-ui/locales/en.json