logseq-i18n

Development

Logseq i18n workflow for adding, renaming, reviewing, or editing translation keys and user-facing strings. Use when: writing UI code with hardcoded text, adding new user-facing strings, editing translation dict files, reviewing i18n compliance, working with notification/show!, adding translatable UI attributes, or any task involving src/resources/dicts/. Also use when the user mentions i18n, translation, localization, or hardcoded strings.

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Logseq i18n Skill

When This Skill Applies

Adding or editing user-facing strings in shipped UI
Replacing hardcoded UI text with translations
Adding, renaming, deduplicating, or removing keys in src/resources/dicts/
Reviewing code for i18n compliance
Editing notification/show! calls or translatable UI attributes
Updating i18n tooling, docs, or lint configuration

Read These First

docs/i18n-key-naming.md for key ownership, reuse, and naming
.i18n-lint.toml for lint scope, covered helpers/attributes, exclusions, and allowlists
src/main/frontend/context/i18n.cljs for the translation helper APIs

Use docs/contributing-to-translations.md only when the task is specifically about locale contribution workflow.

Scope Rules

.i18n-lint.toml is the source of truth for which files and APIs are checked for hardcoded UI text.
Inside that scope, all shipped user-facing UI text must be internationalized.
Console output does not need i18n. Keep out-of-scope developer-only (Dev) labels inline in code/config, not in translation dictionaries.
If you introduce a new UI helper, alert API, translatable attribute, UI namespace, or shipped surface, update .i18n-lint.toml so lint coverage stays accurate.

Use These Helpers

All translation helpers live in frontend.context.i18n.

Helper	Use for
`t`	Standard translation with preferred locale
`tt`	Try multiple keys and return the first existing translation
`t-en`	Force English text when UI output also needs English console/debug output
`interpolate-rich-text` / `interpolate-rich-text-node`	Replace placeholders with rich-text or hiccup fragments
`interpolate-sentence`	Keep a full sentence in one key while inserting placeholders and inline links
`replace-newlines-with-br`	Render translated newline characters as `[:br]` nodes
`locale-join-rich-text` / `locale-join-rich-text-node`	Join rich fragments with locale-aware separators
`locale-format-number` / `locale-format-date` / `locale-format-time`	Locale-aware formatting for dynamic values before translation

Do not introduce parallel i18n helpers elsewhere unless the change also updates the shared i18n API deliberately.

Core Rules

Rule 1: No hardcoded shipped UI text

If the text is user-facing and in .i18n-lint.toml scope, hardcoded literals in buttons, labels, placeholders, tooltips, dialogs, notifications, empty states, and similar UI are a bug.

Rule 2: Reuse keys by meaning, not by English text

Search src/resources/dicts/en.edn first. Reuse a key only when both match:

semantic owner
textual role

If the English text matches but the meaning differs, create a new key and follow docs/i18n-key-naming.md.

Rule 3: English source lives in `en.edn`

Add new English source text to src/resources/dicts/en.edn.
When introducing a new key for the first time, you must also add the Simplified Chinese (zh-CN) translation in the same change. English and zh-CN are the two required locales for any new key.
Add other non-English entries only when you are also providing actual translations.
When renaming or removing keys, update affected locale files so stale keys do not remain behind.
Do not copy English into non-English locale files just to fill gaps. Tongue falls back to :en.

Rule 4: Keep complete sentences together

Prefer one translation entry per complete sentence or message.
Do not split rich text or linked text across multiple keys.
Use interpolate-sentence or interpolate-rich-text* when markup and word order must stay together.

Rule 5: Prefer placeholders for plain dynamic text

Use placeholder strings like {1} and {2} for plain dynamic text. Format arguments in the caller before passing them to t.

Rule 6: Function-valued translations are restricted

Use function values only when:

the locale needs real logic such as conditional/plural behavior, or
the translation must return hiccup rich text

When function values are necessary, only these are allowed inside the function body:

str
when
if
=

Rule 7: Locale details matter

Preserve emoji and icon glyphs from en.edn exactly.
Use punctuation natural to the locale.
Pluralization is locale-specific. Do not force English singular/plural logic onto every language.

Workflow

When adding or changing user-facing text:

Use .i18n-lint.toml to confirm the text is in i18n scope.
Search src/resources/dicts/en.edn for an exact semantic match.
If no exact match exists, name the key with docs/i18n-key-naming.md.
If the naming guide still does not yield one clear key, stop and ask for human guidance instead of guessing.
Add or update the English source text in en.edn.
Replace the literal with the appropriate helper from frontend.context.i18n.
Add/update locale translations only where actual translations are being supplied.
If you introduced a new linted helper/attribute/surface, update .i18n-lint.toml.

Validation

After changing keys:

bb lang:validate-translations

After changing shipped UI text:

bb lang:lint-hardcoded --git-changed

After editing dictionary files:

bb lang:format-dicts

bb lang:format-dicts is the canonical repo formatter for dictionary key ordering and namespace spacing.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Hardcoded UI string in a linted UI surface	Move it into `en.edn` and use a helper from `frontend.context.i18n`
Reusing a key only because the English text matches	Reuse only on exact semantic owner + role match
Copying English into non-English locale files	Leave the key missing unless you are adding a real translation
Using `(fn ...)` for plain placeholder text	Use `"..."` with `{1}`, `{2}`, ...
Splitting one sentence across multiple keys	Keep a single translation entry and interpolate into it
Adding a new linted helper but not updating `.i18n-lint.toml`	Extend the TOML config in the same change
Editing dict files without running `bb lang:format-dicts`	Run the formatter before finishing