Internationalization (i18n) in a Nuxt app

Learn how to internationalize your Nuxt app with multi-directional support (LTR/RTL).

Usage

Nuxt UI provides an App component that wraps your app to provide global configurations.

Locale

Use the locale prop with the locale you want to use from @nuxt/ui/locale:

app.vue
<script setup lang="ts">
import { fr } from '@nuxt/ui/locale'
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="fr">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Custom locale

You also have the option to add your own locale using defineLocale:

app.vue
<script setup lang="ts">
const locale = defineLocale({
  name: 'My custom locale',
  code: 'en',
  dir: 'ltr',
  messages: {
    // implement pairs
  }
})
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="locale">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>
Look at the code parameter, there you need to pass the iso code of the language. Example:
  • hi Hindi (language)
  • de-AT: German (language) as used in Austria (region)

Dynamic locale

To dynamically switch between languages, you can use the Nuxt I18n module.

Install the Nuxt I18n package

pnpm add @nuxtjs/i18n@next

Add the Nuxt I18n module in your nuxt.config.ts

nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: [
    '@nuxt/ui',
    '@nuxtjs/i18n'
  ],
  i18n: {
    locales: [{
      code: 'de',
      name: 'Deutsch'
    }, {
      code: 'en',
      name: 'English'
    }, {
      code: 'fr',
      name: 'Français'
    }]
  }
})

Set the locale prop using useI18n

app.vue
<script setup lang="ts">
import * as locales from '@nuxt/ui/locale'

const { locale } = useI18n()
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="locales[locale]">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Dynamic direction

Each locale has a dir property which will be used by the App component to set the directionality of all components.

In a multilingual application, you might want to set the lang and dir attributes on the <html> element dynamically based on the user's locale, which you can do with the useHead composable:

app.vue
<script setup lang="ts">
import * as locales from '@nuxt/ui/locale'

const { locale } = useI18n()

const lang = computed(() => locales[locale.value].code)
const dir = computed(() => locales[locale.value].dir)

useHead({
  htmlAttrs: {
    lang,
    dir
  }
})
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="locales[locale]">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Supported languages

  • ar - العربية
  • cs - Čeština
  • de - Deutsch
  • en - English (default)
  • es - Español
  • fr - Français
  • it - Italiano
  • ru - Русский
  • zh_hans - 简体中文
  • zh_hant - 繁体中文
If you need additional languages, you can contribute by creating a PR to add a new locale in src/runtime/locale/.
You can use the nuxt-ui CLI to create a new locale:
nuxt-ui make locale --code "en" --name "English"