i18n Setup

NuxtBase ships with two locales in the app:

en
zh

The routing strategy is:

prefix_except_default

That means:

English stays on the default unprefixed routes
Chinese uses the /zh prefix

What This Means in Practice

Examples:

/login
/pricing
/docs

are the default English routes, while the Chinese versions look like:

/zh/login
/zh/pricing
/zh/docs

This is a sensible default for English-first products that still want a clean second locale.

Where Locale Configuration Lives

File	Purpose
`nuxt.config.ts`	registers locales and the routing strategy
`i18n/i18n.config.ts`	date and time formatting rules
`i18n/locales/en.json`	English UI strings
`i18n/locales/zh.json`	Chinese UI strings

The important Nuxt config shape is:

locales: [
  { code: "en", language: "en-US", name: "English", file: "en.json" },
  { code: "zh", language: "zh-CN", name: "中文", file: "zh.json" },
],
defaultLocale: "en",
strategy: "prefix_except_default";

UI Copy Translation

Most interface strings are stored in:

i18n/locales/en.json
i18n/locales/zh.json

When you change product wording, make the change in both files unless you intentionally want one locale to diverge.

This includes common areas like:

navigation
auth screens
settings
admin text
email-adjacent UI labels

Locale Switching

The template includes a locale switcher component that builds links from the active locale list and the Nuxt i18n switch helper.

This means you usually do not need to hand-build locale URLs in UI components. Reuse the existing locale utilities and switcher behavior.

Docs Content in the App

Inside the core template, the in-app docs content is stored as separate content collections:

docs_en
docs_zh

Those collections map to:

content/docs/en/**
content/docs/zh/**

and are exposed with these route prefixes:

English docs: /docs
Chinese docs: /zh/docs

That separation keeps translated docs content explicit and predictable.

Blog Content in the App

The same principle applies to blog content when you want both English and Chinese blog posts in the app.

Keep localized blog content explicit instead of mixing two languages into one post file.

That means:

English blog routes should stay under /blog
Chinese blog routes should use /zh/blog
translated blog posts should be maintained as separate localized content entries

This gives you a clean split between:

English-first marketing and SEO pages
Chinese blog discovery pages
per-locale blog copy, titles, descriptions, and metadata

If you only have bandwidth for one blog language at launch, keep the second locale out of the blog until you are ready to maintain it properly. Partial blog translation usually creates a worse experience than clearly shipping one complete language first.

Date and Time Formatting

Locale-specific date formats are defined in i18n/i18n.config.ts.

Examples:

English short dates use month names like Apr 1, 2026
Chinese short dates use numeric formatting

If you want locale-aware dates across the app, extend that config instead of formatting dates ad hoc in random components.

Recommended Customization Sequence

keep English as the default locale unless you have a strong reason to change it
update branding and product naming in both locale files
test the locale switcher in the UI
verify route prefixes behave correctly under /zh
only then expand translated docs, blog content, or product copy

Common Mistakes

Updating Only One Locale File

This creates obvious quality gaps and makes the app feel unfinished.

Hardcoding `/zh` Paths in Components

Prefer Nuxt i18n helpers and the existing locale switch flow instead of hand-building locale URLs.

Mixing Product Copy With Docs Structure

The app locale JSON files are for UI strings. Docs and blog content should live in their own localized content structures. Keep those responsibilities separate.