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Next.js 13: Internationalization (i18n) in Server Components

Next.js 13 introduces support for React Server Components (opens in a new tab) with the App Router and unlocks many benefits when handling internationalization entirely on the server side. next-intl is adopting the new capabilities and is currently offering a beta version to early adopters, who are already building apps using the app directory.

⚠️

Support for React Server Components is currently in beta. Please use it at your own risk, knowing that you may have to migrate upon a stable release.

Current beta version

npm install next-intl@3.0.0-beta.8

This beta version was tested with next@13.4.0.

Roadmap

FeatureStatus
Usage of all next-intl APIs in Server Components✅
Dynamic rendering✅
Static rendering (i.e. generateStaticParams)🏗️
🏗️

Full support for static rendering is currently pending, but stopgap solutions are available.

For details, see the pending pull request for Server Components support (opens in a new tab).

Getting started

If you haven't done so already, create a Next.js 13 app that uses the App Router (opens in a new tab). All pages should be moved within a [locale] folder so that we can use this segment to provide content in different languages (e.g. /en, /en/about, etc.).

Start by running npm install next-intl and create the following file structure:

├── messages (1)
│   ├── en.json
│   └── ...
├── i18n.ts (2)
├── next.config.js (3)
├── middleware.ts (4)
└── app
    └── [locale]
        ├── layout.tsx (5)
        └── page.tsx (6)

Now, set up the files as follows:

messages/en.json

Messages can be provided locally or loaded from a remote data source (e.g. a translation management system). Use whatever suits your workflow best.

The simplest option is to create JSON files locally based on locales, e.g. en.json.

messages/en.json
{
  "Index": {
    "title": "Hello world!"
  }
}

i18n.ts

next-intl creates a configuration once per request and makes it available to all Server Components. Here you can provide messages and other options depending the locale of the user.

i18n.ts
import {getRequestConfig} from 'next-intl/server';
 
export default getRequestConfig(async ({locale}) => ({
  messages: (await import(`./messages/${locale}.json`)).default
}));

next.config.js

Now, set up the plugin and provide the path to your configuration.

next.config.js
const withNextIntl = require('next-intl/plugin')(
  // This is the default (also the `src` folder is supported out of the box)
  './i18n.ts'
);
 
module.exports = withNextIntl({
  // Other Next.js configuration ...
});

middleware.ts

The middleware matches a locale for the request and handles redirects and rewrites accordingly.

middleware.ts
import createMiddleware from 'next-intl/middleware';
 
export default createMiddleware({
  // A list of all locales that are supported
  locales: ['en', 'de'],
 
  // If this locale is matched, pathnames work without a prefix (e.g. `/about`)
  defaultLocale: 'en'
});
 
export const config = {
  // Skip all paths that should not be internationalized. This example skips the
  // folders "api", "_next" and all files with an extension (e.g. favicon.ico)
  matcher: ['/((?!api|_next|.*\\..*).*)']
};

app/[locale]/layout.tsx

The locale that was matched by the middleware is available via useLocale and can be used to configure the document language.

app/[locale]/layout.tsx
import {useLocale} from 'next-intl';
import {notFound} from 'next/navigation';
 
export default function LocaleLayout({children, params}) {
  const locale = useLocale();
 
  // Show a 404 error if the user requests an unknown locale
  if (params.locale !== locale) {
    notFound();
  }
 
  return (
    <html lang={locale}>
      <body>{children}</body>
    </html>
  );
}

app/[locale]/page.tsx

Use translations in your page components or anywhere else!

app/[locale]/page.tsx
import {useTranslations} from 'next-intl';
 
export default function Index() {
  const t = useTranslations('Index');
  return <h1>{t('title')}</h1>;
}

That's all it takes! Now you can internationalize your apps on the server side.

💡

Next steps:

Static rendering

The support for using next-intl in React Server Components is currently limited to dynamic rendering and support for static rendering is pending until createServerContext (opens in a new tab) is integrated with Next.js. If you have a strong need for static rendering, you can choose from a set of stopgap solutions depending on your needs.

Temporary workarounds for static rendering:

  1. Handle internationalization in Client Components for now, as static rendering is fully supported in this paradigm without limitations.
app/[locale]/page.tsx
'use client';
 
import {useTranslations} from 'next-intl';
 
export default function Index() {
  const t = useTranslations('Index');
  return <h1>{t('title')}</h1>;
}
  1. The APIs for using internationalization outside of components are integrated with static rendering. As a temporary solution, you can use these APIs in components too, but note that you have to "drill-down" the locale that is received via params to all components. Furthermore, the returned t function is based on the createTranslator API, meaning that t.rich uses functions that accept and return strings.
app/[locale]/page.tsx
import {getTranslator} from 'next-intl/server';
 
export default async function Index({params: {locale}}) {
  const t = await getTranslator(locale, 'Index');
  return <h1>{t('title')}</h1>;
}
  1. Use CDN caching (opens in a new tab) to get the same performance characteristics from your dynamic pages as static ones. Note however that this is not supported in Next.js itself (opens in a new tab) (except for if you apply a patch (opens in a new tab)), therefore this needs to be configured on your hosting solution (e.g. Netlify (opens in a new tab), Cloudflare (opens in a new tab)).
💡

Note that these are temporary workarounds that will no longer be necessary once createServerContext is integrated with Next.js. As soon as this is the case, there will be a stable release of next-intl with Server Components support.

Providing feedback

If you have feedback about using next-intl in the app directory, feel free to leave feedback in the PR that implements the React Server Components support (opens in a new tab).

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