galaxy-game/ui/docs/i18n.md

# i18n (UI)

The UI client ships with a minimal locale primitive used by the
phase-7 login form, the root layout, and the lobby placeholder. The
goal is just enough infrastructure to translate user-visible
strings, switch the active language at runtime, and forward the
caller's choice to the gateway. Phase 35 will swap this primitive
for a fuller solution once message-format pluralisation, lazy
loading, and translator workflows become necessary; until then,
the surface here covers every authenticated and unauthenticated
screen the client renders.

## Surface

```
src/lib/i18n/
├── index.svelte.ts       # I18nStore singleton, types, SUPPORTED_LOCALES
└── locales/
    ├── en.ts             # English dictionary (default, source of truth)
    └── ru.ts             # Russian dictionary (mirrors en.ts keys)
```

The exported singleton (`i18n`) is a Svelte 5 runes class with one
reactive field, `locale`, and a `t(key, params?)` lookup. Components
read translations through `i18n.t('login.title')` and re-render
automatically when `i18n.locale` changes.

The runes singleton is a `.svelte.ts` file because Svelte 5 only
processes `$state` runes inside `.svelte`, `.svelte.js`, and
`.svelte.ts` modules.

## Adding a language

Two-step change inside `src/lib/i18n/`:

1. Drop `locales/<bcp47-primary-subtag>.ts` mirroring the shape of
   `locales/en.ts`. The TypeScript signature on each non-English
   file is `Record<keyof typeof en, string>`, so the compiler
   refuses to build until every key in `en.ts` is translated.
2. Register the new file in the `SUPPORTED_LOCALES` array in
   `index.svelte.ts`. That single list drives the language picker
   (UI) and the runtime lookup table.

For example, adding French:

```ts
// src/lib/i18n/locales/fr.ts
import type en from "./en";
const fr: Record<keyof typeof en, string> = {
    "common.language": "langue",
    /* …translate every other key… */
};
export default fr;
```

```ts
// src/lib/i18n/index.svelte.ts
import frTranslations from "./locales/fr";

export type Locale = "en" | "ru" | "fr";

export const SUPPORTED_LOCALES: readonly LocaleEntry[] = [
    { code: "en", nativeName: "English", translations: enTranslations },
    { code: "ru", nativeName: "Русский", translations: ruTranslations },
    { code: "fr", nativeName: "Français", translations: frTranslations },
];
```

No other code change is required: the picker, the detection helper,
the `t()` function and the gateway forwarding all derive from
`SUPPORTED_LOCALES`.

## Detection

`detectInitialLocale(preferences?)` returns the first
`SUPPORTED_LOCALES` entry whose `code` matches the primary subtag of
any preference, or `DEFAULT_LOCALE` (English) when nothing matches.

The web target calls it without arguments, in which case the helper
reads `navigator.languages` (or `navigator.language` as fallback).
Native wrappers (Wails, Capacitor) will pass their system locale
once Phase 31/32 lands; the helper is platform-agnostic by design.

The detection runs once at module load — there is no asynchronous
init step. Callers that mutate the locale (e.g. the language picker
on `/login`) call `i18n.setLocale(next)` directly. The choice is
**not** persisted between page reloads in Phase 7; the next visit
re-runs detection. Persistence is a phase-35 concern.

## Forwarding the locale to the gateway

The login form passes the active `i18n.locale` to
`sendEmailCode(baseUrl, email, { locale })`. The auth API places
the value inside the JSON body (`locale` field) rather than the
`Accept-Language` header:

```ts
await sendEmailCode(GATEWAY_BASE_URL, trimmed, { locale: i18n.locale });
```

The body field is the canonical channel because Safari/WebKit
silently drops JS-set `Accept-Language` headers (a long-standing
WebKit fingerprinting mitigation). The gateway reads the body
field with priority over the request `Accept-Language`, and
non-Safari clients can still rely on the header alone — the gateway
treats body and header as a single fallback chain. See
`gateway/internal/restapi/public_auth.go` for the resolution path
and `docs/FUNCTIONAL.md` §1.2 for the contract.

The `confirm-email-code` endpoint does **not** carry the locale.
Per `docs/FUNCTIONAL.md` §1.3, the preferred language is captured
at challenge issuance and replayed from the challenge row.

## Key conventions

- Dotted keys grouped by feature area: `login.*`, `lobby.*`,
  `common.*`. New screens own their own prefix.
- Templates may carry simple `{name}` placeholders. The `t()`
  helper substitutes them with the caller-provided value via plain
  string replacement; values are written to the DOM unescaped, so
  callers must feed user-safe strings.
- Lookup falls back to the default locale and finally to the literal
  key when a key is missing in the active locale. The TypeScript
  signature on each locale file enforces complete coverage at build
  time, so runtime fallback is the safety net for a freshly added
  language that has not finished its translation pass.
- The translation file is the single source of truth — components
  never hardcode user-visible English text; everything goes through
  `i18n.t(...)`.

## Testing

- `tests/i18n.test.ts` covers `detectInitialLocale`,
  `i18n.setLocale`, parameter interpolation, and the unknown-key
  fallback.
- `tests/login-page.test.ts` asserts the language picker renders
  with native names, switching the locale re-renders the form
  text, and `sendEmailCode` receives the active locale.
- `tests/auth-api.test.ts` asserts the locale is forwarded through
  the JSON body of `send-email-code`.
- `tests/e2e/auth-flow.spec.ts` covers the dropdown-driven switch
  end-to-end on every Playwright project, including Safari (where
  Accept-Language is unsettable from JS).