Multi-Locale Setup

Leaf supports building your site in multiple languages. The default locale is served at the root URL, and other locales get their own subdirectory.

#Configuration

Enable multi-locale in config.yml:

localization:
  locale: "en"                # Default locale (builds to root)
  supported_locales:
    - "en"
    - "fr"
    - "ar"
  locale_path: "locale"       # Directory containing translation files
  timezone: "America/Montreal"

#Translation files

Create JSON files for each locale:

locale/
  en/
    strings.json
  fr/
    strings.json
  ar/
    strings.json

Example locale/en/strings.json:

{
  "nav": {
    "home": "Home",
    "docs": "Documentation"
  },
  "hero": {
    "title": "Build beautiful static sites",
    "subtitle": "One command. Any language."
  }
}

And locale/fr/strings.json:

{
  "nav": {
    "home": "Accueil",
    "docs": "Documentation"
  },
  "hero": {
    "title": "Construisez de beaux sites statiques",
    "subtitle": "Une commande. N'importe quelle langue."
  }
}

#Using translations in templates

In Latte templates, use the localize() function:

<h1>{localize('hero.title')}</h1>
<p>{localize('hero.subtitle')}</p>

The i18n() function is an alias for localize().

#URL structure

With English as the default locale:

Locale	URL	Directory
English (default)	https://example.com/	dist/
French	https://example.com/fr/	dist/fr/
Arabic	https://example.com/ar/	dist/ar/

The default locale has no URL prefix. This gives cleaner URLs for your primary language and better SEO.

#Template variables

The TranslationLatteExtension injects these variables into every template:

Variable	Type	Description
$currentLocale	string	Active locale code ("en", "fr", etc.)
$defaultLocale	string	Default locale from config
$supportedLocales	array	All supported locale codes