Translations

The dashboard uses i18next with the react-i18next bindings. All strings live in i18next's default translation namespace, with every key under a top-level admin. prefix (admin.nav.orders, admin.fields.<resource>.<attribute>.label, …). You register your strings into the same namespace with the same prefix so they look and feel native.

Add translations

import { i18n } from '@spree/dashboard-core'

i18n.addResourceBundle('en', 'translation', {
  admin: {
    reports: {
      title: 'Reports',
      empty: 'No reports yet.',
    },
    fields: {
      report: {
        name: { label: 'Report name', placeholder: 'e.g. Q4 sales by region' },
      },
    },
  },
}, /* deep */ true, /* overwrite */ true)

With deep: true your keys merge into the existing tree instead of replacing it; overwrite: true lets your bundle win where a key genuinely collides (this is what the framework and the official plugins use). Note the admin wrapper is part of the bundle contents — the namespace argument stays 'translation'.

Repeat per locale:

import de from './locales/de.json'
import en from './locales/en.json'
import fr from './locales/fr.json'

for (const [locale, bundle] of Object.entries({ en, fr, de })) {
  i18n.addResourceBundle(locale, 'translation', bundle, true, true)
}

Use them

import { useTranslation } from 'react-i18next'

function ReportsHeader() {
  const { t } = useTranslation()
  return <h1>{t('admin.reports.title')}</h1>
}

In a registry entry, pass the key directly:

nav.add({
  key: 'reports',
  label: i18n.t('admin.reports.title'),
  path: '/reports',
})

Note: i18n.t resolves at the call site, so the label is a snapshot taken at registration time. Registry entries store plain strings — if the user switches language without a reload, registered labels keep their old language until re-registered. Components that call useTranslation() re-render on locale change; registry labels don't. If that matters for your entry, re-register it on the i18n languageChanged event.

Field-key convention

Form labels, placeholders, and help text follow a two-level key convention:

1. admin.fields.<resource>.<attribute>.<facet> — resource-specific, e.g. admin.fields.report.name.label
2. admin.fields.<attribute>.<facet> — cross-resource defaults, e.g. admin.fields.name.label

Components call t() with these keys explicitly — pick the resource-scoped form for labels that differ per resource, and reuse the shared admin.fields.<attribute>.<facet> keys the framework already ships for common attributes (name, email, created_at, storefront_visible, …).

In dev mode, missing keys log to the console (in production a missing key falls back to a humanized version of the attribute name).

Server-side error messages

The mapSpreeErrorsToForm helper routes 422 responses onto form.formState.errors, but the messages themselves are the server's strings, verbatim — { "name": ["can't be blank"] } becomes a field error reading "can't be blank". To localize validation messages, configure the locale on the backend (Rails i18n translates ActiveRecord error messages); the dashboard displays whatever the API returns.

Order of operations

Register translations before any code that calls i18n.t() at module-load time (registry labels, table titles, etc.). The framework's own bundles are loaded before your code runs, so the pattern is simply — top of the file:

// src/plugins.ts (same pattern in a plugin package's entry module)
import { defineDashboardPlugin, i18n } from '@spree/dashboard-core'
import en from './locales/en.json'

i18n.addResourceBundle('en', 'translation', en, true, true)  // ① translations first

defineDashboardPlugin({ /* ② registrations may now use i18n.t(...) */ })

Reference

• i18next docs — full API
• The dashboard's own bundle: packages/dashboard/src/locales/en.json — copy keys for forms, status badges, validation messages, etc.