/i18n-date-patterns

name: i18n-date-patterns
license: MIT
compatibility: "Claude Code 2.1.251+."
description: Implements internationalization (i18n) in React applications. Covers user-facing strings, date/time handling, locale-aware formatting, ICU MessageFormat, and RTL support. Use when building multilingual UIs or formatting dates/currency.
context: inherit
agent: frontend-ui-developer
version: 1.2.0
author: Yonatan Gross
tags: [i18n, internationalization, dayjs, dates, react-i18next, localization, rtl, useTranslation, useFormatting, ICU, Trans]
user-invocable: false
disable-model-invocation: true
complexity: low
persuasion-type: reference
effort: low
targets:
  - library: react-i18next
    version: ">=13.0.0"
  - library: dayjs
    version: ">=1.11.0"
model: haiku
metadata:
  category: document-asset-creation
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Glob
  - Grep
  - WebFetch
  - WebSearch
path_patterns: ["**/i18n/**", "**/locales/**", "**/translations/**", "*.locale.*"]

i18n and Localization Patterns

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for implementing internationalization in React applications. It ensures ALL user-facing strings, date displays, currency, lists, and time calculations are locale-aware.

**When to use this skill:**

• Adding ANY user-facing text to components
• Formatting dates, times, currency, lists, or ordinals
• Implementing complex pluralization
• Embedding React components in translated text
• Supporting RTL languages (Hebrew, Arabic)

**Bundled Resources** (load with `Read("<path>")`):

• `references/formatting-utilities.md` - useFormatting hook API reference
• `references/ork-delta.md` - House decisions and working config that upstream docs do not carry
• `checklists/i18n-checklist.md` - Implementation and review checklist
• `examples/component-i18n-example.md` - Complete component example

**Canonical Reference:** See `docs/i18n-standards.md` for the full i18n standards document.

---

Core Patterns

1. useTranslation Hook (All UI Strings)

Every visible string MUST use the translation function:

import { useTranslation } from 'react-i18next';

function MyComponent() {
  const { t } = useTranslation(['patients', 'common']);
  
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>{t('patients:title')}</h1>
      <button>{t('common:actions.save')}</button>
    </div>
  );
}

2. useFormatting Hook (Locale-Aware Data)

All locale-sensitive formatting MUST use the centralized hook:

import { useFormatting } from '@/hooks';

function PriceDisplay({ amount, items }) {
  const { formatILS, formatList, formatOrdinal } = useFormatting();
  
  return (
    <div>
      <p>Price: {formatILS(amount)}</p>        {/* ₪1,500.00 */}
      <p>Items: {formatList(items)}</p>        {/* "a, b, and c" */}
      <p>Position: {formatOrdinal(3)}</p>      {/* "3rd" */}
    </div>
  );
}

Load `Read("references/formatting-utilities.md")` for the complete API.

3. Date Formatting

All dates MUST use the centralized `@/lib/dates` library:

import { formatDate, formatDateShort, calculateWaitTime } from '@/lib/dates';

const date = formatDate(appointment.date);    // "Jan 6, 2026"
const waitTime = calculateWaitTime('09:30');  // "15 min"

4. ICU MessageFormat (Complex Plurals)

Use ICU syntax in translation files for pluralization:

{
  "patients": "{count, plural, =0 {No patients} one {# patient} other {# patients}}"
}

t('patients', { count: 5 })  // → "5 patients"

House rules for plurals live in `rules/i18n-icu-plurals.md`. For the full ICU grammar see the upstream table below.

5. Trans Component (Rich Text)

For embedded React components in translated text:

import { Trans } from 'react-i18next';

<Trans
  i18nKey="richText.welcome"
  values={{ name: userName }}
  components={{ strong: <strong /> }}
/>

House rules for `<Trans>` live in `rules/i18n-trans-component.md`; the plural-plus-rich-text ordering constraint lives in `references/ork-delta.md`. For the full component API see the upstream table below.

---

Upstream coverage (do not restate)

These topics are owned by first-party docs. Read them there instead of re-deriving them here.

| Topic | First-party source | House subset kept here | |-------|--------------------|------------------------| | ICU plural, select, selectordinal, offset and nested message grammar | https://formatjs.github.io/docs/core-concepts/icu-syntax/ and https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/messages/ | `rules/i18n-icu-plurals.md` keeps the house subset in full: no ternary pluralization, the mandatory `other` arm, `=0` for zero states, Hebrew dual and Arabic categories | | Which plural categories a given locale actually has | https://cldr.unicode.org/index/cldr-spec/plural-rules | none, read upstream | | ICU number skeletons inside a message (`::currency/ILS`) | https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/numbers/skeletons.html | `references/ork-delta.md` keeps only the ILS skeleton decision | | In-message date and time forms (`{date, date, medium}`) and `offset:` plurals | https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/messages/ | nothing; fetch it upstream | | `<Trans>` API: named vs indexed tags, self-closing tags, `TransProps` typing | https://react.i18next.com/latest/trans-component | `rules/i18n-trans-component.md` keeps the house subset in full: never split a sentence across `t()` calls, never `dangerouslySetInnerHTML`, prefer named tags over indexed | | Wiring the ICU parser into i18next | https://github.com/i18next/i18next-icu | `references/ork-delta.md` keeps the decision and why suffix keys are not enough | | `Intl.ListFormat` primitive behind `useFormatting` | https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/ListFormat | `references/formatting-utilities.md` keeps the house hook API | | `Intl.NumberFormat` primitive behind `useFormatting` | https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refere