feat: i18n localization system + complete Russian translation by Volfheim · Pull Request #66 · ilyamiro/imperative-dots

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T14:52:12Z

Summary

Adds a lightweight, non-breaking localization layer to Quickshell with a complete Russian translation (337 keys) as the first community-contributed language pack.

Closes #65

Architecture

Config.tr(key, fallback) — returns the translated string, or the original English fallback if the key is missing
i18n/*.json — external translation dictionaries. Community can add new languages (i18n/de.json, i18n/fr.json, etc.) without touching QML
uiLanguage — persisted in settings.json, live-reloaded via inotifywait (no shell restart needed)
Language selector added to Settings > General with pill-style toggle

What is covered (11 files changed, +626 / -95)

Module	What is translated
Config.qml	Translation engine (`tr()`, `loadTranslations()`, `langUpdateTrigger`)
TopBar.qml	Date (with locale-aware day/month order), BT status, live language reload
Main.qml	Live language reload via settings watcher
CalendarPopup.qml	Day names, month names, weather descriptions, schedule labels
SettingsPopup.qml	All labels, tab names, placeholders, instructions, temperature units
FocusTimePopup.qml	Dates with proper grammatical cases, week ranges, day abbreviations
MonitorPopup.qml	Apply / Apply All button
bt_fetch.sh	BT toggle notifications
screenshot.sh	Screenshot & recording notifications
i18n/en.json	Empty — all English strings are inline fallbacks
i18n/ru.json	337 keys covering every UI string

Design decisions

Zero breakage — if uiLanguage is not set or en.json is empty, everything works exactly as before
Russian dates use proper genitive case (4 мая, not 4 Май) and Russian day/month order (DD Month vs Month DD)
Live switching — changing language in Settings instantly updates all widgets including TopBar (separate process)
Shell scripts read uiLanguage from settings.json via grep for notification translation, gracefully falling back to English

How to add a new language

Create i18n/xx.json with the same keys as ru.json
Add a button to the language selector in SettingsPopup.qml
Done — no other files need changes

Testing

Tested on CachyOS (Arch) with Hyprland, Quickshell, Iosevka Nerd Font, ru_RU.UTF-8 locale.

Add a lightweight, non-breaking i18n layer to Quickshell with a complete Russian translation as the first community-contributed language pack. Architecture: - Config.tr(key, fallback) helper returns translated string or English fallback - i18n/*.json external translation dictionaries - uiLanguage saved in settings.json, live-reloaded via inotifywait - Language selector added to Settings > General Changes (11 files): - Config.qml: translation system (tr, loadTranslations, langUpdateTrigger) - TopBar.qml: localized date, BT status, live language reload - Main.qml: live language reload via settingsReader - CalendarPopup.qml: localized days, months, weather descriptions - SettingsPopup.qml: all labels, placeholders, instructions - FocusTimePopup.qml: localized dates with proper grammatical cases - MonitorPopup.qml: Apply/Apply All button text - bt_fetch.sh: localized BT toggle notifications - screenshot.sh: localized screenshot/recording notifications - i18n/en.json: empty (all fallbacks are in QML code) - i18n/ru.json: 337 translation keys covering all UI modules Design decisions: - Zero breakage: English fallback is always the original hardcoded string - Community-driven: add i18n/xx.json without touching QML - Survives updates: translation files are separate from QML code - Russian dates use genitive case (4 мая, not 4 Май) - Date order adapts per locale (DD Month vs Month DD) Closes ilyamiro#65

ilyamiro · 2026-05-05T15:05:34Z

Did you write this with AI?

ilyamiro · 2026-05-05T15:06:02Z

It seems so. But sure, i think i will review and probably merge this.

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T19:01:39Z

Hi! Yes, I used an AI assistant to help with the boilerplate and the massive amount of translation keys (337 of them!) to ensure consistency and speed. However, I've manually verified and tested every single string and logic change on my local setup (CachyOS + Hyprland).

I'm the one who proposed this in #65, and I decided to implement it myself to make the i18n system as clean and non-breaking as possible. I've been using it for a while now, and live language switching works perfectly across all widgets. Looking forward to your review!

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T19:18:23Z

I used AI to help me translate the above message to make it look better, but as a native speaker, I can vouch for the quality of the meaning conveyed in my translation; I did a lot of work. 🙃

ilyamiro · 2026-05-05T19:30:22Z

I also speak Russian, so don't worry. but there are at least a few issues: 1. "settings.box.temp_desc": "Celsius / Fahrenheit / K", - translate this to Цельсий / Фаренгейт / Кельвин? seems logical. 2. the напр. shortenings or whatever else it has don't do, because f.x. works in english but in russian it would be better to say например fully.

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T19:47:57Z

I suspected that you speak Russian based on your nickname, Ilya. 😁 "Градусы они мои" That's why I wrote the temperature units in the plural, since the translation is for Russian speakers. Regarding the abbreviations, I tried not to change the appearance, so that's what I did. I'll correct the abbreviations now.

ilyamiro · 2026-05-05T19:49:54Z

Про цельсий и т.д я имею ввиду что они вообще не переведены. Они на английском так и были. Я не про склонение говорил

- settings.box.temp_desc: 'Celsius / Fahrenheit / K' → 'Цельсий / Фаренгейт / Кельвин' - Replace all 'напр.' abbreviations with full 'например' for cleaner Russian UI

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T19:51:50Z

Fixed both issues:

settings.box.temp_desc: "Celsius / Fahrenheit / K" → "Цельсий / Фаренгейт / Кельвин"
All напр. abbreviations expanded to full например

Thanks for the review!

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T19:53:31Z

Неа, у меня там 2 разных ключа для этого, они переведены, чекни 299 строчку, просто UI её юзает, щас первый ключ тоже переведу

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T20:07:09Z

И всё же вопрос множественное число оставить или единственное, попробовал оба варианта, в поиске по настройкам сейчас единственное число как ты и написал, а в ui множественное как я изначально сделал, и всё же склоняюсь к множественному, но в общем как скажешь 👍

ilyamiro · 2026-05-05T20:09:13Z

Ну просто это "Единицы измерения" и их не склонять лучше. Оставь в единственном

Volfheim · 2026-05-05T20:17:27Z

Сделано, заодно (не юзал поиск по настройкам особо) заметил недоперевод в плейсхолдере под поиском, его тоже в ключи добавил и перевёл

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a lightweight i18n layer to the Quickshell QML UI (with external JSON dictionaries) and ships a full Russian translation, plus localized notifications in a couple of helper scripts. The design keeps English as inline fallbacks to remain non-breaking when translations are missing.

Changes:

Introduces Config.tr() + translation loading (i18n/*.json) and persists uiLanguage in settings.json.
Replaces many hardcoded UI strings in QML with translation lookups and adds an in-UI language selector.
Localizes user-facing notifications in screenshot.sh and bt_fetch.sh based on uiLanguage.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/Config.qml	Adds translation loader (`loadTranslations`), `tr()`, and persists `uiLanguage`; translates notify messages.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/i18n/en.json	Adds empty English dictionary (English remains inline fallbacks).
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/i18n/ru.json	Adds Russian translation dictionary (337 keys).
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/Main.qml	Live-reloads translations when `uiLanguage` changes in settings.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/TopBar.qml	Translates topbar date fragments and various status labels; reloads translations on settings changes.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/calendar/CalendarPopup.qml	Translates calendar/month/day labels and weather descriptions/schedule strings.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/settings/SettingsPopup.qml	Translates settings UI and adds language selector controls.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/focustime/FocusTimePopup.qml	Translates FocusTime labels and adjusts date formatting for Russian.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/monitors/MonitorPopup.qml	Translates Apply/Apply All; also changes wallpaper reload command.
.config/hypr/scripts/quickshell/watchers/bt_fetch.sh	Localizes Bluetooth toggle notifications based on `uiLanguage`.
.config/hypr/scripts/screenshot.sh	Localizes screenshot/recording notifications and missing-deps error based on `uiLanguage`.

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- Config.qml: Avoid bash -c for reading translations to prevent shell injection - Config.qml: Use execDetached for notify-send instead of bash -c string concat - FocusTimePopup.qml: Use translated month names for non-Russian locales - CalendarPopup.qml: Localize the hardcoded 'LOADING...' weather fallback - screenshot.sh: Safely parse language without grep stderr output - MonitorPopup.qml: Revert accidental awww to swww change - SettingsPopup.qml: Update 'Requires QuickShell reload' fallback to reflect live reload

fix: translate temp_desc, expand abbreviations per review

3671431

- settings.box.temp_desc: 'Celsius / Fahrenheit / K' → 'Цельсий / Фаренгейт / Кельвин' - Replace all 'напр.' abbreviations with full 'например' for cleaner Russian UI

fix: normalize temp units to singular, translate search placeholder

b0c3b32

ilyamiro requested a review from Copilot May 6, 2026 21:24

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of ilyamiro May 6, 2026 21:25 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 6, 2026

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ilyamiro force-pushed the master branch 5 times, most recently from cbab0e0 to 03cc319 Compare May 12, 2026 16:04

Conversation

Volfheim commented May 5, 2026

Summary

Architecture

What is covered (11 files changed, +626 / -95)

Design decisions

How to add a new language

Testing

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ilyamiro commented May 5, 2026 •

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