---
createdAt: 2025-04-18
updatedAt: 2025-12-30
title: How to translate your Angular app – i18n guide 2026
description: Discover how to make your Angular website multilingual. Follow the documentation to internationalise (i18n) and translate it.
keywords:
  - Internationalization
  - Documentation
  - Intlayer
  - Angular
  - JavaScript
slugs:
  - doc
  - environment
  - angular
# applicationTemplate: https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer-angular-template
history:
  - version: 7.5.9
    date: 2025-12-30
    changes: Add init command
  - version: 5.5.10
    date: 2025-06-29
    changes: Init history
---

# Getting Started with Internationalisation (i18n) in Angular using Intlayer

> This package is in development. See the [issue](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/issues/116) for more information. Show your interest in Intlayer for Angular by liking the issue

<!-- See [Application Template](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer-angular-template) on GitHub. -->

## What is Intlayer?

**Intlayer** is an innovative, open-source internationalisation (i18n) library designed to simplify multilingual support in modern web applications.

With Intlayer, you can:

- **Easily manage translations** using declarative dictionaries at the component level.
- **Dynamically localise metadata**, routes, and content.
- **Ensure TypeScript support** with autogenerated types, improving autocompletion and error detection.
- **Benefit from advanced features**, like dynamic locale detection and switching.

---

## Step-by-Step Guide to Set Up Intlayer in an Angular Application

### Step 1: Install Dependencies

Install the necessary packages using npm:

```bash packageManager="npm"
npm install intlayer angular-intlayer @intlayer/webpack
npx intlayer init
```

```bash packageManager="pnpm"
pnpm add intlayer angular-intlayer @intlayer/webpack
pnpm intlayer init
```

```bash packageManager="yarn"
yarn add intlayer angular-intlayer @intlayer/webpack
yarn intlayer init
```

```bash packageManager="bun"
bun add intlayer angular-intlayer @intlayer/webpack
bunx intlayer init
```

- **intlayer**

  The core package that provides internationalisation tools for configuration management, translation, [content declaration](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en-GB/dictionary/get_started.md), transpilation, and [CLI commands](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en-GB/intlayer_cli.md).

- **angular-intlayer**
  The package that integrates Intlayer with Angular application. It provides context providers and hooks for Angular internationalisation.

- **@intlayer/webpack**

The package that integrates Intlayer with Webpack. It is used by the Angular CLI to build content declaration files and monitor them in development mode.

### Step 2: Configuration of your project

Create a config file to configure the languages of your application:

```typescript fileName="intlayer.config.ts" codeFormat="typescript"
import { Locales, type IntlayerConfig } from "intlayer";

const config: IntlayerConfig = {
  internationalization: {
    locales: [
      Locales.ENGLISH,
      Locales.FRENCH,
      Locales.SPANISH,
      // Your other locales
    ],
    defaultLocale: Locales.ENGLISH,
  },
};

export default config;
```

```javascript fileName="intlayer.config.mjs" codeFormat="esm"
import { Locales } from "intlayer";

/** @type {import('intlayer').IntlayerConfig} */
const config = {
  internationalization: {
    locales: [
      Locales.ENGLISH,
      Locales.FRENCH,
      Locales.SPANISH,
      // Your other locales
    ],
    defaultLocale: Locales.ENGLISH,
  },
};

export default config;
```

```javascript fileName="intlayer.config.cjs" codeFormat="commonjs"
const { Locales } = require("intlayer");

/** @type {import('intlayer').IntlayerConfig} */
const config = {
  internationalization: {
    locales: [
      Locales.ENGLISH,
      Locales.FRENCH,
      Locales.SPANISH,
      // Your other locales
    ],
    defaultLocale: Locales.ENGLISH,
  },
};

module.exports = config;
```

> Through this configuration file, you can set up localised URLs, middleware redirection, cookie names, the location and extension of your content declarations, disable Intlayer logs in the console, and more. For a complete list of available parameters, refer to the [configuration documentation](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en-GB/configuration.md).

### Step 3: Integrate Intlayer in Your Angular Configuration

To integrate Intlayer with the Angular CLI, you have two options depending on your builder: `esbuild` or `webpack`.

#### Option 1: Using esbuild (Recommended)

First, modify your `angular.json` to use the custom esbuild builder. Update the `build` configuration:

```json fileName="angular.json"
{
  "projects": {
    "your-app-name": {
      "architect": {
        "build": {
          "builder": "@angular-builders/custom-esbuild:application",
          "options": {
            "plugins": ["./esbuild/intlayer-plugin.ts"]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

To integrate Intlayer with the Angular CLI, you have two options depending on your builder: `esbuild` or `webpack`.

#### Option 1: Using esbuild (Recommended)

First, modify your `angular.json` to use the custom esbuild builder. Update the `build` configuration:

```json fileName="angular.json"
{
  "projects": {
    "your-app-name": {
      "architect": {
        "build": {
          "builder": "@angular-builders/custom-esbuild:application",
          "options": {
            "plugins": ["./esbuild/intlayer-plugin.ts"]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

> Make sure to replace `your-app-name` with the actual name of your project in `angular.json`.

Next, create an `esbuild/intlayer-plugin.ts` file in your project's root:

```typescript fileName="esbuild/intlayer-plugin.ts"
import { prepareIntlayer, watch } from "@intlayer/chokidar";
import { getConfiguration, logger } from "@intlayer/config";
import type { Plugin } from "esbuild";

const intlayer: Plugin = {
  name: "intlayer-esbuild-plugin",
  setup(build) {
    const configuration = getConfiguration();
    let isWatching = false;

    build.onStart(async () => {
      logger("Intlayer esbuild plugin started", {
        level: "info",
      });

      if (build.initialOptions.watch && !isWatching) {
        logger("Watch mode enabled. Starting watcher...", {
          level: "info",
        });
        watch(configuration);
        isWatching = true;
      }

      try {
        await prepareIntlayer(configuration);
      } catch (error) {
        logger(`Error in Intlayer esbuild plugin: ${error}`, {
          level: "error",
        });
      }
    });
  },
};

export default intlayer;
```

> The `intlayer` for esbuild ensures that Intlayer is prepared before the build starts and watches for changes in development mode.

#### Option 2: Using Webpack

First, modify your `angular.json` to use the custom Webpack builder. Update the `build` and `serve` configurations:

```json fileName="angular.json"
{
  "projects": {
    "your-app-name": {
      "architect": {
        "build": {
          "builder": "@angular-builders/custom-webpack:browser",
          "options": {
            "customWebpackConfig": {
              "path": "./webpack.config.js"
            }
          }
        },
        "serve": {
          "builder": "@angular-builders/custom-webpack:dev-server"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

> Make sure to replace `your-app-name` with the actual name of your project in `angular.json`.

Next, create a `webpack.config.js` file at the root of your project:

```javascript fileName="webpack.config.js"
const { IntlayerWebpackPlugin } = require("@intlayer/webpack");

module.exports = {
  plugins: [new IntlayerWebpackPlugin()],
};
```

> The `IntlayerWebpackPlugin` is used to integrate Intlayer with Webpack. It ensures the building of content declaration files and monitors them in development mode. It defines Intlayer environment variables within the application. Additionally, it provides aliases to optimise performance.

### Step 4: Declare Your Content

Create and manage your content declarations to store translations:

```tsx fileName="src/app/app.content.ts" contentDeclarationFormat="typescript"
import { t, type Dictionary } from "intlayer";

const appContent = {
  key: "app",
  content: {
    title: t({
      en: "Hello",
      fr: "Bonjour",
      es: "Hola",
    }),
    congratulations: t({
      "en-GB": "Congratulations! Your app is running.",
      en: "Congratulations! Your app is running.",
      fr: "Félicitations! Votre application est en cours d'exécution. ",
      es: "¡Felicidades! Tu aplicación está en ejecución.",
    }),
    exploreDocs: t({
      "en-GB": "Explore the Docs",
      en: "Explore the Docs",
      fr: "Explorer les Docs",
      es: "Explorar los Docs",
    }),
    learnWithTutorials: t({
      "en-GB": "Learn with Tutorials",
      en: "Learn with Tutorials",
      fr: "Apprendre avec les Tutoriels",
      es: "Aprender con los Tutorios",
    }),
    cliDocs: "CLI Docs",
    angularLanguageService: t({
      "en-GB": "Angular Language Service",
      en: "Angular Language Service",
      fr: "Service de Langage Angular",
      es: "Servicio de Lenguaje Angular",
    }),
    angularDevTools: "Angular DevTools",
    github: "Github",
    twitter: "Twitter",
    youtube: "Youtube",
  },
} satisfies Dictionary;

export default appContent;
```

> Your content declarations can be defined anywhere in your application as soon they are included into the `contentDir` directory (by default, `./src`). And match the content declaration file extension (by default, `.content.{json,ts,tsx,js,jsx,mjs,mjx,cjs,cjx}`).

> For more details, refer to the [content declaration documentation](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en/dictionary/content_file.md).

### Step 5: Utilize Intlayer in Your Code

To utilize Intlayer's internationalization features throughout your Angular application, you need to use the `useIntlayer` function within a component. This function, available from `angular-intlayer`, provides access to your translations as reactive signals.

`IntlayerProvider` is registered in the root of the application, so you don't need to add it to your module's providers.

Access your content dictionaries in your component class:

```typescript fileName="src/app/hello-world.component.ts"
import { Component, signal } from "@angular/core";
import { useIntlayer } from "angular-intlayer";

@Component({
  selector: "app-hello-world",
  standalone: true,
  template: `
    <h1>{{ content().title }}</h1>

    <div class="card">
      <button type="button" (click)="increment()">
        {{ content().count }} {{ count() }}
      </button>
      <p [innerHTML]="content().edit"></p>
    </div>

    <p class="read-the-docs">{{ content().readTheDocs }}</p>
  `,
})
export class HelloWorldComponent {
  content = useIntlayer("helloworld");
  count = signal(0);

  increment() {
    this.count.update((value) => value + 1);
  }
}
```

Intlayer content is returned as a `Signal`, so you access the values by calling the signal in your template: `content().title`.

### (Optional) Step 6: Change the language of your content

To change the language of your content, you can use the `setLocale` function provided by the `useLocale` function. This allows you to set the locale of the application and update the content accordingly.

Create a component to switch between languages:

```typescript fileName="src/app/components/locale-switcher.component.ts"
import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { CommonModule } from "@angular/common";
import { getLocaleName } from "intlayer";
import { useLocale } from "angular-intlayer";
import { FormsModule } from "@angular/forms";

@Component({
  selector: "app-locale-switcher",
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, FormsModule],
  template: `
    <div class="locale-switcher">
      <select [ngModel]="locale()" (ngModelChange)="changeLocale($event)">
        <option *ngFor="let loc of availableLocales" [value]="loc">
          {{ getLocaleName(loc) }}
        </option>
      </select>
    </div>
  `,
})
export class LocaleSwitcherComponent {
  localeInfo = useLocale();
  locale = this.localeInfo.locale;
  availableLocales = this.localeInfo.availableLocales;

  // Expose getLocaleName to the template
  getLocaleName = getLocaleName;

  changeLocale(newLocale: string) {
    this.localeInfo.setLocale(newLocale);
  }
}
```

Then, use this component in your `app.component.ts`:

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.component.ts"
import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { HelloWorldComponent } from "./hello-world.component";
import { LocaleSwitcherComponent } from "./components/locale-switcher.component";

@Component({
  selector: "app-root",
  standalone: true,
  imports: [HelloWorldComponent, LocaleSwitcherComponent],
  template: `
    <div>
      <app-locale-switcher />
      <a href="https://vite.dev" target="_blank">
        <img src="/vite.svg" class="logo" alt="Vite logo" />
      </a>
      <a href="https://angular.dev/" target="_blank">
        <img
          src="/assets/angular.svg"
          class="logo angular"
          alt="Angular logo"
        />
      </a>
    </div>
    <app-hello-world />
  `,
})
export class AppComponent {}
```

### (Optional) Step 7: Add localised Routing to your application

Adding localised routing in an Angular application involves using the Angular Router with locale prefixes. This creates unique routes for each language, which is useful for SEO.

Example:

```plaintext
- https://example.com/about
- https://example.com/es/about
- https://example.com/fr/about
```

First, ensure you have `@angular/router` installed.

Then, create a router configuration that handles locale-based routing in `app.routes.ts`.

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.routes.ts"
import { Routes } from "@angular/router";
import { configuration, localeFlatMap } from "intlayer";
import { HomeComponent } from "./home/home.component";
import { RootComponent } from "./root/root.component";

const { defaultLocale } = configuration.internationalization;

export const routes: Routes = [
  localeFlatMap((localizedData) => [
    {
      path: `${localizedData.urlPrefix}`,
      component: RootComponent,
      data: { locale: localizedData.locale },
    },
    {
      path: `${localizedData.urlPrefix}/home`,
      component: HomeComponent,
      data: { locale: localizedData.locale },
    },
  ]),
  { path: "**", redirectTo: `/${defaultLocale}/home` },
];
```

Then, you need to provide the router in your `app.config.ts`.

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.config.ts"
import { ApplicationConfig } from "@angular/core";
import { provideRouter } from "@angular/router";
import { routes } from "./app.routes";

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [provideRouter(routes)],
};
```

### (Optional) Step 8: Change the URL when the locale changes

To automatically update the URL when the user changes the language, you can modify the `LocaleSwitcher` component to use Angular's Router:

```typescript fileName="src/app/components/locale-switcher.component.ts"
import { Component, inject } from "@angular/core";
import { CommonModule } from "@angular/common";
import { Router } from "@angular/router";
import { getLocaleName, getLocalizedUrl } from "intlayer";
import { useLocale } from "angular-intlayer";
import { FormsModule } from "@angular/forms";

@Component({
  selector: "app-locale-switcher",
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, FormsModule],
  template: `
    <div class="locale-switcher">
      <select [ngModel]="locale()" (ngModelChange)="changeLocale($event)">
        <option *ngFor="let loc of availableLocales" [value]="loc">
          {{ getLocaleName(loc) }}
        </option>
      </select>
    </div>
  `,
})
export class LocaleSwitcherComponent {
  private router = inject(Router);

  localeInfo = useLocale({
    onLocaleChange: (newLocale) => {
      const currentPath = this.router.url;
      const localizedPath = getLocalizedUrl(currentPath, newLocale);
      this.router.navigateByUrl(localizedPath);
    },
  });

  locale = this.localeInfo.locale;
  availableLocales = this.localeInfo.availableLocales;

  getLocaleName = getLocaleName;

  changeLocale(newLocale: string) {
    this.localeInfo.setLocale(newLocale);
  }
}
```

### (Optional) Step 9: Switch the HTML Language and Direction Attributes

When your application supports multiple languages, it is crucial to update the `<html>` tag's `lang` and `dir` attributes to match the current locale.

You can create a service to handle this automatically.

```typescript fileName="src/app/services/i18n-html-attributes.service.ts"
import { Injectable, effect } from "@angular/core";
import { useLocale } from "angular-intlayer";
import { getHTMLTextDir } from "intlayer";

@Injectable({
  providedIn: "root",
})
export class I18nHtmlAttributesService {
  private localeInfo = useLocale();

  constructor() {
    effect(() => {
      const newLocale = this.localeInfo.locale();
      if (newLocale) {
        document.documentElement.lang = newLocale;
        document.documentElement.dir = getHTMLTextDir(newLocale);
      }
    });
  }

  // This method can be called in the app's root component to ensure the service is initialised.
  init() {}
}
```

Then, inject and initialise this service in your main `AppComponent`:

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.component.ts"
import { Component, inject } from "@angular/core";
// ... other imports
import { I18nHtmlAttributesService } from "./services/i18n-html-attributes.service";

@Component({
  // ...
})
export class AppComponent {
  constructor() {
    inject(I18nHtmlAttributesService).init();
  }
}
```

### (Optional) Step 10: Creating a Localised Link Directive

To ensure that your application's navigation respects the current locale, you can create a custom directive. This directive automatically prefixes internal URLs with the current language.

```typescript fileName="src/app/directives/localized-link.directive.ts"
import { Directive, Input, HostBinding, inject } from "@angular/core";
import { getLocalizedUrl } from "intlayer";
import { useLocale } from "angular-intlayer";

@Directive({
  selector: "a[appLocalizedLink]",
  standalone: true,
})
export class LocalizedLinkDirective {
  @Input("href") originalHref: string = "";

  private localeInfo = useLocale();

  @HostBinding("href")
  get localizedHref(): string {
    const locale = this.localeInfo.locale();
    const isExternalLink = /^https?:\/\//.test(this.originalHref);
    if (isExternalLink || !this.originalHref) {
      return this.originalHref;
    }

    return getLocalizedUrl(this.originalHref, locale);
  }
}
```

To use it, add the `appLocalizedLink` directive to your anchor tags and make sure to import it in your component.

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.component.ts"
// ...
import { LocalizedLinkDirective } from "./directives/localized-link.directive";

@Component({
  selector: "app-root",
  standalone: true,
  imports: [/*...,*/ LocalizedLinkDirective],
  template: ` <a href="/home" appLocalizedLink>Home</a> `,
})
export class AppComponent {}
```

### (Optional) Step 11: Render Markdown

Intlayer supports rendering Markdown content. To convert Markdown into rich HTML, you can integrate [markdown-it](https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it).

First, install `markdown-it`:

```bash
npm install markdown-it
# and its types
npm install -D @types/markdown-it
```

Next, configure the `INTLAYER_MARKDOWN_TOKEN` in your `app.config.ts`.

```typescript fileName="src/app/app.config.ts"
import { ApplicationConfig } from "@angular/core";
import { provideRouter } from "@angular/router";
import { routes } from "./app.routes";
import { createIntlayerMarkdownProvider } from "angular-intlayer/markdown";
import MarkdownIt from "markdown-it";

const md = new MarkdownIt({
  html: true,
  linkify: true,
  typographer: true,
});

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideRouter(routes),
    createIntlayerMarkdownProvider((markdown) => md.render(markdown)),
  ],
};
```

By default, Intlayer will return the rendered HTML as a string. If you use `[innerHTML]` to bind it, be aware of the security implications (XSS). Always ensure your content is from a trusted source.

For more complex scenarios, you can create a pipe to safely render the HTML.

### Configure TypeScript

Intlayer uses module augmentation to get benefits of TypeScript and make your codebase stronger.

![Autocompletion](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/assets/autocompletion.png?raw=true)

![Translation error](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/assets/translation_error.png?raw=true)

Ensure your TypeScript configuration includes the autogenerated types.

```json5 fileName="tsconfig.json"
{
  // ... Your existing TypeScript configurations
  "include": [
    // ... Your existing TypeScript configurations
    ".intlayer/**/*.ts", // Include the auto-generated types
  ],
}
```

### Git Configuration

It is recommended to ignore the files generated by Intlayer. This allows you to avoid committing them to your Git repository.

To do this, you can add the following instructions to your `.gitignore` file:

```plaintext
# Ignore the files generated by Intlayer
.intlayer
```

### VS Code Extension

To improve your development experience with Intlayer, you can install the official **Intlayer VS Code Extension**.

[Install from the VS Code Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=intlayer.intlayer-vs-code-extension)

```json5 fileName="tsconfig.json"
{
  // ... Your existing TypeScript configurations
  "include": [
    // ... Your existing TypeScript configurations
    ".intlayer/**/*.ts", // Include the auto-generated types
  ],
}
```

### Git Configuration

It is recommended to ignore the files generated by Intlayer. This allows you to avoid committing them to your Git repository.

To do this, you can add the following instructions to your `.gitignore` file:

```plaintext
# Ignore the files generated by Intlayer
.intlayer
```

### VS Code Extension

To improve your development experience with Intlayer, you can install the official **Intlayer VS Code Extension**.

[Install from the VS Code Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=intlayer.intlayer-vs-code-extension)

This extension provides:

- **Autocompletion** for translation keys.
- **Real-time error detection** for missing translations.
- **Inline previews** of translated content.
- **Quick actions** to easily create and update translations.

For more details on how to use the extension, refer to the [Intlayer VS Code Extension documentation](https://intlayer.org/doc/vs-code-extension).

---

### Go Further

To go further, you can implement the [visual editor](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en-GB/intlayer_visual_editor.md) or externalise your content using the [CMS](https://github.com/aymericzip/intlayer/blob/main/docs/docs/en-GB/intlayer_CMS.md).

---
