Gettext Internationalization

End-to-End Workflow

1. Add Gettext calls — wrap strings with gettext/1, dgettext/2, or ngettext/3 in templates, LiveView, and controllers
2. Extract strings — run mix gettext.extract --merge to generate/update .pot and .po files
3. Verify .po files — confirm new msgid entries appear with empty msgstr values
4. Add translations — fill in msgstr values for each target locale
5. Set locale per request — configure a plug or LiveView mount to call Gettext.put_locale/2
6. Test — assert translated strings appear when locale is set

RULES — Follow these with no exceptions

1. Wrap only user-facing strings — translate UI text, never log-only or internal error messages
2. Use domain contexts with dgettext/2 — dgettext("errors", "Not found") keeps error strings in a separate .po domain from default content
3. Use ngettext/3 for anything countable — never build plurals by hand; plural rules vary by locale
4. Pass interpolations as bindings — gettext("Hello %{name}", name: name), never gettext("Hello #{name}"), which breaks extraction
5. Re-run mix gettext.extract --merge after adding calls — keep .pot/.po files in sync before committing
6. Set the locale per request — call Gettext.put_locale/2 from a plug (and on LiveView mount); never rely on the default
7. Validate locale input against an allowlist — only put_locale supported locales; reject arbitrary values from params

Setup

# mix.exs — add dependency
{:gettext, "~> 0.26"}

# lib/my_app_web/gettext.ex — define backend
defmodule MyAppWeb.Gettext do
  use Gettext.Backend, otp_app: :my_app
end

Using Translations

import MyAppWeb.Gettext, then call gettext/1, dgettext/2, or ngettext/3.

defmodule MyAppWeb.HomeLive do
  use MyAppWeb, :live_view
  import MyAppWeb.Gettext

  @impl true
  def mount(_params, session, socket) do
    locale = session["locale"] || "en"
    Gettext.put_locale(MyAppWeb.Gettext, locale)

    socket =
      socket
      |> assign(:greeting, gettext("Hello!"))
      |> assign(:error, dgettext("errors", "Not found"))
      # ngettext: pass count as integer arg and as a binding
      |> assign(:summary,
           ngettext("There is %{count} item", "There are %{count} items",
                    @item_count, count: @item_count))

    {:ok, socket}
  end
end

<h1><%= gettext("Welcome to %{app_name}", app_name: "MyApp") %></h1>

Translation Files

Locale files live under priv/gettext/<locale>/LC_MESSAGES/<domain>.po; the shared template is priv/gettext/<domain>.pot.

# priv/gettext/es/LC_MESSAGES/default.po
msgid "You have %{count} new message"
msgid_plural "You have %{count} new messages"
msgstr[0] "Tienes %{count} mensaje nuevo"
msgstr[1] "Tienes %{count} mensajes nuevos"

Extracting Translations

# Extract new strings to .pot files
mix gettext.extract

# Merge .pot files into .po files
mix gettext.merge priv/gettext

# Extract and merge in one step
mix gettext.extract --merge

Validate: After extraction, open the relevant .po files and confirm new msgid entries appear with empty msgstr values. Fill in translations before deploying.

Setting Locale

The recommended pattern is a plug that resolves locale from params → session → default, then calls Gettext.put_locale/2:

# lib/my_app_web/plugs/set_locale.ex
defmodule MyAppWeb.Plugs.SetLocale do
  import Plug.Conn

  @supported_locales ~w(en es fr de)

  def init(opts), do: opts

  def call(conn, _opts) do
    locale =
      get_locale_from_params(conn) ||
      get_locale_from_session(conn) ||
      "en"

    Gettext.put_locale(MyAppWeb.Gettext, locale)
    conn
  end

  defp get_locale_from_params(conn), do: validate(conn.params["locale"])
  defp get_locale_from_session(conn), do: validate(get_session(conn, "locale"))

  defp validate(locale) when locale in @supported_locales, do: locale
  defp validate(_), do: nil
end

Register it in the router pipeline:

pipeline :browser do
  # ...
  plug MyAppWeb.Plugs.SetLocale
end

Testing Translations

defmodule MyAppWeb.PageTest do
  use MyAppWeb.ConnCase

  test "renders translated welcome message", %{conn: conn} do
    Gettext.put_locale(MyAppWeb.Gettext, "es")

    conn = get(conn, ~p"/")

    assert html_response(conn, 200) =~ "Bienvenido"
  end
end

Common Pitfalls

Integration

Companion skills:

• security-essentials — validate and constrain locale input from user-controlled params
• phoenix-liveview-essentials — call Gettext.put_locale/2 on mount for translated LiveViews