kibana-i18n

name	kibana-i18n
description	Add i18n to Kibana React components and server code using @kbn/i18n and @kbn/i18n-react. Use when internationalizing UI strings, adding FormattedMessage, calling i18n.translate, naming message IDs, or working with Kibana translation files.

Kibana i18n

Imports

import { i18n } from '@kbn/i18n';
import { FormattedMessage } from '@kbn/i18n-react';

Never import from react-intl directly.

All user-visible text in React components must be internationalized. No raw string literals in JSX output, props like title, placeholder, aria-label, button labels, error messages, tooltips, or any other text rendered to the screen.

API

i18n.translate (non-JSX contexts)

The id is a positional first argument, not inside the options object:

i18n.translate('myPlugin.myFeature.saveButtonLabel', {
  defaultMessage: 'Save',
});

i18n.translate('myPlugin.myFeature.greeting', {
  defaultMessage: 'Hello, {name}',
  values: { name: userName },
});

i18n.formatList (locale-aware lists)

Formats an array of strings into a localized list (e.g., "a, b, and c"):

i18n.formatList('conjunction', ['CPU', 'Memory', 'Disk']);
// en: "CPU, Memory, and Disk"

i18n.formatList('disjunction', ['warn', 'error']);
// en: "warn or error"

i18n.formatList('unit', ['CPU', 'Memory', 'Disk']);
// en: "CPU, Memory, Disk"

<FormattedMessage> (JSX contexts)

Standard react-intl component, re-exported from @kbn/i18n-react:

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.myFeature.emptyStateTitle"
  defaultMessage="No results found"
/>

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.myFeature.resultCountLabel"
  defaultMessage="{count, plural, one {# result} other {# results}}"
  values={{ count: totalResults }}
/>

When to use which

Context	API
JSX return / render	<FormattedMessage>
Props that accept string (aria-label, title, placeholder)	i18n.translate()
Server-side / non-React code	i18n.translate()
Hooks, callbacks, event handlers	i18n.translate()
Relative time from a date/timestamp	<FormattedRelative>
Relative time with explicit unit control	<FormattedRelativeTime>

Message ID Naming

Structure: {namespace}.{area}.[{subArea}].{descriptiveName}{TypeSuffix}

• All segments are camelCase, separated by dots.
• Must start with the plugin's i18n namespace from .i18nrc.json, not plugin.id in kibana.jsonc. Two roots exist:
  • x-pack/.i18nrc.json has "prefix": "xpack", so keys there become xpack.{key} (e.g., xpack.securitySolution).
  • Root .i18nrc.json has no prefix, so keys are used directly (e.g., share, discover).
• Must end with a type suffix from the table below.
• Think of IDs as long variable names -- be descriptive, not terse.

Type Suffixes

UI Element	Suffix
<h1>-<h6> / page titles	Title
<label>	Label
<p> / prose / descriptions	Description
<button>	ButtonLabel
dropdown option	DropDownOptionLabel
placeholder attribute	Placeholder
tooltip	Tooltip
aria-label attribute	AriaLabel
error message	ErrorMessage
<a> / link text	LinkText
toggle / switch	ToggleSwitch
markdown content	.markdown
inner part of a compound message (generic)	Detail

Examples

xpack.security.loginPage.welcomeTitle
xpack.security.loginPage.usernameLabel
xpack.security.loginPage.usernamePlaceholder
xpack.security.loginPage.submitButtonLabel
xpack.security.loginPage.invalidCredentialsErrorMessage
xpack.security.loginPage.forgotPasswordLinkText
xpack.security.management.roles.deleteRoleAriaLabel
xpack.security.management.roles.deleteRoleTooltip

Never append progressive numbers (saveButtonLabel2) -- choose a more descriptive name instead.

React Formatting Components

All re-exported from @kbn/i18n-react. Import only what you need:

import {
  FormattedDate,
  FormattedTime,
  FormattedNumber,
  FormattedRelative,
  FormattedRelativeTime,
} from '@kbn/i18n-react';

FormattedDate + FormattedTime

Typically paired together for date+time display:

<FormattedDate value={timestamp} year="numeric" month="short" day="2-digit" />
{' '}
<FormattedTime value={timestamp} timeZoneName="short" />

Props are standard Intl.DateTimeFormat options passed directly (not named presets).

FormattedNumber

Used for locale-aware counts. Often passed as a JSX value inside FormattedMessage:

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.agents.selectionLabel"
  defaultMessage="Selected {count} of {total} agents"
  values={{
    count: <FormattedNumber value={selectedCount} />,
    total: <FormattedNumber value={totalAgents} />,
  }}
/>

FormattedRelative (recommended for relative time)

Compat wrapper from @kbn/i18n-react that accepts a Date, timestamp number, or date string directly. Internally computes the best unit via selectUnit:

import { FormattedRelative } from '@kbn/i18n-react';

<FormattedRelative value={createdAt} />
<FormattedRelative value={expiresAt} updateIntervalInSeconds={1} />

Use this for most relative-time needs. It outputs text like "2 hours ago" or "in 3 minutes".

FormattedRelativeTime (low-level)

Requires a numeric value relative to a specific unit. Use only when you need precise control over unit selection:

<FormattedRelativeTime value={-2} unit="hour" />           {/* "2 hours ago" */}
<FormattedRelativeTime value={30} unit="second"
  updateIntervalInSeconds={1} />                            {/* live countdown */}

ICU Formatters in defaultMessage

Plurals

Use # as the numeric placeholder:

i18n.translate('myPlugin.items.countLabel', {
  defaultMessage: '{count, plural, one {# item} other {# items}}',
  values: { count: items.length },
});

Select (enum/boolean branching)

i18n.translate('myPlugin.details.showFullLabel', {
  defaultMessage: 'Show full {isAlert, select, true {alert} other {event}} details',
  values: { isAlert: String(isAlertDoc) },
});

Inline date/time/number formatting

Kibana registers named format presets usable inside ICU strings:

Syntax	Output example
{val, date, short}	6/20/18
{val, date, medium}	Jun 20, 2018
{val, date, long}	June 20, 2018
{val, date, full}	Wednesday, June 20, 2018
{val, time, short}	6:40 PM
{val, time, medium}	6:40:30 PM
{val, time, long}	6:40:30 PM EST
{val, number, percent}	15% (from 0.15)

i18n.translate('myPlugin.sale.startsLabel', {
  defaultMessage: 'Sale begins {start, date, medium}',
  values: { start: new Date() },
});

i18n.translate('myPlugin.progress.ratioLabel', {
  defaultMessage: '{ratio, number, percent} complete',
  values: { ratio: 0.85 },
});

Compound Messages (JSX inside translations)

When a translated string contains JSX elements (bold, links, etc.), two patterns are available:

Tag chunking (preferred for wrapping text)

XML-like tags in defaultMessage map to functions in values that receive the inner content as chunks:

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.myFeature.benefitTitle"
  defaultMessage="<bold>Focused navigation</bold>. Only the tools you need."
  values={{
    bold: (chunks) => <strong>{chunks}</strong>,
  }}
/>

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.myFeature.backgroundSearchLabel"
  defaultMessage='"{name}" is running. <link>Check progress here.</link>'
  values={{
    name,
    link: (chunks) => <EuiLink href={url}>{chunks}</EuiLink>,
  }}
/>

Nested FormattedMessage (for inner strings that need their own translation)

Use when the interpolated value is a standalone translated string, not just a wrapper:

<FormattedMessage
  id="myPlugin.myFeature.confirmDescription"
  defaultMessage="This will delete {strongCount} and cannot be undone."
  values={{
    strongCount: (
      <strong>
        <FormattedMessage
          id="myPlugin.myFeature.confirmDescription.strongCountDetail"
          defaultMessage="{count, plural, one {# item} other {# items}}"
          values={{ count }}
        />
      </strong>
    ),
  }}
/>

Inner IDs follow the pattern: {parentId}.{variableName}{TypeSuffix} — use the same type suffix table (e.g., LinkText for a link, Label for a label). Only use Detail when no specific suffix applies.

Static Analysis Constraints

The extraction tooling parses AST -- these must be static literals:

• id -- string literal only (no variables, no template literals)
• defaultMessage -- must be a static string (string literal, template literal without expressions, or string concatenation). The content can include ICU syntax, tag chunks like <bold>...</bold>, etc.; the constraint is on the variable form, not the content format.
• values keys must match {placeholders} and <tags> in defaultMessage exactly

// WRONG -- dynamic id
i18n.translate(`myPlugin.${key}Label`, { defaultMessage: 'Hello' });

// WRONG -- values/defaultMessage mismatch
i18n.translate('myPlugin.greetingLabel', {
  defaultMessage: 'Hello, {name}',
  values: { userName },  // key must be `name`, not `userName`
});

Splitting Rules

• Never split a single sentence across multiple IDs -- context for translators is lost.
• Never separate sentences that reference each other (e.g. pronouns like "close it").
• For unavoidable large paragraphs, split at logical boundaries where each chunk is self-contained.

Validation

After adding or modifying i18n strings, run:

node scripts/i18n_check --fix

Legacy Patterns (avoid in new code)

• injectI18n HOC -- still exported but discouraged. Use i18n.translate() or <FormattedMessage> instead.
• intl.formatMessage() via useIntl / injected props -- use i18n.translate() directly (no provider dependency needed for imperative calls).
• FormattedPlural -- exported but unused in the codebase. Use ICU {count, plural, ...} in defaultMessage instead.