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docs: Add v4 beta blog post (#1630)
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1 change: 0 additions & 1 deletion docs/src/components/StayUpdated.mdx
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**Let's keep in touch:**

- [GitHub releases](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/releases)
- [Bluesky (Jan Amann)](https://bsky.app/profile/amann.work)
- [X (Jan Amann)](https://x.com/jamannnnnn)
4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions docs/src/pages/blog/_meta.tsx
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index: {
title: 'Overview'
},
'next-intl-4-0': {
title: 'next-intl 4.0 beta',
display: 'hidden'
},
'next-intl-3-22': {
title: 'next-intl 3.22',
display: 'hidden'
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6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions docs/src/pages/blog/index.mdx
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# next-intl blog

<div className="flex flex-col gap-4 py-8">
<BlogPostLink
href="/blog/next-intl-4-0"
title="next-intl 4.0 beta"
date="Dec 23, 2024"
author="By Jan Amann"
/>
<BlogPostLink
href="/blog/next-intl-3-22"
title="next-intl 3.22: Incrementally moving forward"
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238 changes: 238 additions & 0 deletions docs/src/pages/blog/next-intl-4-0.mdx
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---
title: next-intl 4.0 beta
---

import PartnerContentLink from '@/components/PartnerContentLink';
import StayUpdated from '@/components/StayUpdated.mdx';

# next-intl 4.0 beta

<small>Dec 23, 2024 · by Jan Amann</small>

After a year of feature development, this release focuses on streamlining the API surface while maintaining the core architecture of `next-intl`. With many improvements already released in [previous minor versions](/blog/next-intl-3-22), this update introduces several enhancements that will improve your development experience and make working with internationalization even more seamless.

Here's what's new in `next-intl@4.0`:

1. [**Revamped augmented types**](#revamped-augmented-types)
2. [**Strictly-typed locale**](#strictly-typed-locale)
3. [**Strictly-typed ICU arguments**](#strictly-typed-icu-arguments)
4. [**GDPR compliance**](#gdpr-compliance)
5. [**Modernized build output**](#modernized-build-output)
6. [**Preparation for upcoming Next.js features**](#nextjs-future)

Please also have a look at the [other breaking changes](#other-breaking-changes) listed below before you upgrade.

## Revamped augmented types

After type-safe [`Formats`](/docs/usage/configuration#formats) was added in `next-intl@3.20`, it became clear that a new API was needed that centralizes the registration of augmented types.

With `next-intl@4.0`, both `Messages` as well as `Formats` can now be registered under a single type that is scoped to `next-intl` and no longer affects the global scope:

```tsx
// global.d.ts

import {formats} from '@/i18n/request';
import en from './messages/en.json';

declare module 'next-intl' {
interface AppConfig {
Messages: typeof en;
Formats: typeof formats;
}
}
```

See the updated [TypeScript augmentation](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/workflows/typescript) guide.

## Strictly-typed locale

Building on the new type augmentation mechanism, `next-intl@4.0` now allows you to strictly type locales across your app:

```tsx
// global.d.ts

import {routing} from '@/i18n/routing';

declare module 'next-intl' {
interface AppConfig {
// ...
Locale: (typeof routing.locales)[number];
}
}
```

By doing so, APIs like `useLocale()` or `<Link />` that either return or receive a `locale` will now pick up your app-specific `Locale` type, improving type safety across your app.

To simplify narrowing of `string`-based locales, a `hasLocale` function has been added. This can for example be used in [`i18n/request.ts`](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/getting-started/app-router/with-i18n-routing#i18n-request) to return a valid locale:

```tsx
import {getRequestConfig} from 'next-intl/server';
import {hasLocale} from 'next-intl';
import {routing} from './routing';

export default getRequestConfig(async ({requestLocale}) => {
// Typically corresponds to the `[locale]` segment
const requested = await requestLocale;
const locale = hasLocale(routing.locales, requested)
? requested
: routing.defaultLocale;

return {
locale,
messages: (await import(`../../messages/${locale}.json`)).default
};
});
```

Furthermore, the `Locale` type can be imported into your app code in case you're passing a locale to another function and want to ensure type safety:

```tsx
import {Locale} from 'next-intl';

async function getPosts(locale: Locale) {
// ...
}
```

Note that strictly-typing the `Locale` is optional and can be used as desired in case you wish to have additional guardrails in your app.

## Strictly-typed ICU arguments

How type-safe can your app be?

The quest to bring type safety to the last corner of `next-intl` has led me down a rabbit hole with the discovery of an ICU parser by [Marco Schumacher](https://github.com/schummar)—written entirely in types. Marco kindly published his implementation for usage in `next-intl`, with me only adding support for rich tags on top.

Check it out:

```tsx
// "Hello {name}"
t('message', {});
// ^? {name: string}

// "It's {today, date, long}"
t('message', {});
// ^? {today: Date}

// "Page {page, number} out of {total, number}"
t('message', {});
// ^? {page: number, total: number}

// "You have {count, plural, =0 {no followers yet} =1 {one follower} other {# followers}}."
t('message', {});
// ^? {count: number}

// "Country: {country, select, US {United States} CA {Canada} other {Other}}"
t('message', {});
// ^? {country: 'US' | 'CA' | (string & {})}

// "Please refer to the <link>guidelines</link>."
t('message', {});
// ^? {link: (chunks: ReactNode) => ReactNode}
```

With this type inference in place, you can now use autocompletion in your IDE to get suggestions for the available arguments of a given ICU message and catch potential errors early.

This also addresses one of my favorite pet peeves:

```tsx
t('followers', {count: 30000});
```

```json
// ✖️ Would be: "30000 followers"
"{count} followers"

// ✅ Valid: "30,000 followers"
"{count, number} followers"
```

Due to a current limitation in TypeScript, this feature is opt-in for now. Please refer to the [strict arguments](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/workflows/typescript#messages-arguments) docs to learn how to enable it.

## GDPR compliance [#gdpr-compliance]

In order to comply with the current GDPR regulations, the following changes have been made and are relevant to you if you're using the `next-intl` middleware for i18n routing:

1. The locale cookie has been changed to a session cookie that expires when a browser is closed.
2. The locale cookie is now only set when a user switches to a locale that doesn't match the `accept-language` header.

If you want to increase the cookie expiration, e.g. because you're informing users about the usage of cookies or if GDPR doesn't apply to your app, you can use the `maxAge` attribute to do so:

```tsx
// i18n/routing.tsx

import {defineRouting} from 'next-intl/routing';

export const routing = defineRouting({
// ...

localeCookie: {
// Expire in one year
maxAge: 60 * 60 * 24 * 365
}
});
```

Since the cookie is now only available after a locale switch, make sure to not rely on it always being present. E.g. if you need access to the user's locale in a [Route Handler](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/environments/actions-metadata-route-handlers#route-handlers), a reliable option is to provide the locale as a search param (e.g. `/api/posts/12?locale=en`).

As part of this change, disabling a cookie now requires you to set [`localeCookie: false`](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/routing#locale-cookie) in your routing configuration. Previously, `localeDetection: false` ambiguously also disabled the cookie from being set, but since a separate `localeCookie` option was introduced recently, this should now be used instead.

Learn more in the [locale cookie](https://v4.next-intl.dev/docs/routing#locale-cookie) docs.

## Modernized build output

The build output of `next-intl` has been modernized and now leverages the following optimizations:

1. **ESM-only:** To enable enhanced tree-shaking and align with the modern JavaScript ecosystem, `next-intl` is now ESM-only. The only exception is `next-intl/plugin` which is published both as CommonJS as well as ESM, due to `next.config.js` still being popular.
2. **Modern JSX transform:** The peer dependency for React has been bumped to v17 in order to use the more efficient, modern JSX transform.
3. **Modern syntax:** Syntax is now compiled down to the Browserslist `defaults` query, which is a shortcut for ">0.5%, last 2 versions, Firefox ESR, not dead"—a baseline that is considered a reasonable target for modern apps.

With these changes, the bundle size of `next-intl` has been reduced by ~7% ([all details](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1470)).

## Preparation for upcoming Next.js features [#nextjs-future]

To ensure that the sails of `next-intl` are set for a steady course in the upcoming future, I've investigated the implications of upcoming Next.js features like [`ppr`](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/next-config-js/ppr), [`dynamicIO`](https://nextjs.org/docs/canary/app/api-reference/config/next-config-js/dynamicIO) and [`rootParams`](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/72837) for `next-intl`.

This led to three minor changes:

1. If you don't already have a `NextIntlClientProvider` in your app that wraps all Client Components that use `next-intl`, you now have to add one (see [PR #1541](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1541) for details).
2. If you're using `format.relativeTime` in Client Components, you may need to provide the `now` argument explicitly now (see [PR #1536](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1536) for details).
3. If you're using i18n routing, make sure you've updated to [`await requestLocale`](https://next-intl.dev/blog/next-intl-3-22#await-request-locale) that was introduced in `next-intl@3.22`. The previously deprecated `locale` argument will serve an edge case in the future once `rootParams` is a thing (see [PR #1625](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1625/) for details).

While the mentioned Next.js features are still under development and may change, these changes seem reasonable to me in any case—and ideally will be all that's necessary to adapt for `next-intl` to get the most out of these upcoming capabilities.

I'm particularly excited about the announcement of `rootParams`, as it seems like this will finally fill in the [missing piece](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/discussions/58862) that enables apps with i18n routing to support static rendering without workarounds like `setRequestLocale`. I hope to have more to share on this soon!

## Other breaking changes

1. Return type-safe messages from `useMessages` and `getMessages` (see [PR #1489](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1489))
2. Inherit context in case nested `NextIntlClientProvider` instances are present (see [PR #1413](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1413))
3. Automatically inherit formats when `NextIntlClientProvider` is rendered from a Server Component (see [PR #1191](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1191))
4. Require locale to be returned from `getRequestConfig` (see [PR #1486](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1486))
5. Disallow passing `null`, `undefined` or `boolean` as an ICU argument (see [PR #1561](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1561))
6. Bump minimum required TypeScript version to 5 for projects using TypeScript (see [PR #1481](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1481))
7. Remove deprecated APIs (see [PR #1479](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1479))
8. Remove deprecated APIs pt. 2 (see [PR #1482](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/pull/1482))

## Upgrade now

For a smooth upgrade, please initially upgrade to the latest v3.x version and check for deprecation warnings.

Afterwards, you can upgrade by running:

```
npm install next-intl@v4-beta
```

I'd love to hear about your experiences with `next-intl@4.0`! Join the conversation in the [discussions](https://github.com/amannn/next-intl/discussions/1631).

## Thank you!

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has helped to make `next-intl` what it is today.

A special thank you goes to <PartnerContentLink href="https://crowdin.com/">Crowdin</PartnerContentLink>, the primary sponsor of `next-intl`, enabling me to regularly work on this project and provide it as a free and open-source library for everyone.

—Jan

PS: Have you heard that [learn.next-intl.dev](https://learn.next-intl.dev) is coming?

<StayUpdated />

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