Internationalization Support: Automatic Chinese/English Switching

What You'll Learn

• Understand how mystatus automatically detects system language
• Know how to switch system language to change output language
• Understand language detection priority and fallback mechanisms
• Master how Intl API and environment variables work

Your Current Pain Point

You may have noticed that mystatus's internationalization support sometimes displays in Chinese, sometimes in English:

# Chinese output
3小时限额
███████████████████████████ 剩余 85%
重置: 2小时30分钟后

# English output
3-hour limit
███████████████████████████ 85% remaining
Resets in: 2h 30m

But you don't know:

• How does the plugin know which language to use?
• Can I manually switch to Chinese or English?
• What if detection is wrong?

This lesson helps you understand the language detection mechanism.

Core Concept

Internationalization support automatically selects Chinese or English output based on your system language environment, requiring no manual configuration. Detection priority is: Intl API → Environment Variables → Default English.

Detection Priority (highest to lowest):

1. Intl API (recommended) → Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().locale
2. Environment Variables (fallback) → LANG, LC_ALL, LANGUAGE
3. Default English (fallback) → "en"

Why no manual configuration needed?

Because language detection is based on the system environment. The plugin automatically identifies it on startup—users don't need to modify any configuration files.

Supported Languages:

Language	Code	Detection Condition
Chinese	zh	locale starts with zh (e.g., zh-CN, zh-TW)
English	en	Other cases

Translated Content Coverage:

• Time units (days, hours, minutes)
• Quota-related (remaining percentage, reset time)
• Error messages (authentication failure, API error, timeout)
• Platform titles (OpenAI, Zhipu AI, Z.ai, Google Cloud, GitHub Copilot)

Follow Along

Step 1: Check Current System Language

First, confirm your system language settings:

macOS/Linux

echo $LANG

Windows

Get-ChildItem Env:LANG

You Should See:

• Chinese system: zh_CN.UTF-8, zh_TW.UTF-8, or similar
• English system: en_US.UTF-8, en_GB.UTF-8, or similar

Step 2: Test Language Detection

Run the /mystatus command and observe the output language:

/mystatus

You Should See:

• If system language is Chinese → Output in Chinese (e.g., 3小时限额, 重置: 2小时30分钟后)
• If system language is English → Output in English (e.g., 3-hour limit, Resets in: 2h 30m)

Step 3: Temporarily Switch System Language (for testing)

If you want to test different language outputs, you can temporarily modify environment variables:

macOS/Linux (temporarily switch to English)

LANG=en_US.UTF-8 /mystatus

Windows (temporarily switch to English)

$env:LANG="en_US.UTF-8"; /mystatus

You Should See:

Even if your system is Chinese, the output will switch to English format.

WARNING

This is only for temporary testing and won't permanently change your system language. Original settings are restored after closing the terminal.

Step 4: Understand Intl API Detection Mechanism

Intl API is the internationalization standard interface provided by browsers and Node.js. The plugin prioritizes using it for language detection:

Detection Code (simplified):

// 1. Priority: use Intl API
const intlLocale = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().locale;
if (intlLocale.startsWith("zh")) {
  return "zh";  // Chinese
}

// 2. Fallback to environment variables
const lang = process.env.LANG || process.env.LC_ALL || "";
if (lang.startsWith("zh")) {
  return "zh";
}

// 3. Default English
return "en";

Advantages of Intl API:

• More reliable, based on actual system settings
• Supports both browser and Node.js environments
• Provides complete locale information (e.g., zh-CN, en-US)

Environment Variables as Fallback:

• Compatible with environments that don't support Intl API
• Provides manual language control (by modifying environment variables)

Step 5: Permanently Switch System Language (if needed)

If you want mystatus to always use a specific language, you can modify system language settings:

INFO

Modifying system language affects all applications, not just mystatus.

macOS:

1. Open "System Settings" → "General" → "Language & Region"
2. Add the desired language and drag it to the top
3. Restart OpenCode

Linux:

# Modify ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8

# Reload configuration
source ~/.bashrc

Windows:

1. Open "Settings" → "Time & Language" → "Language & Region"
2. Add the desired language and set it as default
3. Restart OpenCode

Checkpoint ✅

Verify language detection is working correctly:

Test Item	Action	Expected Result
Chinese system	Run /mystatus	Output in Chinese (e.g., 3小时限额)
English system	Run /mystatus	Output in English (e.g., 3-hour limit)
Temporary switch	Run command after modifying LANG env var	Output language changes accordingly

Common Pitfalls

Common Issues

Issue	Cause	Solution
Output language doesn't match expectations	System language setting incorrect	Check LANG environment variable or system language settings
Intl API unavailable	Node.js version too low or environment doesn't support it	Plugin automatically falls back to environment variable detection
Chinese system showing English	Environment variable LANG not set to zh_*	Set correct LANG value (e.g., zh_CN.UTF-8)

Detection Logic Explanation

When to use Intl API:

• Node.js ≥ 0.12 (supports Intl API)
• Browser environment (all modern browsers)

When to fall back to environment variables:

• Intl API throws an exception
• Environment doesn't support Intl API

When to use default English:

• Environment variables not set
• Environment variables don't start with zh

TIP

The plugin detects language only once when the module loads. After modifying system language, you need to restart OpenCode for changes to take effect.

Summary

• Automatic Detection: mystatus automatically detects system language, no manual configuration required
• Detection Priority: Intl API → Environment Variables → Default English
• Supported Languages: Chinese (zh) and English (en)
• Translation Coverage: Time units, quota-related, error messages, platform titles
• Switch Language: Modify system language settings, restart OpenCode

Next Lesson Preview

In the next lesson, we'll learn Common Issues: Unable to Query Quota, Token Expired, Permission Problems.

You'll learn:

• How to troubleshoot authentication file reading issues
• Solutions when tokens expire
• Configuration recommendations for insufficient permissions

---

Appendix: Source Code Reference

Click to expand source code locations

Last updated: 2026-01-23

Function	File Path	Line Numbers
Language detection function	plugin/lib/i18n.ts	24-40
Chinese translation definitions	plugin/lib/i18n.ts	46-124
English translation definitions	plugin/lib/i18n.ts	125-203
Current language export	plugin/lib/i18n.ts	210
Translation function export	plugin/lib/i18n.ts	213

Key Functions:

• detectLanguage(): Detects user system language, prioritizes Intl API, falls back to environment variables, defaults to English
• currentLang: Current language (detected once at module load)
• t: Translation function that returns corresponding translation content based on current language

Key Constants:

• translations: Translation dictionary containing zh and en language packs
• Supported translation types: Time units (days, hours, minutes), quota-related (hourLimit, dayLimit, remaining, resetIn), error messages (authError, apiError, timeoutError), platform titles (openaiTitle, zhipuTitle, googleTitle, copilotTitle)

Detection Logic:

1. Prioritize using Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().locale for language detection
2. If Intl API unavailable, fall back to environment variables LANG, LC_ALL, LANGUAGE
3. If environment variables also don't exist or don't start with zh, default to English