refactor(i18n): replace compiled .ts catalogs with direct .po imports

- Remove `lingui compile` / `i18n:compile` script — Vite and Metro LingUI plugins now compile `.po` files on the fly at dev/build time; no manual compile step needed
- Import `.po` files directly in `@sofa/i18n` (`./po/en.po` etc.) and add `po.d.ts` ambient module declaration so TypeScript accepts them
- Add `fallbackLocales: { default: "en" }` and `lineNumbers: false` to `lingui.config.ts`; prefix catalog paths with `<rootDir>` for correctness
- Derive `SupportedLocale` and `SUPPORTED_LOCALES` from `LOCALE_INFO` in `locales.ts` to eliminate the circular import between `index.ts` and `locales.ts`
- Update Crowdin config to use `project_id_env` instead of a hardcoded ID, drop `languages_mapping` (no longer needed), and add `preserve_hierarchy: true`
- Add a daily cron trigger (`0 6 * * *`) to the Crowdin GitHub Actions workflow and drop the now-redundant compile step from it
- Update docs and `AGENTS.md` to reflect that no compile step is required after `i18n:extract`

.github/workflows/crowdin.yml

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ on:
     paths:
       - "packages/i18n/src/po/en.po"
   workflow_dispatch:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "0 6 * * *"
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
@@ -56,13 +58,10 @@ jobs:
           CROWDIN_PERSONAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CROWDIN_PERSONAL_TOKEN }}
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
-      - name: Compile catalogs
+      - name: Commit updated catalogs
-        run: bun run i18n:compile
-
-      - name: Commit compiled catalogs
         run: |
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
           git add packages/i18n/src/po/
-          git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -m "chore(i18n): compile updated translation catalogs"
+          git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -m "chore(i18n): update translation catalogs"
           git push

AGENTS.md

@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ bun run check-types      # TypeScript type check
 bun run test             # Run tests
 bun run generate:openapi # Regenerate OpenAPI spec + docs API pages (run after contract/schema changes)
 bun run i18n:extract     # Run LingUI's string extraction
-bun run i18n:compile     # Run LingUI's typescript compilation
 bun run i18n:claude      # Prompt Claude Code to fill in untranslated strings
 
 # Database commands (run from packages/db/)
@@ -125,7 +124,7 @@ Cross-package imports:
 - **Date/number formatting** → use `formatDate`, `formatRelativeTime`, `formatNumber`, `formatBytes` from `@sofa/i18n/format` (Intl-based, locale-aware). Never use `date-fns` in app code.
 - **Native Intl polyfills** → `@formatjs/intl-*` polyfills loaded in `apps/native/src/lib/intl-polyfills.ts` (strict dependency order, with locale data for all 6 languages).
 - **Error messages** → Server throws `ORPCError` with `data: { code: AppErrorCode.XXX }`. Clients map codes to localized strings via per-app `error-messages.ts`. Never display `error.message` to users.
-- After adding/changing strings, run `bun run i18n:extract` then `bun run i18n:compile`.
+- After adding/changing strings, run `bun run i18n:extract`. The Vite and Metro plugins compile `.po` catalogs on the fly — no manual compile step needed.
 
 ### Environment variables
 

crowdin.yml

@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
-project_id: "881052"
+project_id_env: CROWDIN_PROJECT_ID
 api_token_env: CROWDIN_PERSONAL_TOKEN
+preserve_hierarchy: true
 
 files:
   - source: /packages/i18n/src/po/en.po
     translation: /packages/i18n/src/po/%two_letters_code%.po
-    languages_mapping:
-      two_letters_code:
-        es-ES: es
-        pt-PT: pt

docs/content/docs/translations.mdx

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ The translation pipeline:
 1. React (web) and React Native (mobile) apps wrap UI strings in `<Trans>` components or `` msg`...` `` macros
 2. `bun run i18n:extract` scans the codebase and updates `en.po` with new strings
 3. Translations are added to each locale's `.po` file (e.g. `fr.po`, `de.po`)
-4. `bun run i18n:compile` compiles `.po` files into TypeScript for use at runtime
+4. The Vite and Metro plugins compile `.po` files on the fly at dev/build time
 5. Non-English locales are lazy-loaded on demand
 
 ## Contributing via Crowdin
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ bun packages/i18n/scripts/claude.ts all --dry-run
 bun packages/i18n/scripts/claude.ts all --model opus
 ```
 
-The script only translates strings with empty `msgstr` — existing translations are never overwritten. It reads the locale list from [`lingui.config.ts`](https://github.com/jakejarvis/sofa/blob/main/lingui.config.ts) automatically and compiles catalogs after translating.
+The script only translates strings with empty `msgstr` — existing translations are never overwritten. It reads the locale list from [`lingui.config.ts`](https://github.com/jakejarvis/sofa/blob/main/lingui.config.ts) automatically.
 
 <Callout type="info">
   Using this script really only makes sense if you have a [Claude Max
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ The script only translates strings with empty `msgstr` — existing translations
 2. Run `bun run i18n:extract` — this creates a new `.po` file for the locale
 3. Translate the strings (via Crowdin, manually, or with `bun packages/i18n/scripts/claude.ts <locale>`)
 4. Add the locale to the `LOCALE_INFO` array in [`packages/i18n/src/locales.ts`](https://github.com/jakejarvis/sofa/blob/main/packages/i18n/src/locales.ts) with its native name
-5. Run `bun run i18n:compile`
 
 ## Translation guidelines
 

lingui.config.ts

@@ -6,10 +6,14 @@ export default defineConfig({
   sourceLocale: "en",
   catalogs: [
     {
-      path: "packages/i18n/src/po/{locale}",
+      path: "<rootDir>/packages/i18n/src/po/{locale}",
-      include: ["apps/web/src", "apps/native/src"],
+      include: ["<rootDir>/apps/web/src", "<rootDir>/apps/native/src"],
     },
   ],
-  format: formatter(),
+  format: formatter({
-  compileNamespace: "ts",
+    lineNumbers: false,
+  }),
+  fallbackLocales: {
+    default: "en",
+  },
 });

package.json

@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@
     "test": "turbo run test",
     "generate:openapi": "bun scripts/generate-openapi-spec.ts && cd docs && bun run generate:api-docs",
     "i18n:extract": "lingui extract",
-    "i18n:compile": "lingui compile --typescript",
     "i18n:claude": "bun packages/i18n/scripts/claude.ts"
   },
   "devDependencies": {

packages/i18n/scripts/claude.ts

@@ -530,16 +530,6 @@ if (!dryRun) {
     console.error("Extraction failed");
     process.exit(1);
   }
-
-  console.log("Compiling catalogs...");
-  const compile = Bun.spawn(["bun", "run", "i18n:compile"], {
-    stdout: "inherit",
-    stderr: "inherit",
-  });
-  if ((await compile.exited) !== 0) {
-    console.error("Catalog compilation failed");
-    process.exit(1);
-  }
 }
 
 console.log("Done!");

packages/i18n/src/index.ts

@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
 import { i18n, type Messages } from "@lingui/core";
 
-import { messages as enMessages } from "./po/en";
+import type { SupportedLocale } from "./locales";
+import { messages as enMessages } from "./po/en.po";
 
-export const SUPPORTED_LOCALES = ["en", "fr", "de", "es", "it", "pt"] as const;
+export { SUPPORTED_LOCALES, type SupportedLocale } from "./locales";
-export type SupportedLocale = (typeof SUPPORTED_LOCALES)[number];
 
 // English always bundled — zero async on default locale
 i18n.load("en", enMessages);
 i18n.activate("en");
 
-const loaders: Record<string, () => Promise<{ messages: Messages }>> = {
+const loaders: Record<Exclude<SupportedLocale, "en">, () => Promise<{ messages: Messages }>> = {
-  fr: () => import("./po/fr"),
+  fr: () => import("./po/fr.po"),
-  de: () => import("./po/de"),
+  de: () => import("./po/de.po"),
-  es: () => import("./po/es"),
+  es: () => import("./po/es.po"),
-  it: () => import("./po/it"),
+  it: () => import("./po/it.po"),
-  pt: () => import("./po/pt"),
+  pt: () => import("./po/pt.po"),
 };
 
 export async function activateLocale(locale: SupportedLocale): Promise<void> {
@@ -22,12 +22,7 @@ export async function activateLocale(locale: SupportedLocale): Promise<void> {
     i18n.activate("en");
     return;
   }
-  const loader = loaders[locale];
+  const { messages } = await loaders[locale]();
-  if (!loader) {
-    i18n.activate("en");
-    return;
-  }
-  const { messages } = await loader();
   i18n.load(locale, messages);
   i18n.activate(locale);
 }

packages/i18n/src/locales.ts

@@ -1,16 +1,18 @@
-import type { SupportedLocale } from "./index";
-
 export interface LocaleInfo {
-  code: SupportedLocale;
+  code: string;
   name: string;
   nativeName: string;
 }
 
-export const LOCALE_INFO: LocaleInfo[] = [
+export const LOCALE_INFO = [
   { code: "en", name: "English", nativeName: "English" },
   { code: "fr", name: "French", nativeName: "Fran\u00e7ais" },
   { code: "de", name: "German", nativeName: "Deutsch" },
   { code: "es", name: "Spanish", nativeName: "Espa\u00f1ol" },
   { code: "it", name: "Italian", nativeName: "Italiano" },
   { code: "pt", name: "Portuguese", nativeName: "Portugu\u00eas" },
-];
+] as const satisfies readonly LocaleInfo[];
+
+export type SupportedLocale = (typeof LOCALE_INFO)[number]["code"];
+
+export const SUPPORTED_LOCALES = LOCALE_INFO.map((l) => l.code) as SupportedLocale[];

packages/i18n/src/po.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+declare module "*.po" {
+  import type { Messages } from "@lingui/core";
+  export const messages: Messages;
+}

packages/i18n/src/test-utils.tsx

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { i18n } from "@lingui/core";
 import { I18nProvider } from "@lingui/react";
 import type { ReactNode } from "react";
 
-import { messages } from "./po/en";
+import { messages } from "./po/en.po";
 
 i18n.load("en", messages);
 i18n.activate("en");