Guide

Multi domain locales

Set up multiple domains for multiple locales. Use a different domain name for each language your app supports.

How to set up multi domain locales:

  • Set the multiDomainLocales option to true
  • Configure the locales option as an array of objects:
    • Each object has a domains key whose value is a array of the domains you'd like to use for that locale. Optionally include a port (if non-standard) and/or a protocol. If the protocol is not provided then an attempt will be made to auto-detect it but that might not work correctly in some cases like when the pages are statically generated.
    • Optionally set for each object a defaultForDomains key whose value is a array of the default domains you'd like to use for that locale. Optionally include a port (if non-standard) and/or a protocol. If the protocol is not provided then an attempt will be made to auto-detect it but that might not work correctly in some cases like when the pages are statically generated.
  • Optionally set detectBrowserLanguage to false. When enabled (which it is by default), user can get redirected to a different domain on first visit. Set to false if you want to ensure that visiting given domain always shows page in the corresponding locale.
nuxt.config.ts
const i18nDomains = ['mydomain.com', 'es.mydomain.com', 'fr.mydomain.com', 'http://pl.mydomain.com', 'https://ua.mydomain.com']

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  i18n: {
    locales: [
      {
        code: 'en',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'es',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['es.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'fr',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['fr.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'pl',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['http://pl.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'ua',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['https://ua.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'nl',
        domains: i18nDomains
      },
      {
        code: 'de',
        domains: i18nDomains
      },
    ],
    multiDomainLocales: true
  }
})

Runtime environment variables

Sometimes there's a need to change domains in different environments, e.g. staging and production. As nuxt.config.ts is used at build time it would be necessary to create different builds for different environments.

locale-domains.config.ts
export const localeDomains = {
  uk: process.env.DOMAIN_UK,
  fr: process.env.DOMAIN_FR
}
nuxt.config.ts
import { localeDomains } from './locale-domains.config'

const i18nDomains = [localeDomains.uk, localeDomains.fr]

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['@nuxtjs/i18n'],

  i18n: {
    multiDomainLocales: true,
    locales: [
      {
        code: 'uk',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: [localeDomains.uk]
      },
      {
        code: 'fr',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: [localeDomains.fr]
      }
    ]
  }
})

With the above config, a build would have to be run for staging and production with different .env files that specify DOMAIN_UK and DOMAIN_FR.

Using different domains for only some of the languages

If one or more of the domains need to host multiple languages, the default language of each domain needs to have domainDefault: true so there is a per domain fallback locale. The option differentDomains still need to be set to true though.

nuxt.config.js
const i18nDomains = ['mydomain.com', 'en.mydomain.com', 'es.mydomain.com', 'fr.mydomain.com', 'http://pl.mydomain.com', 'https://ua.mydomain.com']

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  // ...
  i18n: {
    locales: [
      {
        code: 'en',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['mydomain.com', 'en.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'es',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['es.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'fr',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['fr.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'pl',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['http://pl.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'ua',
        domains: i18nDomains,
        defaultForDomains: ['https://ua.mydomain.com']
      },
      {
        code: 'nl',
        domains: i18nDomains
      },
      {
        code: 'de',
        domains: i18nDomains
      },
    ],
    strategy: 'prefix',
    multiDomainLocales: true
  },
  // ...
})

Given above configuration with the prefix strategy, following requests will be:

The same requests when using the prefix_except_default strategy, will be:

Different Domains

Use a different domain name for each language your app supports.

Locale fallback

How a fallback gets selected when a translation is missing.