> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).

# Localization

You can localize your Snap to display your Snap's user interface (UI) text and textual metadata (such as title and description) in the user's language.

## Steps[​](#steps "Direct link to Steps")

### 1. Get the user's language[​](#1-get-the-users-language "Direct link to 1. Get the user's language")

In your Snap's code, determine the user's language by using the [snap_getPreferences](/snaps/reference/snaps-api/snap%5Fgetpreferences/) API method. To call `snap_getPreferences`, first request the required permission by adding it to the `initialPermissions` field in your manifest file:

snap.manifest.json

```
"initialPermissions": {
  "snap_getPreferences": {}
}

```

Your Snap can then call `snap_getPreferences` to get the user's language code (for example, `en` or `es`).

### 2. Localize the Snap's UI[​](#2-localize-the-snaps-ui "Direct link to 2. Localize the Snap's UI")

Use the user's language code to localize your Snap's UI.

First, create locale files named `snap/locales/<language_code>.json`, containing content in the following format:

en.json

```
{
  "locale": "en",
  "messages": {
    "hello": {
      "message": "Hello, world!",
      "description": "The message that is returned when the `hello` method is called."
    }
  }
}

```

You can then use these files in a localization module. The following is an example module:

```
import da from '../locales/da.json'
import en from '../locales/en.json'
import nl from '../locales/nl.json'

// Default language, to be used if there is not a valid translation in
// the requested locale.
const FALLBACK_LANGUAGE: Locale = 'en'

export const locales = {
  da: da.messages,
  en: en.messages,
  nl: nl.messages,
}

export type Locale = keyof typeof locales

export async function getMessage(id: keyof (typeof locales)[Locale]) {
  const { locale } = (await snap.request({ method: 'snap_getPreferences' })) as {
    locale: Locale
  }
  const { message } = locales[locale]?.[id] ?? locales[FALLBACK_LANGUAGE][id]

  return message
}

```

You can then use the `getMessage` function in your Snap's code to localize a message, which uses English as the default if the user's locale isn't available.

The following is an example of using `getMessage` in a Snap's RPC request handler:

index.ts

```
import { rpcErrors } from '@metamask/rpc-errors'
import type { OnRpcRequestHandler } from '@metamask/snaps-sdk'

import { getMessage } from './locales'

export const onRpcRequest: OnRpcRequestHandler = async ({ request }) => {
  switch (request.method) {
    case 'hello':
      return await getMessage('hello')

    default:
      throw rpcErrors.methodNotFound({
        data: { method: request.method },
      })
  }
}

```

### 3. Localize the Snap's manifest file[​](#3-localize-the-snaps-manifest-file "Direct link to 3. Localize the Snap's manifest file")

The Snap [manifest file](/snaps/learn/about-snaps/files/#manifest-file) contains textual metadata such as `proposedName` and `description` that you can localize to display in the user's language.

The following is an example of a localized manifest file:

snap.manifest.json

```
{
  "version": "1.1.1",
  "description": "{{ description }}",
  "proposedName": "{{ name }}",
  "source": {
    "shasum": "XXX",
    "locales": ["locales/da.json", "locales/en.json", "locales/nl.json"]
  },
  "initialPermissions": {
    "snap_getPreferences": {}
  },
  "manifestVersion": "0.1"
}

```

To localize your manifest file, add all available locales to the `source.locales` section, listing the locale files you created when [localizing the Snap's UI](#2-localize-the-snaps-ui). The example locale file provided in [Step 2](#2-localize-the-snaps-ui) follows MetaMask's format for manifest localization.

For each field that needs to be localized, replace its text with `{{ <fieldName> }}`.

When displaying this metadata to the user, MetaMask searches for the proper locale file and replaces the template string with its translation. If it doesn't find the user's locale, MetaMask uses English (`en`) as the default.

## Example[​](#example "Direct link to Example")

See the [@metamask/localization-example-snap](https://github.com/MetaMask/snaps/tree/main/packages/examples/packages/localization)package for a full example of localizing a Snap.