Generated files and migration

With no locales property, nothing about the project changes: no file is generated, rewritten, or wrapped, and the application does not import next-intl. This keeps single-language production builds import-isolated and byte-identical to a project that never configured locales.

Enabling localesLink to this section

Enabling locales is a one-time structural migration handled by the ordinary sync: run pnpm sync and confirm when prompted (non-interactive environments pre-approve it with systhema-core sync --migrate-locales). It touches exactly three things — no glue file is generated:

1. wraps next.config.ts with withSysthema(nextConfig) (no locale arguments — it reads systhema.config.ts itself; fresh scaffolds already ship this wrapper, so on those projects this step is a no-op);
2. adds locales: systhemaConfig.locales to payload.config.ts's plugin options (Payload starters only), so the same opt-in enables Payload content localization without a second locale list; and
3. converts the owned site shell — Payload starters turn app/(site)/template.tsx into app/(site)/shell.tsx (same content, now receiving locale as a prop) and write two managed boundary files at app/(site)/(systhema)/[[...segments]]/: a layout.tsx that resolves the route locale and injects it, and a not-found.tsx that re-exports your app/(site)/not-found.tsx so a thrown notFound() renders the 404 page inside the locale-resolved site shell (styled, localized) instead of as a bare fragment above it. Per-locale pages keep static generation while consumer code stays outside (systhema). No literal [locale] folder is created; src/proxy.ts and the catch-all page.tsx are not touched at all.

The Next.js starterLink to this section

The known non-Payload Systhema Next starter is the one exception that still uses a literal route boundary: it moves its root layout and page under app/[locale], since arbitrary filesystem routes need that real App Router boundary for distinct static locale URLs — middleware alone cannot make them locale-param-aware. This happens only after opting into locales and needs no extra dependency or hand-edited generated file.

Reversing the migrationLink to this section

Sync keeps a reversible copy under .systhema/locales/ and refuses an unacknowledged shell/route rewrite. If the template or route differs from its known source, sync refuses to convert it even with the flag and prints the manual steps; custom layout and route work is never discarded. Removing locales reverses an untouched conversion byte-for-byte (removes the managed boundary and the pristine shell.tsx, restores template.tsx), but leaves the withSysthema(nextConfig) wrapper and the payload.config.ts locale bridge in place — both are no-ops with locales unset, so there is nothing to unwind there. If the shell was customized, sync refuses reversal until those changes are moved back to template.tsx manually.

RelatedLink to this section

• Frontend locales
• Localizing an existing site
• systhema-core