i18n audit: ~200 hardcoded English strings remain across 40 frontend components

[ioanalytica]

Summary

An automated audit of the frontend (at af65d697) found ~203 hardcoded English UI strings across 40 components, despite the app maintaining 4 locales (en, de, it, es). 216 of 256 scanned components are clean.

The root cause of the invisibility: npm run check:locales (scripts/check-locale-parity.js) only enforces key parity between locale files — it never checks whether components actually use translation keys. So a component can ship fully hardcoded and CI stays green.

LogManagementTab.tsx is a good reference for the target state (flat keys under a component namespace, {{var}} interpolation).

Method

Heuristic regex scan over frontend/src/{components,pages}/**/*.tsx (excluding stories/tests) for:

• JSX text nodes
• user-facing string props (label=, helperText=, placeholder=, title=, alt=, tooltip=, …)
• window.confirm / alert messages
• toast.* messages
• UI strings in ternaries ({cond ? 'Copied!' : 'Copy to clipboard'})

with filtering for TS generics artifacts, Tailwind/sx values, CSS, type names, and non-UI values. Both wiring styles were recognized as "translated": useTranslation() and t: TFunction passed as a prop (e.g. SourceSelectionDialog.tsx is fully translated via the prop style).

Counts are a ranking tool, not an exact work order — expect ~10% noise in both directions (strings built in .ts helpers weren't scanned; a few counted strings like "Linux" or plan names may legitimately stay untranslated).

Findings, ranked

Tier 1 — Managed Agents surface (109 hits, 54% of the total)

File	Hits	Notes
pages/ManagedAgents.tsx	81 (60 unique)	imports useTranslation, but the managedAgents namespace contains exactly 1 key — the page was wired but never translated
pages/managed-agents/AddAgentDialog.tsx	22	no i18n wiring at all
pages/managed-agents/AgentInstallCommand.tsx	6	no i18n wiring at all

Examples: "Add Agent", "Enrollment token created" (toast), "Deleting removes it from the fleet list…", "Run this on the Linux machine that owns the files…", the 4-step "Agent Setup Help", "TCP reachable"/"TCP failed".

Tier 2 — API tokens & account/auth (32 hits)

File	Hits
components/ApiTokensSection.tsx	19 — full token-reveal flow ("Copy this token now. You won't be able to see it again.", "Close without copying?")
components/AccountPasswordDialog.tsx	7 — all form labels
pages/FirstLoginPasswordSetup.tsx	4 — "Hide/Show password"
pages/Login.tsx	2 — same pair

Tier 3 — shared wizard & layout components (~28 hits)

WizardStepReview (5, "Hide/Show passphrase", "Ready to Initialize"), MountSuccessToast (4, "Copied!"/"Copy command"), WizardStepLocation (3), WizardStepIndicator (3), RepositoryEncryptionFields, WizardStepScheduleReview, BackupPlanSelect ("Scheduled"/"Manual"), PlanScheduleCard + UnassignedReposSection ("Collapse"/"Expand"), NavGroup, RepoMenuItem, RepositoryWizard, and 5 more wizard steps with 1 hit each.

Tier 4 — long tail (~34 hits, ~17 files)

SystemKeyCard (5), CacheManagementTab (3), ScheduledChecksSection, ArchivesList, AuthLayout, AppHeader, AnnouncementModal, Scripts (2 each), plus 1-hit files — including two untranslated window.confirm sentences (pages/Repositories.tsx "Are you sure you want to delete repository…", and one in RunningBackupsSection).

Effort estimate

~180–195 new en keys (≈ 720–780 locale lines across the 4 files):

Batch	New keys
managedAgents.*	~80–85
apiTokens.* + account/auth	~28
shared wizard/layout	~25
long tail	~35
common.* staples	~10

A side finding: common has only 30 keys and is missing even Cancel and Close (actions, status, name exist). "Cancel" alone is hardcoded in 4 different files — repeated strings should route through common.* instead of being duplicated per namespace.

Suggested plan

Fix in 4 independent, reviewable PRs following the logManagement.* pattern, each keeping check:locales green:

1. Managed Agents surface (~85 keys, 3 files) — biggest win, one coherent feature area; also adds the missing common.* staples.
2. API tokens + account security (~28 keys, 4 files).
3. Shared wizard/layout components (~25 keys, ~15 files).
4. Long-tail sweep (~35 keys, ~17 files), including the window.confirm sentences (interpolated via {{name}}).

And to make this class of debt visible to CI permanently:

5. Add eslint-plugin-i18next (i18next/no-literal-string) scoped to src/components + src/pages. Without it, check:locales keeps passing while new hardcoded strings accrue — which is exactly how ManagedAgents.tsx reached 81 strings after being wired for i18n.

I'm happy to send these PRs one at a time as the review queue allows — filing the audit first so the scope is agreed before any code moves.