ADR 0009: English-first globalization

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-07-25

Context

PI-Desktop targets global users and open contribution. Chinese-only product surfaces would block international adoption and plugin ecosystem growth.

Decision

PI-Desktop is English-first:

1. Product UI default language: English
2. Specs, ADRs, code comments, commits, issues, plugin docs: English primary
3. i18n framework is required from early UI work
4. Additional locales (including Chinese) are optional packs, not the source of truth

Localization Rules

• Source strings live in English
• No hard-coded non-English UI copy in core code
• Locale packs use stable message IDs
• Plugin manifests/docs recommended in English; localized fields optional later

Consequences

Positive

• Global-ready baseline
• Easier external contribution
• Cleaner plugin ecosystem language default

Negative

• Chinese copy becomes a translation layer, not primary authoring format