From fd24b354498db5cf8b74606949dd564bf9a77f83 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2026 03:51:31 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: cover startup locale hydration path (#24795) (thanks
 @chilu18)

---
 CHANGELOG.md                       |  1 +
 ui/src/i18n/test/translate.test.ts | 15 ++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dc238731349..fe7ba34ffb5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Web UI/i18n: load and hydrate saved locale translations during startup so non-English sessions apply immediately without manual toggling. (#24795) Thanks @chilu18.
 - Plugins/Config schema: support legacy plugin schemas without `toJSONSchema()` by falling back to permissive object schema generation. (#24933) Thanks @pandego.
 - Cron/Isolated sessions: use full prompt mode for isolated cron runs so skills/extensions are available during cron execution. (#24944)
 - Discord/Reasoning: suppress reasoning/thinking-only payload blocks from Discord delivery output. (#24969)
diff --git a/ui/src/i18n/test/translate.test.ts b/ui/src/i18n/test/translate.test.ts
index b06aa8d2d23..178fd12b1e3 100644
--- a/ui/src/i18n/test/translate.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/i18n/test/translate.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from "vitest";
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, vi } from "vitest";
 import { i18n, t } from "../lib/translate.ts";
 
 describe("i18n", () => {
@@ -40,4 +40,17 @@ describe("i18n", () => {
     await i18n.setLocale("zh-CN");
     expect(t("common.health")).toBe("健康状况");
   });
+
+  it("loads saved non-English locale on startup", async () => {
+    localStorage.setItem("openclaw.i18n.locale", "zh-CN");
+    vi.resetModules();
+    const fresh = await import("../lib/translate.ts");
+
+    for (let index = 0; index < 5 && fresh.i18n.getLocale() !== "zh-CN"; index += 1) {
+      await Promise.resolve();
+    }
+
+    expect(fresh.i18n.getLocale()).toBe("zh-CN");
+    expect(fresh.t("common.health")).toBe("健康状况");
+  });
 });