Locale catch all

[sudden wasp]

Hi everyone. I'm working on a new stack using Dato and Astro, my Astro project is all server rendered, and had some questions about localisation.
I want to set up my pages so I have a folder like [...locale] which I can use to set up routes for each language dynamically.
This works, but going to / root of the site gives me a 404. I'd like it to go to my default locale, but without "/en/" for example.

Does anyone know if this set up is possible? Currently as a work around i have my index.astro at pages root simply redirecting to the language, but i don't want the /en/ in the URL.

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

[little schooner]

Hi @sudden wasp. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:

---

Based on the knowledge sources, your goal is to have the root URL (/) serve your default locale’s content without a language prefix (e.g., /en/), even though you’re using a dynamic catch-all like [...locale] for localized routes.

Astro’s i18n routing supports this scenario using the prefixDefaultLocale: false option. With this configuration:

• The default locale’s pages (e.g., English) are placed directly in the root of src/pages/ (not in an /en/ folder).
• Other locales are placed in their respective folders (e.g., src/pages/fr/).
• The root URL / and routes like /about will serve the default locale, without a language prefix.
• URLs like /fr/about will serve the French version.

Example configuration:

import { defineConfig } from "astro/config";
export default defineConfig({
  i18n: {
    locales: ["en", "fr"],
    defaultLocale: "en",
    routing: {
      prefixDefaultLocale: false
    }
  }
});

Example folder structure:

src/
  pages/
    index.astro         // default locale (en)
    about.astro         // default locale (en)
    fr/
      index.astro       // French
      about.astro       // French

With this setup, visiting / will show your default locale (English) without a /en/ prefix, and /fr/ will show French content. You do not need to redirect / to /en/—the root will serve the default language directly, as you want.

Note:
If you use a dynamic [...locale].astro catch-all, you may need to ensure that your root index.astro exists and is not overridden by the catch-all route, as Astro requires a root index page for proper routing and redirection logic, especially with i18n enabled [i18n routing reference].

If you want to use a "root locale" approach (no prefix for the default language), this is also supported in Starlight (Astro’s docs framework) by using the root key in the locales config, but for standard Astro projects, the prefixDefaultLocale: false option is the way to go [prefixDefaultLocale docs].

Summary:
Yes, it is possible to have the root URL serve your default locale without a language prefix. Use prefixDefaultLocale: false and place your default language pages at the root of src/pages/. No redirect to /en/ is needed; / will serve the default language content directly.

Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:

@sudden wasp Kapa.ai is still learning and improving, please let me know how I did by reacting below.

[sudden wasp]

I dont want do have index.astro and about.astro in pages as its duplicating astro files.

@little schooner I dont want do have index.astro and about.astro in pages as its duplicating astro files.

[little schooner]

Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:

---

Astro’s built-in i18n routing requires that, when using prefixDefaultLocale: false, your default locale’s pages (like index.astro and about.astro) exist at the root of src/pages/, while other locales are in their own folders (e.g., src/pages/fr/). This does mean you need separate files for each localized version, and there is no built-in way to avoid this duplication if you want the default locale to be served at / without a prefix [i18n routing].

There is no official support in the knowledge sources for using a dynamic catch-all route (like [...locale].astro) to serve both the default and other locales without duplicating files. The documented approaches all require either:

• Duplicating files for each locale (with or without a prefix), or
• Using a redirect from / to /en/ (which you want to avoid).

If you want to avoid duplicating Astro files, you would need to implement your own manual routing logic, but this is not covered or recommended in the official documentation for your use case [i18n.routing manual].

Summary:
I'm sorry, but according to the official Astro documentation, there is no built-in way to avoid duplicating files for the default locale when you want the root URL to serve the default language without a prefix. All documented solutions require separate files for each locale in this scenario.

Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: