Messages containing @ character are silently dropped in production build with JIT compilation

[ProgramCX]

Reporting a bug?

Bug Description

When using vue-i18n with Vite in production mode, messages containing the @ character are silently removed (return empty string) during the build process. This only occurs in production builds (vite build), while development mode (vite dev) works correctly.

The issue appears to be in the JIT compilation phase where static string analysis misidentifies @ as ICU MessageFormat syntax, causing the entire message to be discarded without warning.

Steps:

1. Create a Vue 3 + vue-i18n (v9) + Vite project
2. Add a locale message containing @:

// src/locales/zh-CN.ts
export default {
  ddns: {
    placeholder: {
      domainRr: '如: www (为空则使用@)',
      ipAddress: '请输入IP地址'
    }
  }
}

3. Use in component:

<template>
  <n-input :placeholder="t('ddns.placeholder.domainRr')" />
  <n-input :placeholder="t('ddns.placeholder.ipAddress')" />
</template>

<script setup>
import { useI18n } from 'vue-i18n'
const { t } = useI18n()
</script>

4. Development (npm run dev): Both placeholders display correctly
5. Production (npm run build + npm run preview):
   • domainRr input has empty placeholder (returns empty string)
   • ipAddress input displays correctly

Expected Behavior

The @ character should be treated as literal text in production builds, consistent with development behavior. The message should display: 如: www (为空则使用@)

Actual Behavior

• Development: t('ddns.placeholder.domainRr') returns '如: www (为空则使用@)' ✅
• Production: t('ddns.placeholder.domainRr') returns '' (empty string) ❌
• No build errors or warnings are emitted

Environment

{
  "vue": "^3.5.24",
  "vue-i18n": "^9.14.4",
  "vite": "^7.2.4",
  "@vitejs/plugin-vue": "^6.0.1",
  "naive-ui": "^2.43.2",
  "typescript": "~5.9.3"
}

• Build Tool: Vite 7.2.4
• Vue I18n Version: 9.14.4
• Node Version: [e.g., 20.x]
• OS: [e.g., Windows/macOS/Linux]

Root Cause Analysis

After extensive debugging, the issue appears to be in the JIT compilation phase:

1. Static Analysis Phase: The JIT compiler statically analyzes message strings during build time to pre-compile them.
2. ICU Syntax Misidentification: The @ character is used in ICU MessageFormat for argument selection (plural rules, etc.). The parser likely encounters @ and treats it as ICU syntax, fails to parse it correctly (since it's just literal text), and silently discards the entire message.
3. Why Function Works: Arrow functions () => 'text@text' cannot be statically analyzed (not executed at build time), so they bypass the check:

   // ❌ Static string - analyzed and removed
   domainRr: '如: www (为空则使用@)'
   
   // ✅ Arrow function - preserved for runtime
   domainRr: () => '如: www (为空则使用@)'

Workarounds (Verified)

Workaround 1: Arrow Function (Recommended)

export default {
  ddns: {
    placeholder: {
      domainRr: () => '如: www (为空则使用@)'  // Bypasses static analysis
    }
  }
}

Then in component:

const result = t('ddns.placeholder.domainRr')
const text = typeof result === 'function' ? result() : result

Workaround 2: Array Join

domainRr: ['如: www (为空则使用', '@', ')'].join('')

Workaround 3: Disable JIT (Last Resort)

// vite.config.ts
import vueI18n from '@intlify/vite-plugin-vue-i18n'

export default {
  plugins: [
    vueI18n({
      jitCompilation: false  // Falls back to runtime compilation
    })
  ]
}

Suggested Fix

The JIT compiler should:

1. Distinguish ICU syntax from literal text: @ should only be treated as special syntax when it's part of a valid ICU structure (e.g., {count, plural, one {# item} other {# items}}), not when it's just a character in a sentence.
2. Fail loudly: If the parser encounters what it thinks is invalid ICU syntax, it should emit a warning/error during build rather than silently dropping the message.

Related git changes: ProgramCX/FoxNAS-Web@f76943e

Expected behavior

The @ character should be treated as literal text in production builds, consistent with development behavior. The message should display: 如: www (为空则使用@)

Reproduction

not fixed: https://github.com/ProgramCX/FoxNAS-Web/tree/e4964780959cc37041292f9e08e683771921d206
fixed: https://github.com/ProgramCX/FoxNAS-Web/tree/f76943efb2ec075aae407a02bb8e6da69113c007

Issue Package

vite-plugin-vue-i18n

System Info

System:
    OS: Windows 11 10.0.26200
    CPU: (20) x64 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700H
    Memory: 1.20 GB / 15.72 GB
  Binaries:
    Node: 20.19.0 - D:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
    Yarn: 1.22.22 - C:\Users\Progr\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
    npm: 10.8.2 - D:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 144.0.7559.133
    Edge: Chromium (131.0.2903.146)
    Internet Explorer: 11.0.26100.7296
  npmPackages:
    vite: ^7.2.4 => 7.3.1
    vue: ^3.5.24 => 3.5.27
    vue-i18n: ^9.14.4 => 9.14.4

Screenshot

Additional context

• Unicode escape fails: Using \u0040 instead of @ also gets removed, suggesting the parser resolves escapes before ICU analysis.
• Hardcoded strings work: <n-input placeholder="如: www (为空则使用@)" /> displays correctly, confirming it's not a UI framework issue (Naive UI handles @ fine).
• Silent failure: The most critical aspect is that this fails silently - no build error, no runtime warning, just empty strings in production.

Validations

• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the README
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion.