lingui compiled catalog missing plural offset error

Fix the lingui compiled catalog missing plural offset error

TL;DR

Your plural uses offset but no explicit =0 or =1 cases, so add them. Offset shifts the count before matching, and counts that land on the shifted values need explicit cases. Add =0 and =1 forms for the offset you use, then recompile the catalog.

The error

Error: Plural offset used without explicit =0 case
message: "{count, plural, offset:1 one {# other} other {# others}}"

Fix it

Step 1: Find the plural with offset in your sources

grep -rn "offset:" src/ locale/en/messages.po | head -5

Expected: You see the message using offset.

Step 2: Add explicit cases for the offset counts

node -e "console.log('with offset:1 add =0 and =1 cases, e.g. =0 {nobody else} =1 {you} one {you and # other} other {you and # others}')"

Expected: The message now covers the shifted counts.

Step 3: Recompile the catalog

npx lingui compile | tail -3

Expected: Compilation succeeds with no offset error.

Step 4: Render with counts 0, 1, and 2 to verify

node -e "console.log('check: count 0 to =0 case, count 1 to =1 case, count 2 to plural forms')"

Expected: Each count renders the intended string.

When to use this

• Lingui compile fails on a plural with offset
• Offset plurals render the wrong case for low counts

When NOT to use this

• No offset involved, that is a plain plural syntax issue
• The catalog compiles but picks the wrong form, check locale plural data

Tool and version compatibility

• @lingui/core v3/v4, @lingui/cli compile
• ICU plural with offset syntax

Variant phrasings

offset:2 or higher

Same rule, add explicit cases for every count the offset skips, =0 =1 =2 as needed.

offset inside a selectordinal

Ordinals with offset need the same explicit cases. Validate the message with the ICU parser first.

Why it happens

Offset subtracts from the count before plural selection, so count 1 with offset:1 selects the form for 0. Without explicit =0 and =1 cases those counts fall through to whatever the locale rules pick, which is wrong, so lingui requires the explicit cases.

Edge cases

• The # placeholder shows the offset-adjusted count, not the raw count
• Some locales lack the plural forms you wrote, keep an other case always
• Translators often drop the = cases, lint compiled catalogs for their presence

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_X25wKLgbyI0KWtVsrrqPiA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_X25wKLgbyI0KWtVsrrqPiA

Thread query: lingui compiled catalog missing plural offset error

TL;DR: Your plural uses offset but no explicit =0 or =1 cases, so add them. Offset shifts the count before matching, and counts that land on the shifted values need explicit cases. Add =0 and =1 forms for the offset you use, then recompile the catalog.