diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/App.tsx b/packages/dashboard/app/App.tsx
index 7c0a2d7c51..c923c418bb 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/app/App.tsx
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/App.tsx
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ import { useProjects } from "./hooks/useProjects";
 import { useAgents } from "./hooks/useAgents";
 import { useNodes } from "./hooks/useNodes";
 import { useCurrentProject } from "./hooks/useCurrentProject";
+import { I18nextProvider } from "react-i18next";
+import i18n from "./i18n";
 import { ToastProvider, useToast } from "./hooks/useToast";
 import { ConfirmDialogProvider } from "./hooks/useConfirm";
 import { useTheme } from "./hooks/useTheme";
@@ -2043,16 +2045,18 @@ function AppInner() {
 
 export function App() {
   return (
-    <ToastProvider>
-      <ShellHostProvider>
-        <ShellProvider>
-          <NodeProvider>
-            <ConfirmDialogProvider>
-              <AppInner />
-            </ConfirmDialogProvider>
-          </NodeProvider>
-        </ShellProvider>
-      </ShellHostProvider>
-    </ToastProvider>
+    <I18nextProvider i18n={i18n}>
+      <ToastProvider>
+        <ShellHostProvider>
+          <ShellProvider>
+            <NodeProvider>
+              <ConfirmDialogProvider>
+                <AppInner />
+              </ConfirmDialogProvider>
+            </NodeProvider>
+          </ShellProvider>
+        </ShellHostProvider>
+      </ToastProvider>
+    </I18nextProvider>
   );
 }
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/i18n/index.ts b/packages/dashboard/app/i18n/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ef1d498f92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/i18n/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { baseInitOptions, DASHBOARD_NAMESPACES, DEFAULT_NAMESPACE } from "@fusion/i18n/config";
+import i18next from "i18next";
+import LanguageDetector from "i18next-browser-languagedetector";
+import resourcesToBackend from "i18next-resources-to-backend";
+import { initReactI18next } from "react-i18next";
+
+/**
+ * Browser i18next instance for the dashboard.
+ *
+ * Catalogs are loaded lazily per locale: only the active locale's namespaces
+ * are fetched on first paint; switching language fetches the new locale's
+ * chunk on demand. The dynamic import is **app-relative** over the generated
+ * `app/locales/` tree (synced from @fusion/i18n by scripts/sync-locales.mjs)
+ * so Vite statically analyses it and emits one chunk per locale/namespace.
+ */
+
+/** localStorage key for the persisted language. Uses the neighbor-consistent
+ *  `kb-dashboard-*` prefix (see useTheme.ts) — not changed to `fn-` here; that
+ *  belongs to the brand-rename track. */
+export const LANGUAGE_STORAGE_KEY = "kb-dashboard-language";
+
+i18next
+  .use(LanguageDetector)
+  .use(
+    resourcesToBackend(
+      (language: string, namespace: string) =>
+        import(`../locales/${language}/${namespace}.json`),
+    ),
+  )
+  .use(initReactI18next);
+
+export const i18nReady = i18next.init({
+  ...baseInitOptions(),
+  ns: [...DASHBOARD_NAMESPACES],
+  defaultNS: DEFAULT_NAMESPACE,
+  detection: {
+    order: ["localStorage", "navigator", "htmlTag"],
+    lookupLocalStorage: LANGUAGE_STORAGE_KEY,
+    caches: ["localStorage"],
+  },
+  react: {
+    // First paint is gated on `i18nReady` in main.tsx, so Suspense is not
+    // needed to avoid raw-key flashes and would otherwise require a boundary
+    // around every translated subtree.
+    useSuspense: false,
+  },
+});
+
+i18next.on("languageChanged", (language) => {
+  if (typeof document !== "undefined") {
+    document.documentElement.lang = language;
+  }
+});
+
+export default i18next;
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/main.tsx b/packages/dashboard/app/main.tsx
index 4af2daf17e..c40723db0a 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/app/main.tsx
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/main.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { installVersionCheck } from "./versionCheck";
 import { installSwUpdate } from "./swUpdate";
 import { bootstrapShellHostContext } from "./shell-host";
 import { registerBundledPluginViews } from "./plugins/registerBundledPluginViews";
+import { i18nReady } from "./i18n";
 import "./styles.css";
 
 // Install the bearer-token fetch wrapper before React mounts so every API
@@ -19,14 +20,20 @@ installVersionCheck();
 bootstrapShellHostContext();
 registerBundledPluginViews();
 
-createRoot(document.getElementById("root")!).render(
-  <StrictMode>
-    <RootErrorBoundary>
-      <DesktopLaunchGate>
-        <App />
-      </DesktopLaunchGate>
-    </RootErrorBoundary>
-  </StrictMode>,
-);
+// Gate first paint on the active locale's catalogs so the UI never flashes raw
+// translation keys. The catalog is a small local chunk, so this is a brief
+// wait; `.finally` ensures we still render if i18n init fails (strings then
+// fall back to keys/en rather than blocking the app).
+void i18nReady.finally(() => {
+  createRoot(document.getElementById("root")!).render(
+    <StrictMode>
+      <RootErrorBoundary>
+        <DesktopLaunchGate>
+          <App />
+        </DesktopLaunchGate>
+      </RootErrorBoundary>
+    </StrictMode>,
+  );
 
-installSwUpdate();
+  installSwUpdate();
+});
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/package.json b/packages/dashboard/package.json
index 7ff2cd7be2..65169a169e 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/package.json
+++ b/packages/dashboard/package.json
@@ -52,8 +52,12 @@
     "README.md"
   ],
   "scripts": {
+    "gen:locales": "node scripts/sync-locales.mjs",
+    "verify:locale-chunks": "node scripts/assert-locale-chunks.mjs",
+    "prebuild": "node scripts/sync-locales.mjs",
     "build": "vite build && tsc",
     "build:client": "vite build",
+    "predev:serve": "node scripts/sync-locales.mjs",
     "dev": "pnpm build && pnpm typecheck && pnpm dev:serve",
     "dev:serve": "vite dev",
     "pretest": "node ../../scripts/ensure-test-artifacts.mjs",
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/scripts/assert-locale-chunks.mjs b/packages/dashboard/scripts/assert-locale-chunks.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37cf38c71f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/dashboard/scripts/assert-locale-chunks.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// KTD3a regression guard: after a client build, assert that each locale's
+// catalogs are emitted as their own async chunks and are NOT folded into the
+// main entry chunk. If the app-relative dynamic import ever stops being
+// statically analysable, Vite silently inlines every catalog into the main
+// bundle with only a build warning — this check turns that into a hard failure.
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const here = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const assetsDir = join(here, "..", "dist", "client", "assets");
+const namespaces = ["common", "app", "errors"];
+
+if (!existsSync(assetsDir)) {
+  console.error(`assert-locale-chunks: ${assetsDir} not found — run the client build first.`);
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+const files = readdirSync(assetsDir);
+const errors = [];
+
+// One chunk per dashboard namespace per locale (5 locales) → at least 5 each.
+for (const ns of namespaces) {
+  const matches = files.filter((f) => new RegExp(`^${ns}-[^/]+\\.js$`).test(f));
+  if (matches.length < 5) {
+    errors.push(
+      `expected >=5 split chunks for namespace "${ns}" (one per locale), found ${matches.length}`,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+// The main entry chunk must not carry catalog payloads — a translated marker
+// string from a non-en catalog appearing in index-*.js means splitting broke.
+const indexFile = files.find((f) => /^index-[^/]+\.js$/.test(f));
+if (indexFile) {
+  const body = readFileSync(join(assetsDir, indexFile), "utf8");
+  // i18next-resources-to-backend chunks are referenced by dynamic import, not
+  // inlined; a literal catalog object in index would show the column labels.
+  if (/"in-review":"In Review"/.test(body) && /"archived":"Archived"/.test(body)) {
+    errors.push(`catalog content found inlined in ${indexFile} — locale chunks were not split`);
+  }
+}
+
+if (errors.length) {
+  console.error("assert-locale-chunks FAILED:");
+  for (const e of errors) console.error(`  - ${e}`);
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+console.log("assert-locale-chunks: per-locale catalog chunks emitted correctly.");
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/scripts/sync-locales.mjs b/packages/dashboard/scripts/sync-locales.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e442f47141
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/dashboard/scripts/sync-locales.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+// Copies the authored @fusion/i18n catalogs into the dashboard tree so Vite can
+// code-split them per locale via a plainly app-relative dynamic import. The
+// generated app/locales/ dir is gitignored — @fusion/i18n/locales is the
+// source-of-truth. Only the dashboard namespaces are copied (the terminal-only
+// `cli` namespace is skipped). Runs as a predev/prebuild step.
+import { cpSync, mkdirSync, readdirSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const here = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const dashboardRoot = join(here, "..");
+const srcLocales = join(dashboardRoot, "..", "i18n", "locales");
+const destLocales = join(dashboardRoot, "app", "locales");
+
+// Keep in sync with DASHBOARD_NAMESPACES in @fusion/i18n config.ts.
+const DASHBOARD_NAMESPACES = ["common", "app", "errors"];
+
+const locales = readdirSync(srcLocales, { withFileTypes: true })
+  .filter((d) => d.isDirectory())
+  .map((d) => d.name);
+
+rmSync(destLocales, { recursive: true, force: true });
+for (const lng of locales) {
+  mkdirSync(join(destLocales, lng), { recursive: true });
+  for (const ns of DASHBOARD_NAMESPACES) {
+    cpSync(join(srcLocales, lng, `${ns}.json`), join(destLocales, lng, `${ns}.json`));
+  }
+}
+
+console.log(`Synced ${locales.length} locale(s) into app/locales: ${locales.join(", ")}`);
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/vite.config.ts b/packages/dashboard/vite.config.ts
index b7e9adc6cc..f973f74394 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/vite.config.ts
+++ b/packages/dashboard/vite.config.ts
@@ -168,6 +168,15 @@ export default defineConfig({
             return "vendor-codemirror";
           }
 
+          if (
+            id.includes("/node_modules/i18next/") ||
+            id.includes("/node_modules/react-i18next/") ||
+            id.includes("/node_modules/i18next-browser-languagedetector/") ||
+            id.includes("/node_modules/i18next-resources-to-backend/")
+          ) {
+            return "vendor-i18n";
+          }
+
           return undefined;
         },
       },