fix(ui): language dropdown selection not persisting after refresh (#48019)

Merged via squash.

Prepared head SHA: 06c82586d96392dfd49a6944971d854f5890dc1c
Co-authored-by: git-jxj <65210887+git-jxj@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: altaywtf <9790196+altaywtf@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @altaywtf

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Control UI/model switching: preserve the selected provider prefix when switching models from the chat dropdown, so multi-provider setups no longer send `anthropic/gpt-5.2`-style mismatches when the user picked `openai/gpt-5.2`. (#47581) Thanks @chrishham.
 - Control UI/storage: scope persisted settings keys by gateway base path, with migration from the legacy shared key, so multiple gateways under one domain stop overwriting each other's dashboard preferences. (#47932) Thanks @bobBot-claw.
 - Agents/usage tracking: stop forcing `supportsUsageInStreaming: false` on non-native OpenAI-completions providers so compatible backends report token usage and cost again instead of showing all zeros. (#46500) Fixes #46142. Thanks @ademczuk.
+- Control UI/overview: keep the language dropdown aligned with the persisted locale during dashboard startup so refreshing the page does not fall back to English before locale hydration completes. (#48019) Thanks @git-jxj.
 
 ## 2026.3.13
 

ui/src/ui/views/chat.test.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import { render } from "lit";
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { i18n } from "../../i18n/index.ts";
 import { getSafeLocalStorage } from "../../local-storage.ts";
 import { renderChatSessionSelect } from "../app-render.helpers.ts";
 import type { AppViewState } from "../app-view-state.ts";
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@ import type { GatewayBrowserClient } from "../gateway.ts";
 import type { ModelCatalogEntry } from "../types.ts";
 import type { SessionsListResult } from "../types.ts";
 import { renderChat, type ChatProps } from "./chat.ts";
+import { renderOverview, type OverviewProps } from "./overview.ts";
 
 function createSessions(): SessionsListResult {
   return {
@@ -195,6 +197,57 @@ function createProps(overrides: Partial<ChatProps> = {}): ChatProps {
   };
 }
 
+function createOverviewProps(overrides: Partial<OverviewProps> = {}): OverviewProps {
+  return {
+    connected: false,
+    hello: null,
+    settings: {
+      gatewayUrl: "",
+      token: "",
+      sessionKey: "main",
+      lastActiveSessionKey: "main",
+      theme: "claw",
+      themeMode: "system",
+      chatFocusMode: false,
+      chatShowThinking: true,
+      chatShowToolCalls: true,
+      splitRatio: 0.6,
+      navCollapsed: false,
+      navWidth: 220,
+      navGroupsCollapsed: {},
+      locale: "en",
+    },
+    password: "",
+    lastError: null,
+    lastErrorCode: null,
+    presenceCount: 0,
+    sessionsCount: null,
+    cronEnabled: null,
+    cronNext: null,
+    lastChannelsRefresh: null,
+    usageResult: null,
+    sessionsResult: null,
+    skillsReport: null,
+    cronJobs: [],
+    cronStatus: null,
+    attentionItems: [],
+    eventLog: [],
+    overviewLogLines: [],
+    showGatewayToken: false,
+    showGatewayPassword: false,
+    onSettingsChange: () => undefined,
+    onPasswordChange: () => undefined,
+    onSessionKeyChange: () => undefined,
+    onToggleGatewayTokenVisibility: () => undefined,
+    onToggleGatewayPasswordVisibility: () => undefined,
+    onConnect: () => undefined,
+    onRefresh: () => undefined,
+    onNavigate: () => undefined,
+    onRefreshLogs: () => undefined,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
 describe("chat view", () => {
   it("uses the assistant avatar URL for the welcome state when the identity avatar is only initials", () => {
     const container = document.createElement("div");
@@ -285,6 +338,41 @@ describe("chat view", () => {
     expect(groupedLogo?.getAttribute("src")).toBe("/openclaw/favicon.svg");
   });
 
+  it("keeps the persisted overview locale selected before i18n hydration finishes", async () => {
+    const container = document.createElement("div");
+    const props = createOverviewProps({
+      settings: {
+        ...createOverviewProps().settings,
+        locale: "zh-CN",
+      },
+    });
+
+    try {
+      localStorage.clear();
+    } catch {
+      /* noop */
+    }
+    await i18n.setLocale("en");
+
+    render(renderOverview(props), container);
+    await Promise.resolve();
+
+    let select = container.querySelector<HTMLSelectElement>("select");
+    expect(i18n.getLocale()).toBe("en");
+    expect(select?.value).toBe("zh-CN");
+    expect(select?.selectedOptions[0]?.textContent?.trim()).toBe("简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)");
+
+    await i18n.setLocale("zh-CN");
+    render(renderOverview(props), container);
+    await Promise.resolve();
+
+    select = container.querySelector<HTMLSelectElement>("select");
+    expect(select?.value).toBe("zh-CN");
+    expect(select?.selectedOptions[0]?.textContent?.trim()).toBe("简体中文 (简体中文)");
+
+    await i18n.setLocale("en");
+  });
+
   it("renders compacting indicator as a badge", () => {
     const container = document.createElement("div");
     render(

ui/src/ui/views/overview.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { html, nothing } from "lit";
-import { t, i18n, SUPPORTED_LOCALES, type Locale } from "../../i18n/index.ts";
+import { t, i18n, SUPPORTED_LOCALES, type Locale, isSupportedLocale } from "../../i18n/index.ts";
 import type { EventLogEntry } from "../app-events.ts";
 import { buildExternalLinkRel, EXTERNAL_LINK_TARGET } from "../external-link.ts";
 import { formatRelativeTimestamp, formatDurationHuman } from "../format.ts";
@@ -190,7 +190,9 @@ export function renderOverview(props: OverviewProps) {
     `;
   })();
 
-  const currentLocale = i18n.getLocale();
+  const currentLocale = isSupportedLocale(props.settings.locale)
+    ? props.settings.locale
+    : i18n.getLocale();
 
   return html`
     <section class="grid">
@@ -295,7 +297,9 @@ export function renderOverview(props: OverviewProps) {
             >
               ${SUPPORTED_LOCALES.map((loc) => {
                 const key = loc.replace(/-([a-zA-Z])/g, (_, c) => c.toUpperCase());
-                return html`<option value=${loc}>${t(`languages.${key}`)}</option>`;
+                return html`<option value=${loc} ?selected=${currentLocale === loc}>
+                  ${t(`languages.${key}`)}
+                </option>`;
               })}
             </select>
           </label>