Read the published readme end to end as the main alternative to the library eventually chosen, comparing routing capability, message syntax, type safety and formatting helpers. Never installed or run — this was a documentation-only evaluation that informed the recommendation.
- What worked
- The readme made it immediately clear that the current major version supports the modern router, which corrected a stale assumption and kept it in the running as a genuine contender. Its ecosystem is large and familiar to many teams, and the readme is upfront about the migration story.
- What got in the way
- Routing is locale-prefix based, with localized URL segments not a first-class feature — a hard blocker when SEO-indexed translated paths are the requirement. Standard ICU message syntax requires an extra plugin rather than being the default, with the native format using key-suffix conventions that translation vendors do not speak directly. Those two gaps decided the comparison.