diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
index 84df35606..9893f1ee9 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/App.zig
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ const ClipboardConfirmationWindow = @import("ClipboardConfirmationWindow.zig");
 const CloseDialog = @import("CloseDialog.zig");
 const Split = @import("Split.zig");
 const c = @import("c.zig").c;
-const i18n = @import("i18n.zig");
 const version = @import("version.zig");
 const inspector = @import("inspector.zig");
 const key = @import("key.zig");
@@ -101,11 +100,6 @@ quit_timer: union(enum) {
 pub fn init(core_app: *CoreApp, opts: Options) !App {
     _ = opts;
 
-    // This can technically be placed *anywhere* because we don't have any
-    // localized log messages. It just has to be placed before any localized
-    // widgets are drawn.
-    try i18n.init(core_app.alloc);
-
     // Log our GTK version
     log.info("GTK version build={d}.{d}.{d} runtime={d}.{d}.{d}", .{
         c.GTK_MAJOR_VERSION,
@@ -124,6 +118,10 @@ pub fn init(core_app: *CoreApp, opts: Options) !App {
         c.adw_get_micro_version(),
     });
 
+    // Set gettext global domain to be our app so that our unqualified
+    // translations map to our translations.
+    try internal_os.i18n.initGlobalDomain();
+
     // Load our configuration
     var config = try Config.load(core_app.alloc);
     errdefer config.deinit();
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
index ae3ca12d6..23abccc20 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const build_options = @import("build_options");
 const configpkg = @import("../../config.zig");
 const apprt = @import("../../apprt.zig");
 const font = @import("../../font/main.zig");
+const i18n = @import("../../os/main.zig").i18n;
 const input = @import("../../input.zig");
 const renderer = @import("../../renderer.zig");
 const terminal = @import("../../terminal/main.zig");
@@ -36,7 +37,6 @@ const gtk_key = @import("key.zig");
 const c = @import("c.zig").c;
 const Builder = @import("Builder.zig");
 const adwaita = @import("adwaita.zig");
-const i18n = @import("i18n.zig");
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.gtk_surface);
 
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/Window.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/Window.zig
index 0e0f71662..8c3e135c5 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/Window.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/Window.zig
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const gtk = @import("gtk");
 const build_config = @import("../../build_config.zig");
 const configpkg = @import("../../config.zig");
 const font = @import("../../font/main.zig");
+const i18n = @import("../../os/main.zig").i18n;
 const input = @import("../../input.zig");
 const CoreSurface = @import("../../Surface.zig");
 
@@ -34,7 +35,6 @@ const HeaderBar = @import("headerbar.zig");
 const CloseDialog = @import("CloseDialog.zig");
 const version = @import("version.zig");
 const winproto = @import("winproto.zig");
-const i18n = @import("i18n.zig");
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.gtk);
 
diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/i18n.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/i18n.zig
deleted file mode 100644
index 630d150a6..000000000
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/i18n.zig
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-//! I18n support for the GTK frontend based on gettext/libintl
-//!
-//! This is normally built into the C standard library for the *vast* majority
-//! of users who use glibc, but for musl users we fall back to the `gettext-tiny`
-//! stub implementation which provides all of the necessary interfaces.
-//! Musl users who do want to use localization should know what they need to do.
-
-const std = @import("std");
-const global = &@import("../../global.zig").state;
-const build_config = @import("../../build_config.zig");
-
-const log = std.log.scoped(.gtk_i18n);
-
-pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !void {
-    const resources_dir = global.resources_dir orelse {
-        log.warn("resource dir not found; not localizing", .{});
-        return;
-    };
-    const share_dir = std.fs.path.dirname(resources_dir) orelse {
-        log.warn("resource dir not placed in a share/ directory; not localizing", .{});
-        return;
-    };
-
-    const locale_dir = try std.fs.path.joinZ(alloc, &.{ share_dir, "locale" });
-    defer alloc.free(locale_dir);
-
-    // The only way these calls can fail is if we're out of memory
-    _ = bindtextdomain(build_config.bundle_id, locale_dir.ptr) orelse return error.OutOfMemory;
-    _ = textdomain(build_config.bundle_id) orelse return error.OutOfMemory;
-}
-
-// Manually include function definitions for the gettext functions
-// as libintl.h isn't always easily available (e.g. in musl)
-extern fn bindtextdomain(domainname: [*:0]const u8, dirname: [*:0]const u8) ?[*:0]const u8;
-extern fn textdomain(domainname: [*:0]const u8) ?[*:0]const u8;
-pub extern fn gettext(msgid: [*:0]const u8) [*:0]const u8;
-pub const _ = gettext;
diff --git a/src/os/i18n.zig b/src/os/i18n.zig
index 15255578a..8a4efdc73 100644
--- a/src/os/i18n.zig
+++ b/src/os/i18n.zig
@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ pub fn init(resources_dir: []const u8) InitError!void {
         return error.OutOfMemory;
 }
 
+/// Set the global gettext domain to our bundle ID, allowing unqualified
+/// `gettext` (`_`) calls to look up translations for our application.
+///
+/// This should only be called for apprts that are fully owning the
+/// Ghostty application. This should not be called for libghostty users.
+pub fn initGlobalDomain() error{OutOfMemory}!void {
+    _ = textdomain(build_config.bundle_id) orelse return error.OutOfMemory;
+}
+
 /// Finds the closest matching locale for a given language code.
 pub fn closestLocaleForLanguage(lang: []const u8) ?[:0]const u8 {
     for (locales) |locale| {