diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index bceb3edb8..a3c44bd88 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -174,8 +174,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
             messages: {
                 src: [
                     'nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json',
-                    'locales/en-US/editor.json',
-                    'locales/en-US/runtime.json'
+                    'red/api/locales/en-US/editor.json',
+                    'red/runtime/locales/en-US/runtime.json'
                 ]
             }
         },
@@ -223,8 +223,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
             json: {
                 files: [
                     'nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json',
-                    'locales/en-US/editor.json',
-                    'locales/en-US/runtime.json'
+                    'red/api/locales/en-US/editor.json',
+                    'red/runtime/locales/en-US/runtime.json'
                 ],
                 tasks: ['jsonlint:messages']
             }
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                     args: nodemonArgs,
                     ext: 'js,html,json',
                     watch: [
-                        'red','nodes','locales'
+                        'red','nodes'
                     ]
                 }
             }
@@ -302,8 +302,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                         'red/**',
                         'public/**',
                         'editor/templates/**',
-                        'bin/**',
-                        'locales/**'
+                        'bin/**'
                     ],
                     dest: path.resolve('<%= paths.dist %>/node-red-<%= pkg.version %>')
                 }]
diff --git a/red/api/index.js b/red/api/index.js
index dde167dc3..18f783dbe 100644
--- a/red/api/index.js
+++ b/red/api/index.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ var comms = require("./comms");
 var auth = require("./auth");
 var needsPermission = auth.needsPermission;
 
+var i18n;
 var log;
 var adminApp;
 var nodeApp;
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ var errorHandler = function(err,req,res,next) {
 
 function init(server,runtime) {
     var settings = runtime.settings;
+    i18n = runtime.i18n;
     log = runtime.log;
     if (settings.httpNodeRoot !== false) {
         nodeApp = express();
@@ -127,8 +129,9 @@ function init(server,runtime) {
     }
 }
 function start() {
-    comms.start();
-    return when.resolve();
+    return i18n.registerMessageCatalog("editor",path.resolve(path.join(__dirname,"locales")),"editor.json").then(function(){
+        comms.start();
+    });
 }
 function stop() {
     comms.stop();
diff --git a/red/api/locales.js b/red/api/locales.js
index 53520f221..05a5f0cc1 100644
--- a/red/api/locales.js
+++ b/red/api/locales.js
@@ -13,20 +13,52 @@
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  **/
+var fs = require('fs');
+var path = require('path');
 var i18n;
+var supportedLangs = [];
+
+var apiLocalDir = path.resolve(path.join(__dirname,"locales"));
+
+var initSupportedLangs = function() {
+    fs.readdir(apiLocalDir, function(err,files) {
+        if(!err) {
+            supportedLangs = files;
+        }
+    });
+}
+
+function determineLangFromHeaders(acceptedLanguages){
+    var lang = i18n.defaultLang;
+    acceptedLanguages = acceptedLanguages || [];
+    for (var i=0;i<acceptedLanguages.length;i++){
+        if (supportedLangs.indexOf(acceptedLanguages[i]) !== -1){
+            lang = acceptedLanguages[i];
+            break;
+        // check the language without the country code
+        } else if (supportedLangs.indexOf(acceptedLanguages[i].split("-")[0]) !== -1) {
+            lang = acceptedLanguages[i].split("-")[0];
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    return lang;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
     init: function(runtime) {
         i18n = runtime.i18n;
+        initSupportedLangs();
     },
     get: function(req,res) {
         var namespace = req.params[0];
         namespace = namespace.replace(/\.json$/,"");
-        var lang = i18n.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages() || []);
+        var lang = determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages() || []);
         var prevLang = i18n.i.lng();
         i18n.i.setLng(lang, function(){
             var catalog = i18n.catalog(namespace,lang);
             res.json(catalog||{});
         });
         i18n.i.setLng(prevLang);
-    }
+    },
+    determineLangFromHeaders: determineLangFromHeaders
 }
diff --git a/locales/en-US/editor.json b/red/api/locales/en-US/editor.json
similarity index 100%
rename from locales/en-US/editor.json
rename to red/api/locales/en-US/editor.json
diff --git a/red/api/nodes.js b/red/api/nodes.js
index 9b91edcf7..db917255d 100644
--- a/red/api/nodes.js
+++ b/red/api/nodes.js
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 var when = require("when");
 var comms = require("./comms");
+var locales = require("./locales");
 var redNodes;
 var log;
 var i18n;
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ module.exports = {
             log.audit({event: "nodes.list.get"},req);
             res.json(redNodes.getNodeList());
         } else {
-            var lang = i18n.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages());
+            var lang = locales.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages());
             log.audit({event: "nodes.configs.get"},req);
             res.send(redNodes.getNodeConfigs(lang));
         }
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ module.exports = {
                 res.status(404).end();
             }
         } else {
-            var lang = i18n.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages());
+            var lang = locales.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages());
             result = redNodes.getNodeConfig(id,lang);
             if (result) {
                 log.audit({event: "nodes.config.get",id:id},req);
diff --git a/red/runtime/i18n.js b/red/runtime/i18n.js
index eaa9189f0..44cdf4b44 100644
--- a/red/runtime/i18n.js
+++ b/red/runtime/i18n.js
@@ -20,19 +20,9 @@ var path = require("path");
 var fs = require("fs");
 
 var defaultLang = "en-US";
-var supportedLangs = [];
 
-var resourceMap = {
-    "runtime":  {
-        basedir: path.resolve(__dirname+"/../../locales"),
-        file:"runtime.json"
-    },
-    "editor": {
-        basedir: path.resolve(__dirname+"/../../locales"),
-        file: "editor.json"
-    }
-}
-var resourceCache = {}
+var resourceMap = {};
+var resourceCache = {};
 
 function registerMessageCatalog(namespace,dir,file) {
     return when.promise(function(resolve,reject) {
@@ -43,19 +33,6 @@ function registerMessageCatalog(namespace,dir,file) {
     });
 }
 
-var initSupportedLangs = function() {
-    return when.promise(function(resolve,reject) {
-        fs.readdir(resourceMap.editor.basedir, function(err,files) {
-            if(err) {
-                reject(err);
-            } else {
-                supportedLangs = files;
-                resolve();
-            }
-        });
-    });
-}
-
 function mergeCatalog(fallback,catalog) {
     for (var k in fallback) {
         if (fallback.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
@@ -102,21 +79,17 @@ function init() {
         i18n.backend(MessageFileLoader);
         i18n.init({
             ns: {
-                namespaces: ["runtime","editor"],
+                namespaces: [],
                 defaultNs: "runtime"
             },
-            fallbackLng: ['en-US']
+            fallbackLng: [defaultLang]
         },function() {
-            initSupportedLangs().then(function() {
-                resolve();
-            });
+            resolve();
         });
     });
 }
 
 function getCatalog(namespace,lang) {
-    //console.log("+",namespace,lang);
-    //console.log(resourceCache[namespace][lang]);
     var result = null;
     if (resourceCache.hasOwnProperty(namespace)) {
         result = resourceCache[namespace][lang];
@@ -130,32 +103,15 @@ function getCatalog(namespace,lang) {
             }
         }
     }
-    //console.log(result);
     return result;
 }
 
-function determineLangFromHeaders(acceptedLanguages){
-    var lang = "en-US";
-    acceptedLanguages = acceptedLanguages || [];
-    for (var i=0;i<acceptedLanguages.length;i++){
-        if (supportedLangs.indexOf(acceptedLanguages[i]) !== -1){
-            lang = acceptedLanguages[i];
-            break;
-        // check the language without the country code
-        } else if (supportedLangs.indexOf(acceptedLanguages[i].split("-")[0]) !== -1) {
-            lang = acceptedLanguages[i].split("-")[0];
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-    return lang;
-}
-
 var obj = module.exports = {
     init: init,
     registerMessageCatalog: registerMessageCatalog,
     catalog: getCatalog,
     i: i18n,
-    determineLangFromHeaders: determineLangFromHeaders
+    defaultLang:defaultLang
 }
 
 obj['_'] = function() {
diff --git a/red/runtime/index.js b/red/runtime/index.js
index c277117a2..7e417882d 100644
--- a/red/runtime/index.js
+++ b/red/runtime/index.js
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ function getVersion() {
 
 function start() {
     return i18n.init()
+        .then(function() {
+            return i18n.registerMessageCatalog("runtime",path.resolve(path.join(__dirname,"locales")),"runtime.json")
+        })
         .then(function() { return storage.init(settings)})
         .then(function() { return settings.load(storage)})
         .then(function() {
diff --git a/locales/en-US/runtime.json b/red/runtime/locales/en-US/runtime.json
similarity index 100%
rename from locales/en-US/runtime.json
rename to red/runtime/locales/en-US/runtime.json
diff --git a/test/red/api/nodes_spec.js b/test/red/api/nodes_spec.js
index b678b0f57..57bd5f781 100644
--- a/test/red/api/nodes_spec.js
+++ b/test/red/api/nodes_spec.js
@@ -22,9 +22,8 @@ var sinon = require('sinon');
 var when = require('when');
 
 var nodes = require("../../../red/api/nodes");
-
 var comms = require("../../../red/api/comms");
-
+var locales = require("../../../red/api/locales");
 
 describe("nodes api", function() {
 
@@ -37,6 +36,7 @@ describe("nodes api", function() {
             warn: function(){}
         }
         nodes.init(runtime);
+
     }
 
     before(function() {
@@ -50,8 +50,11 @@ describe("nodes api", function() {
         app.put("/nodes/:mod/:set",nodes.putSet);
         app.delete("/nodes/:id",nodes.delete);
         sinon.stub(comms,"publish");
+        sinon.stub(locales,"determineLangFromHeaders", function() {
+            return "en-US";
+        });
     });
-    
+
     after(function() {
         comms.publish.restore();
     });