# Nerd Fonts — Iconic Patched Fonts for Developer Tooling

> A curated aggregator and patcher that bundles 3,600+ icons into 50+ popular programming fonts, giving terminals, editors, and status bars consistent glyph coverage.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# Nerd Fonts — Iconic Patched Fonts for Developer Tooling

## Quick Use
```bash
# Install via Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install --cask font-fira-code-nerd-font

# Or download a specific font manually
curl -fLO https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest/download/FiraCode.zip
unzip FiraCode.zip -d ~/.local/share/fonts && fc-cache -fv
```

## Introduction
Nerd Fonts patches popular monospaced typefaces with thousands of glyphs sourced from Font Awesome, Devicons, Octicons, Material Design Icons, and more. The result is a single font file that renders file-type icons, Git branch symbols, and powerline separators without extra font-fallback configuration. It is widely adopted by terminal prompt tools, file managers, and status-line plugins.

## What Nerd Fonts Does
- Patches 50+ fonts (Fira Code, JetBrains Mono, Hack, Cascadia Code, etc.) with a unified glyph set
- Aggregates 3,600+ icons from 10+ upstream icon projects into a consistent codepoint mapping
- Provides a standalone patcher script so users can patch any compatible font themselves
- Publishes pre-built releases on GitHub and via Homebrew, Chocolatey, Scoop, and AUR
- Ships a CSS web-font variant for browser-based terminal UIs

## Architecture Overview
The project centers on a Python-based font patcher built on FontForge. It reads a source font, maps each upstream icon set to a reserved Private Use Area (PUA) codepoint range, and writes a new OpenType file. CI pipelines run the patcher against every supported font and publish release archives. A shell installer script automates download and system font registration.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Clone the repo and run `font-patcher` with FontForge to patch a custom font
- Use `--complete` flag to include all available glyph sets in a single pass
- Set the patched font as your terminal emulator's default monospace typeface
- For web use, reference the CSS file from `css/nerd-fonts-generated.css`
- Most Linux desktops pick up fonts placed in `~/.local/share/fonts` after running `fc-cache -fv`

## Key Features
- Consistent codepoint mapping across all patched fonts for portable dotfile configs
- Supports ligature-enabled fonts like Fira Code and JetBrains Mono
- Works with every major terminal: iTerm2, Alacritty, Kitty, WezTerm, Windows Terminal
- Powers prompt tools like Starship, Oh My Posh, and Powerlevel10k out of the box
- Available via all major OS package managers and font distribution channels

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **Powerline Fonts** — only includes powerline glyphs; Nerd Fonts adds thousands more icons
- **FiraCode (upstream)** — provides ligatures but no icon glyphs; Nerd Fonts patches icons in
- **Codicons** — VS Code's icon font; scoped to the editor, not general terminal use
- **Font Awesome** — a standalone icon font for web; Nerd Fonts integrates it alongside many others
- **Iosevka** — a customizable coding font with optional ligatures; Nerd Fonts can patch Iosevka too

## FAQ
**Q: Do patched fonts break ligatures?**
A: No. The patcher preserves the original font's OpenType ligature tables while adding icons in unused codepoint slots.

**Q: How large are patched font files?**
A: A complete-patched font is typically 5-15 MB per weight, versus 0.5-2 MB for the unpatched original.

**Q: Can I patch a proprietary font I have a license for?**
A: The patcher works on any compatible font file. License compliance for redistribution is your responsibility.

**Q: Which font should I start with?**
A: FiraCode Nerd Font and JetBrainsMono Nerd Font are the most popular choices among developers.

## Sources
- https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts
- https://www.nerdfonts.com/

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-c51a722f
Author: Script Depot