The Monaspace type system is a monospaced type superfamily with some modern tricks up its sleeve. It consists of five variable axis typefaces. Each one has a distinct voice, but they are all metrics-compatible with one another, allowing you to mix and match them for a more expressive typographical palette.
Letters on a grid is how we see our code. Why not make those letters better?
✨ An exploration from GitHub Next. ✨ See the full story of Monaspace at monaspace.githubnext.com.
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Monaspace is available as a variable-axis font and a static build. You can install them both side-by-side; their family names are distinct. For example:
Monaspace _____: the static familyMonaspace _____ VarorVF: the variable family
The variable fonts have one file per family (Neon, Argon, etc.). Modern and convenient!
The static fonts have one file per cut, per family. The variable axes have named stops for each axis, like light or bold for weight, italic for italics, and semiwide or wide for width. The combinatorial explosion of all these properties means the complete installation of static fonts involves hundreds of font files. But for situations that don't yet support variable fonts, the static builds give you a wide variety of stops throughout the range of each axis.
There are eight groups of coding ligatures, separated into stylistic sets. You may be able to enable or disable individual sets selectively:
ss01: ligatures related to the equals glyph like!=and===.ss02: ligatures related to the greater than or less than operators.ss03: ligatures related to arrows like->and=>.ss04: ligatures related to markup, like</and/>.ss05: ligatures related to the F♯ programming language, like|>.ss06: ligatures related to repeated uses of#such as##or###.ss07: ligatures related to the asterisk like***.ss08: ligatures related to combinations like.=or.-.
You must enable discretionary ligatures first, often using the dlig setting. See below for editor-specific instructions.
You can manually drag the fonts from the fonts/otf or fonts/variable directory into Font Book.
There is also a script that automates the deletion of all Monaspace fonts from ~/Library/Fonts and then copies over the latest versions. Invoke it from the root of the repo like:
$ cd util
$ bash ./install_macos.shYou can also use homebrew as an alternative:
brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install font-monaspaceYou can manually drag the fonts from the fonts/otf or fonts/variable directory into C:\Windows\Fonts. Alternatively, right-click the fonts you want and click Install.
You can manually drag the fonts from the fonts/otf and fonts/variable directory into ~/.local/share/fonts.
There is also a script which automates the deletion of all Monaspace fonts from ~/.local/share/fonts and then copies over the latest versions. Invoke it from the root of the repo like:
$ cd util
$ bash ./install_linux.shAll files with a .woff or .woff2 suffix are intended for use on the web. You do not install them with your operating system but add them to your web development project.
As with the desktop fonts, they are available in variable and static versions.
Set the font family:
"editor.fontFamily": "'Monaspace Neon', monospace",Note
Variable fonts are not yet well-supported in VS Code, and it is not yet possible to mix multiple fonts. Stay tuned, we're talking with the VS Code team about it!
The same setting controls texture healing and coding ligatures. You can enable either or both.
If you only want texture healing and basic coding ligatures, add the following line to your settings.json:
"editor.fontLigatures": true,Note
This setting is unavailable from the graphical settings editor; you must create it manually.
If you want more coding ligatures, you must customize that setting to specify all the sets you wish to enable:
"editor.fontLigatures": "'calt', 'liga', 'dlig', 'ss01', 'ss02', ... (more stylistic sets) ...",Note
You must start the setting with 'calt', 'liga', 'dlig'! The stylistic sets will only have an effect by enabling contextual alternates, ligatures, and discretionary ligatures.
If you want coding ligatures but do not want texture healing, you can omit the calt setting:
"editor.fontLigatures": "'liga', 'dlig', 'ss01', 'ss02', ... (more stylistic sets) ...",There's no formal contribution guide yet! If you're interested in contributing to the typefaces, you should read the Texture Healing guide, as it explains how to produce the necessary alternate glyphs.
This convenience utility renames and moves the built fonts into their respective directories. You will need Deno installed, and invoke it thus:
$ ./util/renamer.ts --src="~/path/to/the/built/fonts"SIL OFL. See LICENSE.
Please file issues in this repo. Monaspace is not a supported product; do not contact GitHub support with questions, as they do not support GitHub Next explorations.
Monaspace was made to improve all code for all developers. GitHub Next set out on this journey in 2022, and we were fortunate to find a type foundry that shares our passion for improving software in Lettermatic. The result is a marriage of form and function that opens the door to new developer experiences, and that would not have been possible without the domain expertise and skill of the Lettermatic team and the time they invested in working with GitHub Next on figuring out how typography ought to work for code.
- Riley Cran
- Danelle Cheney
- Heather Cran
- Anna Thomas
- Marg Chronister
- Jane Solomon