Nerdify Toolkit

Automations for working with fonts: patch fonts with Nerd Fonts glyphs, normalize font name tables from filenames, adjust variable font weights, and bundle fonts into TTC/OTC collections. The tools are small, testable Python CLIs designed for predictable, scriptable workflows.

Background

• Patching fonts with Nerd Fonts by hand requires installing FontForge and running the Font Patcher script for every file. It’s repetitive and easy to misplace outputs.
• Fonts often have noisy filenames and inconsistent internal name tables, which makes organizing and collecting them harder.
• Creating consistent weight variants or bundling families into TTC/OTC collections is tedious without clear conventions.

This repo provides focused CLIs to make those tasks reliable and repeatable, with minimal external dependencies.

Included tools

• nerdify.py: Patch fonts with Nerd Fonts glyphs using Font Patcher.
• nameadjust.py: Normalize filename → internal name table (Family/Subfamily, Full, PostScript).
• weightadjust.py: Generate standard weight instances from variable TTFs (with optional offset).
• createcollection.py: Build a TrueType/OpenType collection (TTC/OTC) from multiple fonts.

See detailed specs under docs/spec/ organized by feature: nerdify/, name-adjust/, weight-adjust/, font-collection/.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x and pip.
• fonttools (Python) for name and collection utilities.
• fontforge (system binary) only for nerdify.py (Font Patcher requires it).

Steps

1. Install Python dependencies:
   • pip install -r requirements.txt
   • For development: pip install -r requirements_dev.txt
2. Install FontForge (needed for nerdify.py only):
   • Debian/Ubuntu: run ./requirements.sh (uses apt install fontforge).
   • macOS (Homebrew): brew install fontforge.
   • Windows: install FontForge from the official distribution.

Optional cache/config

• nerdify.py downloads FontPatcher.zip on first run by default. You can point to an existing patcher with --fontpatcher-dir /path/to/FontPatcher to avoid network access.

Workflow Usage

End‑to‑end example from raw fonts to a collection:

1. Normalize internal names from filenames

   • Command: python nameadjust.py ./fonts -o ./out/named
   • Effect: writes copies of .ttf files with cleaned internal names and filename stems like Family-Style.ttf.

2. Patch with Nerd Fonts glyphs

   • Command: python nerdify.py ./out/named -o ./out/patched
   • Notes: requires fontforge. Downloads and caches FontPatcher.zip unless you pass --fontpatcher-dir.

3. Generate standard weight instances (variable TTFs)

   • Command: python weightadjust.py ./out/patched -w +10 -o ./out/weights
   • Behavior: produces nine standard weights (Thin→Black). With --weight-offset, shifts numeric values while clamping to the font’s supported wght range.

4. Create a TTC/OTC collection

   • Command (auto type): python createcollection.py ./out/weights -o ./out
   • Command (forced type/name): python createcollection.py ./out/weights --type ttc --name MyFamily -o ./out
   • Output: ./out/MyFamily.ttc (or OTC for OTF inputs), with fonts ordered by OS/2 weight (ascending) and Roman before Italic.

CLI Reference (concise)

nerdify.py

• Description: Patch fonts with Nerd Fonts glyphs via Font Patcher.
• Usage: python nerdify.py [PATHS ...] -o OUTDIR [--fontpatcher-dir DIR] [--cache-dir DIR]
• Notes: Supports .ttf, .otf, .ttc; traverses directories recursively; requires fontforge.

nameadjust.py

• Description: Humanize filename → update name table (IDs 1/2/4/6).
• Usage: python nameadjust.py [PATHS ...] [-o OUTDIR]
• Notes: .ttf only; without -o updates in place (renaming the file to Family-Style.ttf if needed).

weightadjust.py

• Description: Produce standard weights from variable TTFs; optional numeric offset.
• Usage: python weightadjust.py [PATHS ...] [-w OFFSET] [-o OUTDIR]
• Notes: .ttf only; clamps to the font’s supported wght range; rewrites internal names in outputs.
  • Output names: <stem>-<WeightName>.ttf; with offset: <stem>-<WeightName>-<Resolved>.ttf.
  • Weights table comes from fontweights.toml (see docs/spec/fontweights/spec.md).

createcollection.py

• Description: Create TTC/OTC from .ttf or .otf inputs.
• Usage: python createcollection.py [PATHS ...] [-o OUTDIR] [--type {ttc,otc}] [--name NAME] [--dry-run]
• Notes: Infers type from inputs (all TTF → TTC, all OTF → OTC), or force with --type. Expects inputs to have names normalized by nameadjust.py; when not unanimous, uses a minimal filename-based basename heuristic.

Development

• Tests: pytest -q (configured for coverage and parallel collection).
• Lint: ruff check <files> and flake8 <files>.
• Format: black <files>.
• Specs: see docs/spec/ for human‑readable specs and implementation notes.

Safety & Behavior

• Commands write only to the specified -o/--output directories (or in place where documented).
• Network access is only used by nerdify.py to fetch FontPatcher.zip unless --fontpatcher-dir is provided.
• Filenames and internal names are sanitized conservatively for cross‑platform safety.