Getting Started

Fontist is a cross-platform font manager that installs fonts with a single command. It works consistently across macOS, Windows, and Linux, making it ideal for local development and CI/CD pipelines.

Overview

Fontist provides a unified API for installing and managing fonts across different operating systems. Instead of manually downloading fonts and placing them in system folders, you can use fontist install to manage fonts programmatically.

Fontist uses a formula repository to locate and download fonts. The main repository includes Google Fonts, SIL Fonts, macOS fonts, and many others.

Key Concepts

• Font Concepts: Understand fonts, styles, weights, formats, containers, variable fonts, and licenses.
• Formulas: YAML files that describe where to download fonts and how to install them. Formulas are maintained in the fontist/formulas repository.
• Manifests: YAML files that specify which fonts your project needs. Manifests enable reproducible font installations across teams and CI environments.
• Locations: Fonts can be installed to Fontist's own directory, the user's fonts folder, or system-wide (with appropriate permissions).

Quick Start

Install Fontist via RubyGems:

gem install fontist

Install your first font:

fontist install "Fira Code"

Check installed fonts:

fontist status

Next Steps

• Installation Guide - Detailed installation instructions and platform-specific notes
• Quick Start Tutorial - A 5-minute guide to get up and running
• CLI Reference - Complete command documentation