Local

Local is Skaft Software’s type system for interfaces, documentation, code, terminals, and open-source tools.

It pairs two related families:

• Local Grotesk — a proportional sans for product UI, editorial text, and identity.
• Local Mono — a 616-unit monospaced face for code and terminal work.

The forms combine Swiss spacing discipline with restrained lower-half gravity, open counters, differentiated ambiguity forms, delayed curve apexes, and tiny authored construction biases. The result is precise at work and visibly made when you look closely.

Download

Install the fonts from the latest GitHub release.

Terminal users will usually want:

• LocalMonoNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf
• LocalMonoNerdFontMono-Bold.ttf

Web projects can copy fonts/web and web/local.css:

font-family: "Local Grotesk", sans-serif;
font-family: "Local Mono", monospace;

Both variable families support wght from 400 through 700.

Repository map

• fonts/static — Regular and Bold TTF and OTF builds
• fonts/variable — variable TTF builds
• fonts/web — variable WOFF2 builds
• fonts/nerd — Local Mono with Nerd Fonts symbols
• sources/fontforge — editable SFD masters
• sources/designspace — variable-font designspaces
• sources/scripts — construction, build, rendering, and validation tools
• specimens — release and control proofs

Build

The checked-in SFD files are the canonical editable 0.53 masters. To rebuild the core static and variable fonts:

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
make build

This requires FontForge on PATH. Rebuilt files are written to build/0.53 so the checked-in binaries remain untouched.

The build_release_053.py and build_control_053.py scripts document the deterministic transformations from the named upstream bases. They require local checkouts of the exact upstream sources described in NOTICE.md; those checkouts are intentionally not vendored here.

Nerd Font builds require Nerd Fonts v3.4.0. Added symbols retain their upstream licenses.

Validation

The 0.53 release passes:

• FontForge fontlint on all four static masters
• OpenType Sanitizer on static, variable, and Nerd Font outputs
• HarfBuzz shaping at weights 400, 550, and 700
• exact 616-unit Local Mono ASCII width checks
• variable-axis outline-change checks on approved control glyphs
• core-outline and metric preservation after Nerd Font patching

Both families use shared 1000 / -250 / 0 vertical line metrics. Programming operators remain literal; Local does not add decorative coding ligatures.

Licensing and lineage

Local modifications and project materials are copyright 2026 Skaft Software.

• Local Grotesk is a modified and renamed work based on TeX Gyre Heros 2.004 and is distributed under the GUST Font License.
• Local Mono is a modified and renamed work based on IBM Plex Mono 2.5.0 and is distributed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The reserved name “Plex” is not used.
• Nerd Font symbols retain their respective upstream copyrights and licenses.

OpenDyslexic and Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono informed visual comparison and legibility principles; their outlines are not included. Local makes no claim of clinical validation for dyslexia.

See LICENSE, NOTICE.md, and LICENSES for the complete terms.