Font Selection & Setup

You have access to the user's curated font list in fonts.md (in this skill's directory). Read it before responding to any font-related question.

Rules

0. Do not explore or scan the project until the user has chosen a font. Read only fonts.md (in this skill's directory), ask questions, present options, and wait for a selection. Only investigate the project's stack/framework when it's time to do the actual setup.
1. Never auto-select fonts. Always present relevant options from the list and let the user decide. No exceptions.
2. Ask about project context first when invoked directly via /fonts. Use AskUserQuestion with up to 3 questions in a single call:
   • Project type (header: "Project") — options: "marketing site", "SaaS app", "editorial/blog", "portfolio"
   • Vibe (header: "Vibe") — options: "clean/minimal", "bold/expressive", "editorial/serious", "friendly/warm"
   • Hierarchy (header: "Hierarchy") — options: "heading + body", "heading only", "body only" (no descriptions needed, labels are self-explanatory) The user can always pick "Other" (auto-included) for free-text input.
3. Use tags to guide recommendations. Each font is tagged heading, body, or code. Match recommendations to the hierarchy level the user needs filled. If they need a body font, don't suggest heading-only fonts. Never surface code-tagged fonts in the main heading/body flow — they're handled separately.
4. Once the user picks a font, just do the setup. Don't ask for confirmation — detect the project's stack and automatically:
   • Add the correct import method based on the font's source:
     • Google Fonts: <link> tag, CSS @import, or next/font/google depending on stack
     • Fontshare: CSS @import from their CDN, or provide download link for self-hosting
     • GitHub-hosted self-hosted fonts (Download column has a URL in fonts.md): Download the .woff2 files using curl from the Download URL + filenames from the file manifest in fonts.md. Place them in the project's font directory (e.g., public/fonts/ or src/assets/fonts/). Set up @font-face declarations pointing to the downloaded files. If the download fails, fall back to showing the URL column link and asking the user to download manually.
     • Manual-download fonts (Download column = manual): Set up @font-face declarations with the correct file paths, then prominently tell the user to download the font files from the URL column and place them in the font directory. Do not bury this — make it the first thing the user sees after setup.
   • Set up CSS custom properties or font-family declarations with the correct fallback stack (see below)
   • Handle framework specifics (e.g., next/font for Next.js, global CSS for Vite, Tailwind config, etc.)
   • For self-hosted fonts (Fontshare, Uncut, Collletttivo), subset the font files to the character sets the project actually needs. Tools like glyphhanger or pyftsubset can strip unused glyphs and cut file size significantly. Google Fonts handles this automatically via unicode-range splitting — no action needed there.
   • When writing the base font declarations, include -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100% on the root element to prevent unexpected text resizing in landscape orientation on iOS.

Fallback stacks

Always include these fallbacks in font-family declarations. No other fallbacks — these are the stacks.

• Sans: system-ui, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif
• Serif: Charter, "Bitstream Charter", Georgia, serif
• Mono: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", monospace

For example, a sans setup should produce: font-family: "Geist", system-ui, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;

Variable fonts

Each font in fonts.md has a Variable column. Always prefer the variable version when available — don't ask the user, just use it. Variable is strictly better: smaller total payload, one file, more flexibility.

When a font is variable:

• Google Fonts: use range syntax in the URL ([email protected]), not individual weights (wght@400;700)
• Fontshare / self-hosted: use a single variable .woff2 file with font-weight: 100 900 (range) in the @font-face block
• next/font: omit the weight array — next/font automatically pulls the variable file when no explicit weights are specified
• CSS: use standard properties (font-weight, font-stretch) for weight and width axes. Do not use font-variation-settings unless the font has a custom axis with no CSS property mapping.

When a font is static-only, specify explicit weights in the import and @font-face declarations as usual.

Presentation

After filtering the font list to what's relevant, present the top 2–4 candidates using AskUserQuestion:

• Each option's label = font name or pairing name (e.g. "Bricolage Grotesque + Satoshi")
• Each option's description = short vibe + source + tags + download note if manual (e.g. "Bold geometric sans · Fontshare · heading + body" or "Calligraphic serif · Uncut · heading · requires manual download")
• If presenting pairings, describe both the heading and body font in the description
• Use a single question with header "Font" (or "Pairing" when showing pairs)

Don't dump the entire list. Filter to what's relevant based on the user's stated needs and context.

Monospace follow-up

After the user selects their heading/body pairing, if the project type is SaaS app, recommend a monospace font. Use AskUserQuestion with a single yes/no question:

• Explain that SaaS apps typically need a monospace font for code blocks, data tables, metric displays, and technical UI
• Header: "Monospace"
• Options: "yes, add a monospace" / "no, skip"

If the user says yes, present the code-tagged fonts from fonts.md using the same presentation format (label = font name, description = vibe + source).

When setting up fonts for SaaS apps, include font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums in the CSS for any element that displays numbers in alignment-sensitive contexts — tables, dashboards, metric cards, counters, or timers. This prevents digits from shifting layout as values change. Apply it scoped to those contexts, not globally.