Source Code Pro Nerd Font
The font that made open-source corporate typefaces normal.
What it does
Adobe released Source Code Pro in 2012 under the Open Font License, at a time when a good monospace was something you bought. It is drawn on the skeleton of Source Sans Pro, narrowed for the monospace grid, with the disambiguation work done properly — a slashed zero, a distinct 1/l/I, and punctuation sized to be visible at 11pt rather than merely present.
Seven weights with matching italics, and a variable-font build.
Nerd Fonts patches it as SauceCodePro, which is why the cask token does not say Source. Same glyphs, renamed to avoid the reserved font name in the licence.
Ligatures and OpenType features
No programming ligatures. Adobe published a separate experiment, Source Code Variable, but ligatures were never part of the family.
The one feature worth knowing is zero — the slashed zero is available as an alternate rather than being the default in every build. The syntax for enabling it, per editor and per terminal, is on the Fonts page.
Notes
- The patched family is
SauceCodePro Nerd Font, and the terminal variantSauceCodePro Nerd Font Mono. - It pairs with Source Sans and Source Serif at matching weights, the same way IBM Plex Mono pairs with the rest of Plex.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| IBM Plex Mono | Open source | Warmer letterforms, the same no-ligature stance |
| JetBrains Mono | Open source | Taller x-height, ligatures on by default |
| Meslo LG | Open source | Wider and plainer, with three line-gap options |
| Roboto Mono | Open source | Google’s equivalent, tighter and less distinctive |
Install
brew install --cask font-sauce-code-pro-nerd-font