Why Noto Sans Mono?

Noto Sans Mono is designed by Steve Matteson and is the monospaced member of the Noto type family. Its design is closely related to Open Sans, one of the most popular humanist sans-serif typefaces on the web.

This heritage gives Noto Sans Mono a clean, neutral, and familiar feel. While DM Mono might have distinctive design characteristics in glyphs like 0 @ [ ] f j k, Noto Sans Mono takes the opposite approach: it stays out of your way. There is not a single glyph that demands attention (which is, apparently, all you need).

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n
o p q r s t u v w x y z
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
[ ] { } ( ) < > + - * / ^ =
! ? @ % & # $ ~ ` ; : , .

Adding ligatures

The build uses ToxicFrog/Ligaturizer with the same, one Makefile approach as the DM Mono ligaturized project. Since Noto Sans Mono has no italic variants, the output is four font files: light, regular, medium, and bold weights.

Here are some sample ligatures after patching:

<- -> => ==> |> :: :::
== != >= <= === || //

And without ligatures for comparison:

<- -> => ==> |> :: :::
== != >= <= === || //

The same opinionated ligature exclusions apply here: sequences like &&, ??, and ;; render as separate characters to avoid visual noise.

Setup

For VS Code:

"editor.fontFamily": "'Liga Noto Sans Mono', monospace",
"editor.fontLigatures": "'calt', 'liga'",

For Ghostty:

font-family = Liga Noto Sans Mono

If once a while you need a ligaturized coding font that naturally blends in rather than stands out, give this a try.