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microsoft/cascadia-code

★ 27,688PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5StaleLicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

A free monospaced font designed for programmers, featuring optional ligatures that combine characters into symbols, bundled with Windows Terminal and Visual Studio.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Monospaced font
      Programming ligatures
      Icon support
    Variants
      Cascadia Code
      Cascadia Mono
      Powerline symbols
      Nerd Font symbols
    File formats
      Variable TTF
      Static TTF OTF
      WOFF2 web
    Use cases
      Code editors
      Terminal prompts
      Website fonts

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Install as your default font in VS Code, Visual Studio, or any code editor to make code more readable with ligatures and better spacing.

USE CASE 2

Use in Windows Terminal or other terminal emulators with Powerline or Nerd Font variants to display custom icons in your shell prompt.

USE CASE 3

Embed WOFF2 version on a developer blog or documentation site to display code samples in a professional monospaced typeface.

USE CASE 4

Choose Cascadia Mono if you prefer plain characters without ligatures for a simpler, more traditional coding font.

Tech stack

OpenTypeTTFOTFWOFF2

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Free and open-source; you can use, modify, and distribute it freely.

In plain English

Cascadia Code is a free, open-source monospaced font (a font where every character takes up the same width, which makes code easier to read in a text editor) created by Microsoft. It was designed specifically for programmers and ships bundled with Windows Terminal, and is also the default font in Visual Studio. Its most distinctive feature is programming ligatures, special combined characters where, for example, two dashes and a greater-than sign (-->) display as a single arrow symbol. This does not change the underlying text; it just makes code visually cleaner. The font also includes support for Powerline symbols (icons used in custom terminal prompts) and Nerd Font symbols (a large icon set for developer tools). The font comes in several variants. The standard "Cascadia Code" includes ligatures; "Cascadia Mono" is a version without ligatures for those who prefer plain characters. Both come with "PL" (Powerline) and "NF" (Nerd Font) versions that embed additional symbols. There is also a cursive italic style accessible via an OpenType feature code. Multiple file formats are provided, variable TTF (recommended for most users), static TTF and OTF, and WOFF2 for websites. You would use Cascadia Code if you spend a lot of time in a code editor or terminal and want a font that makes code easier to read, with optional visual enhancements like arrow ligatures and icon symbols.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I install Cascadia Code in VS Code and enable programming ligatures?
Prompt 2
What's the difference between Cascadia Code and Cascadia Mono, and which should I use?
Prompt 3
How do I use the Nerd Font version of Cascadia Code to display icons in my terminal prompt?
Prompt 4
Can I embed Cascadia Code on my website, and if so, which file format should I use?
Prompt 5
How do I access the cursive italic style in Cascadia Code using OpenType features?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.