WAKES WHEN someone wants a font of their own from a brief, or asks whether a TrueType file is whole
THE LOOP
the brief: weight, width, x-height
cut · the TrueType file and its specimen
read the specimen; change one number
family · the weights of one design
check · tables, checksums, every letter
NEVER
Trace or copy another typeface
Ship a font whose check did not pass
Claim kerning, accents or hinting it lacks
IT MAKES cut — the TrueType file, its specimen page and its cut record; family — the weights of one design, each named and hashed; check — a second reader: tables, checksums, names, metrics, every letter.
THE STANDARD the brief is numbers; real files only; read back, not trusted; its own letters; the limits on the specimen; plain names.
PROOF SELFTEST 8/8 · witnessed in Claude 2026-10-11 · Edition 1.
THE SEAL 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY · WITNESSED · Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5
IT CAN BE WRONG an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong and can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date; check what matters against your own records and the source; the risk is yours. THE-CLAUSES.md rides in the packet and is part of the licence.
THE PUNCH · SHA-256 OF SKILL.MD · 9E248D130ADAF7C2F2668078
CITE THIS CARDTHE TYPEFACE CARD, Edition 1. Lund Studio LLC, Westminster, Colorado. https://lundr.tech/?view=typeface-card. Punch 9E248D130ADAF7C2F2668078. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
What it is.
A type face generator. cut takes a name, a weight (the stem, in units of a 1000-unit em), a width and an x-height and writes a real, installable TrueType font, every table by hand: A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and . , - : ' ! ? in a monoline geometric grotesque built from the stem, the ring and the diagonal, with a specimen page and a cut record holding its SHA-256; family cuts several weights of one design and names them Light, Regular, Medium and Bold; check reads any TrueType file back as a second reader: its tables and checksums, names, metrics, character map and empty outlines.
It carries a machine that shows its working: cut — the TrueType file, its specimen page and its cut record; family — the weights of one design, each named and hashed; check — a second reader: tables, checksums, names, metrics, every letter — 8 checks in its selftest, every command on the record. It will never trace or copy another typeface; never ship a font whose check did not pass; never claim kerning, accents or hinting it lacks.
Six laws, written into the card.
They are in the card itself, so the AI follows them.
THE BRIEF IS NUMBERSA name, a weight, a width and an x-height make the font, and the same brief always cuts the same bytes.
REAL FILES ONLYThe card writes an installable TrueType file, every table by hand, never a picture of letters.
READ BACK, NOT TRUSTEDEvery cut is read again: each table's checksum, the whole-font sum, every letter in the character map.
ITS OWN LETTERSThe shapes come from three strokes, the stem, the ring and the diagonal; no other typeface is traced or copied.
THE LIMITS ON THE SPECIMENDisplay faces: no kerning, accents, hinting or italic, and the specimen page says so.
PLAIN NAMESA name of letters, figures, spaces and hyphens; no other foundry's name goes in the name table.
What rides in the card.
In the card’s own voice, with a machine that shows its working.
THE GUIDEreferences/THE-TYPEFACE.md
THE MACHINEtypeface.py · three commandscut — the TrueType file, its specimen page and its cut record; family — the weights of one design, each named and hashed; check — a second reader: tables, checksums, names, metrics, every letter. Every command prints its working and refuses a bad input; 8 checks in its selftest, every command on the record.
What it does once your AI has it.
cut The TrueType file, its specimen page and its cut record
family The weights of one design, each named and hashed
check A second reader: tables, checksums, names, metrics, every letter
On the record Grove Sans Regular was cut at weight 100 (8,340 bytes, 71 glyphs) and a family of three was cut from the same design; check read the Regular back whole (62 of 62 letters and figures, 8 of 8 marks, every checksum good), and THE FONT VAULT read it as the same face; one flipped byte failed the file; a weight of 300 was refused.
What it will never do.
It will never trace or copy another typeface; never ship a font whose check did not pass; never claim kerning, accents or hinting it lacks.
A rebuild, on the standard library, of the generator recorded on 10 Sept 2026; that edition's own run and its second reader are not repeated here, and this one proves itself with its own eight checks. Display faces only: A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and eight marks, monoline, with no kerning, accents, hinting or italic, and plain joins where strokes meet at heavy weights. check reads TrueType outlines only; CFF fonts, collections and web wrappers are refused. Whether a font may be sold, and under what name, is the owner's to clear. It is an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong, so check what matters against your own records and the source.
What’s in the buy.
CARD.md — the whole card: who it is, its laws, when it says no, what it carries · SKILL.md — the door your AI reads first · START-HERE.md — the first five minutes, for you
THE-TYPEFACE.md — the guide in references/, in the card's own voice
scripts/typeface.py — the machine: cut · family · check, standard library only, selftest 8/8
WITNESS.md + SELFTEST.md — every command on the record, as it printed · MANIFEST.md, every file hashed · AUDIT.md, the twelve checks
MY-LEDGER.md — the card's memory, on your own machine · TIN.md · LICENSE-NOTE.md · THE-CLAUSES.md · HOSTS.md
card.svg + card-machine.svg + card.json · card.html, the card as one offline file · the doors for ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, Claude Code and MCP hosts (rules/, system/, mcp/)
PROOF · SELFTEST 8/8 · 3 COMMANDS ON THE RECORD · WITNESSED IN CLAUDE 2026-10-11 · EDITION 1 · PUNCH 9E248D130ADAF7C2F2668078
ON EVERY DOOR · A CARD FOR YOUR AI, A FILE FOR YOUR COMPUTER
In Claude: turn on code execution under Settings › Capabilities, then Customize › Skills › + › Create skill, and upload the zip as it is — START-HERE.md in the box walks you through it, and tells you how to keep the ledger. In ChatGPT, Gemini and the rest: a Project, a GPT or a Gem with the card’s files attached and the short door in the box pasted as its instructions. The words run anywhere an AI reads Markdown; the machines run wherever the host runs Python. Witnessed in Claude only. The host marks →
Take it.
Nº 249 PROPOSED — LAUNCHING SOON
Sold as is under the term printed. A card instructs an AI you operate; results depend on your model, your files and your judgement. Not medical, legal, tax or financial advice, never the person’s boss, and not a licence to practise. The terms →
One payment. The file is yours to keep and keeps working at its edition; new editions issued in the year after you buy reach you by email as replacement files. Tax is added at checkout where it applies. Nothing auto-renews.
A TERM, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF AND NOBODY IS CHARGED AGAIN. WHEN A TERM ENDS THE FILES STAY ON YOUR COMPUTER AND STAY READABLE — FREEZE, NOT LOSS.
THE MACHINE · IN THE OPEN · FROM THE WITNESSED RUN OF 2026-10-11
typeface.py, every command showing its working.
A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. Every block below is pasted from the card’s own WITNESS.md, as printed.
cut
the TrueType file, its specimen page and its cut record
family
the weights of one design, each named and hashed
check
a second reader: tables, checksums, names, metrics, every letter
selftest
8 checks that prove the machine; it must print 8/8
cut · THE TRUETYPE FILE, ITS SPECIMEN PAGE AND ITS CUT RECORD
$ python3 scripts/typeface.py cut "Grove Sans" --out fonts
cut Grove Sans Regular · weight 100 · width 1.00 · x-height 520
GroveSans-Regular.ttf · 8,340 bytes · 71 glyphs · sha256 26dd59f99482628a
GroveSans-Regular-specimen.html · the alphabet, the figures, the marks and a sentence, drawn in the font
GroveSans-Regular-cut.json · the brief and the hash, so the same cut can be proved later
a display face from three shapes: no kerning, accents, hinting or italic; check reads it back
family · THE WEIGHTS OF ONE DESIGN, EACH NAMED AND HASHED
$ python3 scripts/typeface.py family "Grove Sans" --weights 80,100,170 --out family
family Grove Sans · 3 cuts · width 1.00 · x-height 520 · one design, the stem changed
Light weight 80 · GroveSans-Light.ttf · 8,336 bytes · sha256 531d89c0dca22e38
Regular weight 100 · GroveSans-Regular.ttf · 8,340 bytes · sha256 26dd59f99482628a
Bold weight 170 · GroveSans-Bold.ttf · 8,280 bytes · sha256 e66afe7c9970227e
each cut has its specimen page and its cut record beside it
check · A SECOND READER: TABLES, CHECKSUMS, NAMES, METRICS, EVERY LETTER
$ python3 scripts/typeface.py check fonts/GroveSans-Regular.ttf
GroveSans-Regular.ttf · 8,340 bytes · sha256 26dd59f99482628a
name Grove Sans · Regular
units/em 1000 · 71 glyphs · weight class 400
x-height 520 units · cap height 700 units
letters 62 of 62 (A-Z a-z 0-9) · marks 8 of 8 · empty outlines none
tables 10: OS/2 cmap glyf head hhea hmtx loca maxp name post
checksums every table matches its directory entry
whole font sums to the TrueType magic B1B0AFBA
PASS · a whole TrueType file
check · A SECOND READER: TABLES, CHECKSUMS, NAMES, METRICS, EVERY LETTER
$ python3 scripts/typeface.py check damaged.ttf
damaged.ttf · 8,340 bytes · sha256 5293379fba5c3104
name Grove Sans · Reguｬar
units/em 1000 · 71 glyphs · weight class 400
x-height 520 units · cap height 700 units
letters 62 of 62 (A-Z a-z 0-9) · marks 8 of 8 · empty outlines none
tables 10: OS/2 cmap glyf head hhea hmtx loca maxp name post
checksums WRONG for name
whole font does NOT sum to the TrueType magic B1B0AFBA: bytes changed after the font was cut
FAIL · the file is damaged or incomplete (see above)
cut · THE TRUETYPE FILE, ITS SPECIMEN PAGE AND ITS CUT RECORD
$ python3 scripts/typeface.py cut "Grove Sans" --weight 300
weight 300 is outside 40 to 200; nothing was written
THE FONT VAULT's reader, run on the same Regular cut as an independent third reader:
GroveSans-Regular.ttf · 8,340 bytes · TrueType (quadratic curves) outlines · sha256 26dd59f99482
family Grove Sans
subfamily Regular
full name Grove Sans Regular
version Version 1.000
licence not stated
licence at not stated
units/em 1000
weight 400 (regular)
embedding installable (0): it may be embedded, and installed on the reader's system for good
x-height 520 units (0.52 em) · cap height 700 units (0.70 em)
glyphs 71
THE NUMBERS, NAMES AND DATES IN THESE RUNS ARE THE STUDIO’S OWN EXAMPLES, INVENTED FOR THE RECORD; NO REAL COMPANY, PERSON OR PROPERTY IS NAMED.
QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE
Asked before the wire.
What does it need from me?
The brief: weight, width, x-height. It asks first for the font's name, what it is for, and how heavy, wide and tall its lower case should be; or let the card propose the numbers from the brief.
Does it send anything anywhere?
No. The machine is a standard-library Python program that runs on your own computer and sends nothing anywhere; the words run wherever an AI reads Markdown. No server, no account, no key.
What is on the record?
The self-test (8/8) and every command run on real example inputs, pasted into WITNESS.md as they printed; the punch on the face is the SHA-256 of SKILL.md, so a downloaded copy can be checked against this room.
Can it be wrong?
Yes — it is an AI reading a text file. A rebuild, on the standard library, of the generator recorded on 10 Sept 2026; that edition's own run and its second reader are not repeated here, and this one proves itself with its own eight checks. Display faces only: A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and eight marks, monoline, with no kerning, accents, hinting or italic, and plain joins where strokes meet at heavy weights. check reads TrueType outlines only; CFF fonts, collections and web wrappers are refused. Whether a font may be sold, and under what name, is the owner's to clear.
What will it never do?
It will never trace or copy another typeface; never ship a font whose check did not pass; never claim kerning, accents or hinting it lacks.
