FontLab 7 Python API documentation

Viewing the documentation

Visit the fontlabcom.github.io/fontlab-python-docs to view the documentation in the browser.

Building the documentation

Install FontLab 7 and Python 2.7 that FontLab uses.

In Terminal or command-line, run:

python2 -m pip install --user --upgrade git+https://github.com/twardoch/pydocmk2

Building the FontLab 7 Python API docs

Go to the fontlab7/build folder.

Open build_fontlab7_api_docs.vfpy in FontLab 7 and wait until the pydocmk2 packages generates the Markdown files into the fontlab7/srcdocs/mkdocs folder.

In Terminal, go to Go to the fontlab7/build folder and run:

uv run --project ../.. properdocs build -v -f ../mkdocs.yml

or, on macOS, double-click build_fontlab7_api_docs.command

This will build the HTML documentation using properdocs into the docs/ folder.

Building the FontLab 7 PythonQt API docs

Go to the pythonqt/build folder, and proceed the same way. This will build into the docs/pythonqt folder.

Contributing to the documentation

Before you contribute to this repository, you must agree to the FontLab Individual Contributor License Agreement

Simple

1. Look up a base name (without the .md extension) in the srcdocs/mkdocs folder.
2. Go to the wiki and create a new article with the same name.
3. Write your content — we’ll review it and move it to the official docs.

Advanced

Fork the repo.

The fontlab7/srcdocs/ folder has three subfolders:

• docs contains .md files that will be included in the documentation as separate documents
• pre may contain optional .md files that have the same names as the autogenerated API documents (e.g. typerig.core.objects.cubicbezier.md): the content of each such file will be prepended to the autogenerated doc file (inserted after the first header)
• post may contain optional .md files that have the same names as the autogenerated API documents (e.g. typerig.core.objects.cubicbezier.md): the content of each such file will be appended to the autogenerated doc file (added to the end)

You may create new documents in pre and post folders to enhance the autogenerated content with human-authored documentation.

Create a pull request and we’ll consider it.

The pydocmk.yml YAML file controls the build process, see pydocmk2 for details.

License

The documentation is licensed under the Apache 2 license. Copyright © 2017-2020 Fontlab Ltd.

Rebuild both published API sites

Run ./build.sh from the repository root. It builds the root API first and the PythonQt child second, using the locked environment. Use clean builds: incremental builds can replace MaterialX search indexes with an empty index.

Shared FontLab theme integration

This repository is part of the FontLab theme 2026 rollout: python and pythonqt api reference. THEME.md documents its source/output boundaries, configuration, publication route, control ownership, shared visual changes and verification. Use the public setup guide and MaterialX starter for new sites.