LEDMatrix/docs/FONT_MANAGER.md

FontManager Usage Guide

Picking a size automatically: if you want the largest font that fits a given area rather than a fixed size, use the adaptive layout system's font ladders, which resolve through this FontManager. BasePlugin subclasses get this as self.layout.fit_text(...); other code can build a LayoutContext(width, height, font_manager) directly — see ADAPTIVE_LAYOUT.md.

Overview

src/font_manager.py loads and caches the TTF and BDF fonts in assets/fonts/, registers fonts that plugins ship, and records which plugin uses which font so the web UI can show it.

Several methods were removed in LEDMatrix 3.8.0 after a release of deprecation warnings; Removed methods below lists them with what to use instead.

Getting the FontManager

There is one shared FontManager per display process. The display controller creates it and hands it to the PluginManager, so a plugin reaches it through its plugin_manager:

class MyPlugin(BasePlugin):
    def __init__(self, plugin_id, config, display_manager, cache_manager, plugin_manager):
        super().__init__(plugin_id, config, display_manager, cache_manager, plugin_manager)
        self.font_manager = self._get_font_manager()

BasePlugin._get_font_manager() returns plugin_manager.font_manager, or a standalone FontManager when none is available (test harnesses, mocks). DisplayManager has no font_manager attribute — display_manager.font_manager raises AttributeError.

Resolving a font

element_key = f"{self.plugin_id}.title"

# Register the choice so the web UI's Fonts tab can list it.
self.font_manager.register_manager_font(
    manager_id=self.plugin_id,
    element_key=element_key,
    family="press_start",
    size_px=10,
    color=(255, 255, 255),
)

font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
    element_key=element_key,
    family="press_start",
    size_px=10,
)
self.display_manager.draw_text("Hello", x=10, y=10, font=font)

resolve_font() applies any entry for element_key in config/font_overrides.json, maps a plugin-local family to its namespaced name when plugin_id is passed, and then calls get_font(family, size_px). On error it returns a fallback font rather than raising.

get_font(family, size_px) looks the family up in font_catalog and loads it (cached per family and size).

Font families

At start-up the FontManager scans assets/fonts/ for .ttf and .bdf files. Each becomes a family named after the file, lower-cased and without the extension (PressStart2P-Regular.ttf → pressstart2p-regular). Four aliases are added on top:

Alias	File
press_start	assets/fonts/PressStart2P-Regular.ttf
four_by_six	assets/fonts/4x6-font.ttf
five_by_seven	assets/fonts/5x7.bdf
tom_thumb	assets/fonts/tom-thumb.bdf

Read the catalog directly: font_manager.font_catalog is a dict of family name to file path. Files added later are picked up on the next start of the display service.

Plugin fonts

Plugins that ship their own fonts declare them in a "fonts" block in manifest.json. The plugin manager calls FontManager.register_plugin_fonts() during plugin load. plugin://… sources are resolved relative to the plugin's install directory.

{
  "id": "my-plugin",
  "name": "My Plugin",
  "fonts": {
    "fonts": [
      {
        "family": "custom_font",
        "source": "plugin://fonts/custom.ttf",
        "metadata": {"description": "Custom plugin font", "license": "MIT"}
      },
      {
        "family": "web_font",
        "source": "https://example.com/fonts/font.ttf",
        "metadata": {"checksum": "sha256:abc123..."}
      }
    ]
  }
}

Registered families are namespaced as <plugin_id>::<family>. Pass plugin_id to resolve_font() to use the short name:

font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
    element_key=f"{self.plugin_id}.text",
    family="custom_font",          # resolved as "my-plugin::custom_font"
    size_px=10,
    plugin_id=self.plugin_id,
)

Overrides

resolve_font() still honours config/font_overrides.json (a map of element key to family and/or size_px), which is read once at start-up. The methods that edited it — set_override(), remove_override(), get_overrides() — were removed in 3.8.0, and there is no web UI or REST endpoint for overrides (the override editor and /api/v3/fonts/overrides were removed). To let users choose a font, add a field to your plugin's config schema.

Font usage in the web UI

The web UI's Fonts tab lists, uploads, previews and deletes the font files in assets/fonts/. The web interface runs in its own process and has no FontManager, so the display service publishes which plugin uses which font (src/font_usage.py), and the tab's Used by column reads it:

• Source: register_manager_font() registrations of the loaded plugins. get_font() and resolve_font() do not know the calling plugin and are not counted, and neither is a plugin that opens a font file directly with PIL — register the fonts your plugin draws with if you want them listed.
• Names: a family, alias or path is resolved through font_catalog to the file it loads and reported under that file's name without extension (PressStart2P-Regular, 4x6-font, 5x7, tom-thumb), which is how the Fonts tab keys its rows. Fonts outside assets/fonts/ (a plugin's own plugin_id::family fonts) and families that resolve to nothing are left out.
• When: a daemon thread started once plugins have loaded checks every 10 seconds and writes the font_usage_snapshot cache key only when the usage changed (and once a day, so the cache's cleanup never expires it). Unloading a plugin drops its registrations (forget_manager_fonts).
• Unknown: until the display service has published, the column reads "unknown" and GET /api/v3/fonts/catalog returns used_by: null.
• The tab warns before deleting a font that a loaded plugin registered.

Text measurement

width, height, baseline = font_manager.measure_text("Hello", font)
font_height = font_manager.get_font_height(font)

Tips

• BDF fonts usually look better than TTF at small sizes on LED panels.
• Use {plugin_id}.{element} element keys.
• Register the fonts you draw with, so the Fonts tab can warn before one is deleted.
• Replace direct ImageFont.truetype("assets/fonts/...", 8) calls with resolve_font(): it caches, resolves paths against the install directory, and handles BDF files.

Troubleshooting

Font not found

• Check the file exists in assets/fonts/.
• The family name is the filename without extension, lower-cased.
• Check the display service log for font discovery errors.

Plugin fonts not loading

• Check the manifest's "fonts" block.
• Check the log for download or registration errors, and that font URLs are reachable.

API reference

Current methods:

Method	Purpose
register_manager_font(manager_id, element_key, family, size_px, color=None)	Record a font choice (feeds the Fonts tab)
forget_manager_fonts(manager_id)	Drop a manager's registrations (core calls it when a plugin unloads)
resolve_font(element_key, family, size_px, plugin_id=None)	Get a font, applying overrides and plugin namespacing
get_font(family, size_px)	Get a font directly
get_native_bdf_size(family)	Native pixel size of a BDF family, or None
measure_text(text, font)	(width, height, baseline)
get_font_height(font)	Line height
register_plugin_fonts(plugin_id, font_manifest)	Register a plugin's fonts (core calls it at load)
clear_cache()	Drop cached fonts and metrics
font_catalog (attribute)	Family name → file path

Removed methods

Removed in 3.8.0, after logging a deprecation warning on first call since 3.5.0.

Method	Use instead
get_available_fonts(), get_font_catalog()	read font_catalog
get_size_tokens()	pass a pixel size
get_performance_stats()	—
set_override(), remove_override(), get_overrides()	a font field in your plugin's config schema
get_manager_fonts(), get_detected_fonts()	—
get_plugin_fonts(), unregister_plugin_fonts()	—
add_font(), remove_font(), validate_font()	the web UI's Fonts tab