# Recursive font

> One variable file with five axes: proportional to monospace, linear to casual, upright to cursive, Light to ExtraBlack.

Recursive is a variable sans serif and monospace family from Arrow Type, led by Stephen Nixon and built for user interfaces and code. Recursive has five axes: Monospace, Casual, Weight from 300 to 1000, Slant and Cursive. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits code editors, technical documentation and data-heavy interfaces.

## Facts

- Classification: [Sans Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/sans-serif)
- Designed by: Arrow Type, Stephen Nixon
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 16 (Light 300, Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700, ExtraBold 800, Black 900, ExtraBlack 1000)
- Variable font: Yes (MONO 0–1, CASL 0–1, wght 300–1000, slnt -15–0, CRSV 0–1)
- Glyphs: 1283
- Character sets: latin, latin-ext, vietnamese
- Last updated: 2025-09-05
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Recursive
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/recursive
- Tagged for: Interfaces, Casual, Code, Tech

## About Recursive

Recursive is a variable family that its makers call a typographic palette for interfaces and code. The starting point is single-stroke casual, a brush lettering style from sign painting, which the Casual axis blends into an otherwise linear sans. A Monospace axis moves the same letters between proportional and fixed widths, Weight runs from Light 300 to ExtraBlack 1000, Slant tilts the letters by up to 15 degrees, and a Cursive axis runs from 0 to 1. In the specimen the zero is slashed, the dot of the i is square and braces are large. All of this is one file of 1,283 glyphs with 64 named instances across Latin, Latin Extended and Vietnamese; the catalogue counts 16 styles from eight weights, upright and slanted. Arrow Type, a foundry in Brooklyn, leads the project under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2020 The Recursive Project Authors (https://github.com/arrowtype/recursive)

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Code editors**: Setting the Monospace axis to 1 gives fixed-width letters with a slashed zero; the Casual axis changes the tone without changing the grid.
- **Interfaces that mix text and code**: Proportional and monospaced text come from the same file and share weights, so inline code matches the label beside it.
- **Technical documentation**: The Slant axis gives slanted styles for emphasis and comments, and weights up to ExtraBlack 1000 cover headings.
- **Dashboards with dense data**: The family was designed for data-rich screens: fixed-width figures align in columns while labels stay proportional.
- **Animated or responsive type**: Five axes in one variable font let a design interpolate between linear and casual or light and heavy without swapping files.

## Things to know

- **One large variable file**: The package is a single variable font of about 2.3 MB; static cuts are not included. For the web, limit the axes you request or subset the file.
- **Italics come from axes**: There is no separate italic file. Slant runs from 0 to −15, and Cursive runs from 0 to 1 with a default of 0.5; slanted styles are made by setting these axes.
- **Weight goes to 1000**: The weight axis starts at 300 and ends at 1000, one step past the usual 900, with ExtraBlack as the heaviest named weight.
- **Custom axes need CSS**: Monospace and Casual are addressed as MONO and CASL through font-variation-settings; they are not standard CSS properties.

## FAQs

### Is Recursive free for commercial use?

Yes, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Recursive may be used, changed and passed on in personal and commercial work; it cannot be sold on its own, and altered versions must remain under the same license. The license file in the download is the authority.

### Who designed Recursive?

Recursive is credited to Arrow Type and Stephen Nixon. Arrow Type, a Brooklyn foundry, leads the project.

### Is Recursive a variable font?

Yes. Recursive is a variable font with five axes: Monospace (0 to 1), Casual (0 to 1), Weight (300 to 1000), Slant (−15 to 0) and Cursive (0 to 1).

### How many weights does Recursive have?

Recursive has eight named weights, from Light 300 to ExtraBlack 1000, and the weight axis allows any value in between.

### Is Recursive a monospaced font?

Recursive is both. Its Monospace axis moves the design between proportional widths at 0 and fixed widths at 1, so one file serves interface text and code.

### Which languages does Recursive support?

Recursive includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as German, French, Spanish, Turkish, Polish and Vietnamese. No Cyrillic subset is listed for this release.

---

Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/recursive (trendhub)