font-variation settings are ignored on macOS

[mfocko]

Issue Description

I have noticed recently that the font-variation settings are ignored on macOS, since I follow the nightly releases and it has already happened before, I didn't pay much attention to it, but it's been persisting for some time now, therefore I suspect it's not a flake.

I can reproduce wght axis issue across all fonts, though others are not applied either.

Reproduced with:

• PragmataPro VF
• MonoLisa
• TX-02 (Berkeley Mono)
• Cascadia Code
• CommitMono
• JetBrains Mono

Tried to reproduce with the nigthly from Snap on Ubuntu 25.10, failed. So it is isolated to macOS.

Expected Behavior

Set font-variation settings are respected.

Actual Behavior

They do not take effect.

Reproduction Steps

1. Use variable font.
2. Try to set some of the font-variation settings.
3. Reload config.
4. Observe no effect.

Ghostty Logs

2025-11-28 00:27:31.042778+0100 0x13eb5a0  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] known but unimplemented action action=38
2025-11-28 00:27:31.044809+0100 0x13eb5a0  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] found Ghostty resources dir: /Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/Resources/ghostty
2025-11-28 00:27:31.044893+0100 0x13eb5a0  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] shell integration automatically injected shell=.zsh
2025-11-28 00:27:31.045139+0100 0x13eb5a0  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] known but unimplemented action action=20
2025-11-28 00:27:31.052333+0100 0x13f2429  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] started subcommand path=/usr/bin/login pid=4614
2025-11-28 00:27:31.837315+0100 0x13f242c  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:stream] OSC 1 (change icon) received and ignored icon=~
2025-11-28 00:27:48.806926+0100 0x13f242c  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] pty fd closed, read thread exiting
2025-11-28 00:27:48.806996+0100 0x13eb5a0  Info        0x0                  2127   0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] known but unimplemented action action=51

Ghostty Version

Ghostty 1.3.0-main+199119967

Version
  - version: 1.3.0-main+199119967
  - channel: tip
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.15.2
  - build mode    : .ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : .none
  - font engine   : .coretext
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.Metal)
  - libxev        : kqueue

OS Version Information

macOS 26.1 (25B78)

(Linux only) Display Server

None

(Linux only) Desktop Environment/Window Manager

No response

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

font-family = CommitMono
font-variation = wght=333

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[danielwe]

3. Reload config.

I agree that it can be hit or miss whether font-variation changes take effect on live config reloads. But in my experience, Ghostty does respect the font-variation settings, so the change will take effect if you close and restart Ghostty, or do something else that forces a font reload (like changing font size). Do you have an example where the setting doesn't work at all?

[rhodes-b]

From what I can tell CommitMono isnt a variable weight font so that option wouldnt work

[danielwe]

There exists a variable version in the source repo, but it's not part of the release downloads: https://github.com/eigilnikolajsen/commit-mono/blob/main/src/fonts/fontlab/CommitMonoV143-VF.ttf

[mfocko]

I picked CommitMono as probably the most accessible choice from the variable fonts :) I test it with:

• PragmataPro
• MonoLisa - you definitely can tell the difference in weight here no problem
• Berkeley Mono - allows width adjustment, you can definitely tell that too

Anyways, tried with both resizing and quitting, no result at all…

After restarting, Berkeley Mono with wdth=75, I think we can agree that it's regular width:

Width comparison for example:

---

As for the duplicities in config, not sure if it's relevant, but it appears that when loading the config it treats the same path $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config twice as different configs… though the content is same, so… doubt it is an issue; relevant part of the logs after reload:

2025-11-28 10:16:45.747504+0100 0x141259c  Info        0x0                  18432  0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] reading configuration file path=/Users/mfocko/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config
2025-11-28 10:16:45.748793+0100 0x141259c  Info        0x0                  18432  0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] reading configuration file path=/Users/mfocko/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config
2025-11-28 10:16:45.749043+0100 0x141259c  Error       0x0                  18432  0    ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:config] both config files `/Users/mfocko/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config` and `/Users/mfocko/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config` exist.

[mfocko]

So, uhh… I fixed it, but I don't understand it at all :D

Tip

tl;dr I moved the config from $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config to $HOME/.config/ghostty/config

I have no clue where the issue is coming from, maybe it could be related to the error above with “two different” configs? So it somehow falls back to defaults? IDK…

Looked at the docs, I don't have XDG_CONFIG_HOME defined, so it's definitely not taking that, ~/.config/ghostty/config did not exist… and even when it complained about “two configs”, paths are 1:1 exact same…

Note

Feel free to close as resolved, as the problem is resolved, but there's something fishy going on with the configs here…

[danielwe]

That's super weird and should definitely be looked into (as should the unreliability of font-variation changes on hot reloading). But glad you found a solution!

[ddotlic]

@mfocko Thanks, I had exact same problem and also noticed the phantom "loading same path twice" which seems to be the issue; applying your workaround - moving config file - instantly worked. How did you know to do that? Either way, thank you!

[mfocko]

How did you know to do that?

instincts… :D

[apenney-unchained]

I think I'm experiencing the same problem, but moving files has not resolved it:

❯ ghostty +show-config | grep font
font-family = Berkeley Mono Variable
font-family-bold = Berkeley Mono Variable
font-family-italic = Berkeley Mono Variable
font-family-bold-italic = Berkeley Mono Variable
font-feature = +calt
font-feature = +ss02
font-size = 20
font-variation = wdth=70
font-variation = wght=400
font-variation = slnt=0

Changing wdth or wght values seem to do nothing. It's definitely using the font but I can't adapt any of the settings at all.

I see the variations in the font itself, so I'm confident it should have all these weights:

I did notice I can use font-style = Thin SemiCondensed or similar, so maybe I'm confused and this font truly doesn't have the wdth/wght options, but also... I've used it before (on a different macbook) and it worked back then.

[mfocko]

Have you installed both static and variable, or just static?