Aksharashala (അക്ഷരശാല)

SMC Malayalam Font Installer & Updater for Windows and macOS.

A desktop application to install and manage all SMC Malayalam fonts on Windows and macOS.

Screenshots

Features

• Browse and preview all 12 SMC Malayalam fonts
• Install/uninstall fonts (user-level or system-level)
• Live font preview with adjustable size and custom text
• Check for font updates via GitHub releases
• Dark/light/system theme
• English and Malayalam UI
• Offline installation from bundled fonts
• No administrator privileges required for user-level install

Installation

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

Platform	File	Notes
macOS (Apple Silicon)	Aksharashala_x.x.x_aarch64.dmg	M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs
macOS (Intel)	Aksharashala_x.x.x_x64.dmg	Older Intel Macs
Windows	Aksharashala_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe	Windows 10/11

macOS: "App is damaged" or "unidentified developer" warning

The app is ad-hoc signed (not notarized with Apple). macOS may show a warning when you first open it. To fix this:

Option 1: Right-click the app and select Open, then click Open in the dialog.

Option 2: Run this command in Terminal after installing:

xattr -cr /Applications/Aksharashala.app

Option 3: Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the Aksharashala message.

This is a standard process for open-source apps that aren't signed with an Apple Developer ID. The app is safe to use.

Fonts Included

Font	Malayalam	Category
Manjari	മഞ്ജരി	Sans-serif
Rachana	രചന	Serif
Chilanka	ചിലങ്ക	Handwriting
Gayathri	ഗായത്രി	Sans-serif
Meera	മീര	Serif
Karumbi	കറുമ്പി	Display
Keraleeyam	കേരളീയം	Serif
Suruma	സുറുമ	Sans-serif
Uroob	ഉറൂബ്	Sans-serif
Anjali Old Lipi	അഞ്ജലി	Traditional
Dyuthi	ദ്യുതി	Sans-serif
RaghuMalayalamSans	രഘു	Sans-serif

Tech Stack

• Framework: Tauri 2.x
• Backend: Rust
• Frontend: Svelte 5 + Tailwind CSS 4
• Package manager: pnpm

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.75+ (stable)
• Node.js 18+
• pnpm 8+
• Xcode Command Line Tools (macOS)

Setup

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

Build

pnpm tauri build

Run Tests

cd src-tauri && cargo test

Project Structure

src/                    # Svelte frontend
  lib/
    components/         # Reusable UI components
    screens/            # Wizard screens (Splash, Gallery, etc.)
    stores/             # Reactive state stores
    utils/              # i18n, font loader
  assets/
    artwork/            # SVG artwork (placeholder + per-font)
src-tauri/              # Rust backend
  src/
    commands/           # Tauri IPC commands
      platform/         # OS-specific code (macOS, Windows)
    models/             # Data types
  resources/
    fonts/              # Bundled font files
    manifest.json       # Font catalog

License

Application: MIT - Copyright (c) 2026 Hrishikesh Bhaskaran and Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (SMC)

Bundled fonts use various open-source licenses:

• OFL-1.1: Manjari, Chilanka, Gayathri, Karumbi, Keraleeyam, Uroob, Anjali Old Lipi
• OFL-1.1 / GPL-3.0+ (dual): Rachana, Meera, Dyuthi
• GPL-3.0: Suruma
• GPL-2.0: RaghuMalayalamSans

Credits

• Created by Hrishikesh Bhaskaran
• Fonts by Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (SMC)
• Built with Tauri, Svelte, and Tailwind CSS