Setting Up Nerd Fonts in Alacritty on Ubuntu

Source: Dev.to

Install the Nerd Font

# Create fonts directory
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts

# Download JetBrainsMono Nerd Font (or any you prefer)
wget https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest/download/JetBrainsMono.zip

# Unzip
unzip JetBrainsMono.zip -d ~/.local/share/fonts/JetBrainsMono

# Refresh font cache
fc-cache -fv

# Verify installation
fc-list | grep -i "JetBrains"

You should see output similar to:

~/.local/share/fonts/JetBrainsMono/JetBrainsMonoNerdFont-Regular.ttf: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font:style=Regular
~/.local/share/fonts/JetBrainsMono/JetBrainsMonoNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono:style=Regular

Note: Use JetBrainsMono Nerd Font (or JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono) in your terminal configuration.

Configure Alacritty

# Create config directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/.config/alacritty

# Open the config file
nano ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml

Add the following to alacritty.toml:

[font]
size = 13.0

[font.normal]
family = "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font"
style = "Regular"

[font.bold]
family = "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font"
style = "Bold"

[font.italic]
family = "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font"
style = "Italic"

[font.bold_italic]
family = "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font"
style = "Bold Italic"

Save the file (Ctrl+O → Enter → Ctrl+X).

Install Alacritty (Ubuntu 22.04+)

# Via APT
sudo apt install alacritty

# Or via Snap
sudo snap install alacritty --classic

Apply the changes

Close any open Alacritty windows and reopen, or start it manually:

alacritty &

Your icons in tools like Starship, lsd, eza, or Neovim should now render at full size. 🎉