serpentblade · Oct 28, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ and the project follows [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- `papercut:fonts:install` saves the family's licence (`OFL.txt`, `LICENSE.txt` or `UFL.txt`) beside the font files, from Google's fonts repository. If it can't be downloaded, the command warns and installs the fonts anyway; `--force` replaces an existing copy.
+
 ## [0.3.0] - 2026-10-28
 
 The first release on Packagist. 0.1 and 0.2 were never published, so there are no deprecation shims; the table

diff --git a/packages/laravel/README.md b/packages/laravel/README.md
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ Inter (regular, bold, italic, bold italic) is bundled and always available. Regi
 'theme' => ['font_family' => 'Merriweather', 'font_size' => 10],
 ```
 
-`php artisan papercut:fonts:install "Merriweather" --weights=400,700 --italic` downloads a family's TrueType files from Google Fonts into `resources/fonts/<Family>/` (`--path` to change, `--force` to overwrite) and prints the `fonts` entry to paste into the config. The files are downloaded once and committed with the app; rendering never touches the network.
+`php artisan papercut:fonts:install "Merriweather" --weights=400,700 --italic` downloads a family's TrueType files from Google Fonts into `resources/fonts/<Family>/` (`--path` to change, `--force` to overwrite), saves the family's licence beside them (`OFL.txt`, `LICENSE.txt` or `UFL.txt`, from Google's [fonts repository](https://github.com/google/fonts)) and prints the `fonts` entry to paste into the config. The files are downloaded once and committed with the app; rendering never touches the network.
 
 `php artisan papercut:fonts` lists every available face and reports whether each file is `ok`, `missing` or `invalid`. A glyph missing from the primary family is looked up in `fallback_fonts`; if no family has it, a warning is logged (`[papercut] ...`).
 

diff --git a/packages/laravel/src/Console/InstallFontCommand.php b/packages/laravel/src/Console/InstallFontCommand.php
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@
 use Papercut\Backend\PhpPdf\PhpPdfBackend;
 
 /**
- * Downloads a family's TrueType files from Google Fonts once, so PDFs can embed them like any local font.
- * Rendering never touches the network: the files live in the app and are registered in papercut.fonts.
+ * Downloads a family's TrueType files from Google Fonts once, so PDFs can embed them like any local font, and the
+ * family's licence beside them. Rendering never touches the network: the files live in the app and are registered
+ * in papercut.fonts.
  */
 final class InstallFontCommand extends Command
 {
@@ -25,6 +26,9 @@ final class InstallFontCommand extends Command
 
     private const string CSS = 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2';
     private const string FILES = 'https://fonts.gstatic.com/';
+    /** Google Fonts' source repository, which keeps each family's licence in a folder named for the licence. */
+    private const string LICENCES = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/main/';
+    private const array LICENCE_FILES = ['ofl' => 'OFL.txt', 'apache' => 'LICENSE.txt', 'ufl' => 'UFL.txt'];
 
     private const array NAMES = [
         100 => 'Thin', 200 => 'ExtraLight', 300 => 'Light', 400 => 'Regular', 500 => 'Medium',
@@ -107,16 +111,61 @@ public function handle(): int
             $this->line("  <info>saved</info>   $relative/$file");
         }
 
+        $licence = $this->saveLicence($family, $dir, $relative);
+
         $this->newLine();
         $this->line('Add this to <comment>fonts</comment> in config/papercut.php:');
         $this->newLine();
         $this->line($this->snippet($family, $config));
         $this->newLine();
-        $this->line('Check the family\'s licence on fonts.google.com before you ship it. Most are under the SIL Open Font License.');
+        if ($licence !== null) {
+            $this->line("Keep $relative/$licence with the fonts: the licence asks for a copy wherever they go.");
+        } else {
+            $this->warn("Couldn't download $family's licence. Get it from fonts.google.com and keep it with the fonts; most are under the SIL Open Font License.");
+        }
 
         return self::SUCCESS;
     }
 
+    /** Saves the family's licence beside its files and returns the file's name, or null when none was found. */
+    private function saveLicence(string $family, string $dir, string $relative): ?string
+    {
+        if (!$this->option('force')) {
+            foreach (self::LICENCE_FILES as $file) {
+                if (is_file("$dir/$file")) {
+                    $this->line("  <comment>exists</comment>  $relative/$file");
+
+                    return $file;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        $slug = strtolower(str_replace(' ', '', $family));
+        foreach (self::LICENCE_FILES as $folder => $file) {
+            try {
+                $response = Http::timeout(30)->get(self::LICENCES . "$folder/$slug/$file");
+            } catch (\Throwable) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            $text = $response->body();
+            if (!$response->successful() || !self::isLicenceText($text)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            file_put_contents("$dir/$file", $text);
+            $this->line("  <info>saved</info>   $relative/$file");
+
+            return $file;
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /** Plain text of a sensible size, not an error page. */
+    private static function isLicenceText(string $text): bool
+    {
+        return $text !== '' && strlen($text) <= 256 * 1024 && mb_check_encoding($text, 'UTF-8')
+            && !str_contains($text, "\0") && !str_starts_with(ltrim($text), '<');
+    }
+
     /** @return list<int>|null */
     private function weights(string $option): ?array
     {

diff --git a/packages/laravel/tests/Feature/InstallFontTest.php b/packages/laravel/tests/Feature/InstallFontTest.php
@@ -25,15 +25,22 @@ protected function tearDown(): void
     }
 
     /**
-     * Fakes Google: each listed "weight,ital" pair has a TrueType file; everything else answers 400.
+     * Fakes Google: each listed "weight,ital" pair has a TrueType file, and $licences maps paths under the
+     * google/fonts repository (such as "ofl/opensans/OFL.txt") to their text; everything else answers 400.
      *
      * @param list<string> $faces
+     * @param array<string, string> $licences
      */
-    private function fakeGoogle(string $family, array $faces, ?string $bytes = null): void
+    private function fakeGoogle(string $family, array $faces, ?string $bytes = null, array $licences = []): void
     {
         $bytes ??= (string) file_get_contents(self::INTER);
-        Http::fake(function (Request $request) use ($family, $faces, $bytes) {
+        Http::fake(function (Request $request) use ($family, $faces, $bytes, $licences) {
             $url = $request->url();
+            foreach ($licences as $path => $text) {
+                if ($url === 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/main/' . $path) {
+                    return Http::response($text);
+                }
+            }
             if (str_starts_with($url, 'https://fonts.gstatic.com/')) {
                 return Http::response($bytes);
             }
@@ -74,6 +81,52 @@ public function test_downloads_each_face_and_prints_the_config(): void
         Http::assertSent(fn (Request $r) => str_contains($r->url(), 'googleapis') && $r->header('User-Agent') === ['Papercut']);
     }
 
+    public function test_saves_the_licence_beside_the_fonts(): void
+    {
+        $this->fakeGoogle('Open Sans', ['400,0'], licences: ['ofl/opensans/OFL.txt' => "SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE Version 1.1\n"]);
+
+        [$code, $out] = $this->install(['family' => 'Open Sans', '--weights' => '400']);
+
+        $this->assertSame(0, $code, $out);
+        $this->assertSame("SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE Version 1.1\n", file_get_contents(base_path(self::DIR . '/OpenSans/OFL.txt')));
+        $this->assertStringContainsString('Keep ' . self::DIR . '/OpenSans/OFL.txt with the fonts', $out);
+    }
+
+    public function test_finds_an_apache_licence_when_there_is_no_ofl(): void
+    {
+        $this->fakeGoogle('Roboto Slab', ['400,0'], licences: ['ofl/robotoslab/OFL.txt' => '<html>not found</html>', 'apache/robotoslab/LICENSE.txt' => "Apache License\n"]);
+
+        [$code, $out] = $this->install(['family' => 'Roboto Slab', '--weights' => '400']);
+
+        $this->assertSame(0, $code, $out);
+        $this->assertFileDoesNotExist(base_path(self::DIR . '/RobotoSlab/OFL.txt'));
+        $this->assertSame("Apache License\n", file_get_contents(base_path(self::DIR . '/RobotoSlab/LICENSE.txt')));
+    }
+
+    public function test_a_missing_licence_warns_but_installs(): void
+    {
+        $this->fakeGoogle('Brand', ['400,0']);
+
+        [$code, $out] = $this->install(['family' => 'Brand', '--weights' => '400']);
+
+        $this->assertSame(0, $code, $out);
+        $this->assertFileExists(base_path(self::DIR . '/Brand/Brand-Regular.ttf'));
+        $this->assertStringContainsString("Couldn't download Brand's licence", $out);
+    }
+
+    public function test_an_existing_licence_is_kept_unless_forced(): void
+    {
+        $this->fakeGoogle('Brand', ['400,0'], licences: ['ofl/brand/OFL.txt' => "new\n"]);
+        File::ensureDirectoryExists(base_path(self::DIR . '/Brand'));
+        file_put_contents(base_path(self::DIR . '/Brand/OFL.txt'), "old\n");
+
+        $this->install(['family' => 'Brand', '--weights' => '400']);
+        $this->assertSame("old\n", file_get_contents(base_path(self::DIR . '/Brand/OFL.txt')));
+
+        $this->install(['family' => 'Brand', '--weights' => '400', '--force' => true]);
+        $this->assertSame("new\n", file_get_contents(base_path(self::DIR . '/Brand/OFL.txt')));
+    }
+
     public function test_the_printed_config_loads(): void
     {
         $this->fakeGoogle('Brand', ['400,0']);

diff --git a/site/src/guide/fonts.md b/site/src/guide/fonts.md
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ In Laravel, you can download a family from Google Fonts with one command:
 php artisan papercut:fonts:install "Merriweather" --weights=400,700 --italic
 ```
 
-This saves the font files to `resources/fonts/Merriweather/` and prints the entry to paste into `fonts` in your config:
+This saves the font files to `resources/fonts/Merriweather/`, along with the family's licence (`OFL.txt` for the SIL Open Font License, or `LICENSE.txt` or `UFL.txt`), and prints the entry to paste into `fonts` in your config:
 
 ```php
 'Merriweather' => [
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ This saves the font files to `resources/fonts/Merriweather/` and prints the entr
 ],
 ```
 
-The fonts are downloaded once and then live in your app like any other font, so commit them with your code. Rendering never goes to the network.
+The fonts are downloaded once and then live in your app like any other font, so commit them with your code, licence included: the licences ask for a copy to go wherever the fonts do. If the licence can't be downloaded, the command says so and installs the fonts anyway; get it from the family's page on fonts.google.com. Rendering never goes to the network.
 
 | Option | Default | What it does |
 |---|---|---|