JetBrains Mono

The monospace font that was designed by IDE developers for IDE developers. JetBrains Mono has increased letter height, distinctive character shapes, and 138 code-specific ligatures that make operators like != and => easier to scan. If you stare at code for 8+ hours a day, your eyes will thank you.

Fira Code is the most popular ligature font. Cascadia Code is Microsoft's terminal font. Source Code Pro is Adobe's clean option. Iosevka is the infinitely customizable alternative. Monaspace from GitHub offers five variable axes.

The font's key innovation is wider characters with reduced horizontal space, so you fit more code on screen without squinting. The ligatures are tasteful — they enhance readability without making code look alien.

The catch: ligatures are polarizing — many developers find them confusing, especially for newcomers reading code. The font is designed for JetBrains IDEs and may look slightly off in other editors without font-size tuning. And at the end of the day, it's a font — switching takes two minutes, and the productivity difference is marginal. Use whatever doesn't hurt your eyes.