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Nerd Font Icon Lookup (PUA Unicode Workaround)

Lets you read and write BMP Private-Use-Area Nerd Font icons that Claude Code filters, via placeholder syntax and lookup scripts.

UtilitiesIntermediate★ 463⑂ 38AI score 8/10Last updated: Oct 11, 2026

What it does

  • Claude Code filters Unicode in the BMP Private Use Area (U+E000–U+F8FF), which silently drops Powerline, Font Awesome, and Devicon glyphs. This skill provides the workaround.
  • Filtered icons are written as placeholders such as {{ U+E0A0 }} or {{ nf-fa-star }}, which a PostToolUse hook converts to real characters.
  • Icons at U+F0000+ (Material Design, nf-md-*) can be written directly — the skill spells out the boundary.
  • Ships helper scripts: lookup-icon.py (search by name), identify-icons.py (identify a glyph), convert-placeholders.py (manual conversion).

Who it's for

  • Anyone editing Starship prompts, tmux themes, shell prompts, or statuslines with Claude Code
  • Terminal dotfile maintainers who rely heavily on Nerd Font glyphs
  • Users frustrated by icons vanishing or being mangled during edits

Examples

  1. Need a git branch glyph in starship.toml: run lookup-icon.py "git branch", then write {{ nf-fa-code_fork }}.
  2. Open an existing tmux theme and the read hook lists every PUA glyph with its icon name, codepoint, and filtered status.
  3. Verify whether two similar-looking glyphs in different configs are the same icon with identify-icons.py -c "<char>".

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/malob/nix-config/HEAD/configs/claude/plugins/pua-unicode/skills/icon-lookup/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the configs/claude/plugins/pua-unicode/skills/icon-lookup folder from the GitHub repo malob/nix-config into my ~/.claude/skills/icon-lookup/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/malob/nix-config.git /tmp/nix-config && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r /tmp/nix-config/configs/claude/plugins/pua-unicode/skills/icon-lookup ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/malob/nix-config.git /tmp/nix-config
  3. Create the skills directory: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
  4. Copy the skill: cp -r /tmp/nix-config/configs/claude/plugins/pua-unicode/skills/icon-lookup ~/.claude/skills/
  5. The skill calls scripts under ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}, so copy the whole configs/claude/plugins/pua-unicode plugin and make sure that path resolves correctly (installing it as a plugin is ideal, since the hooks come with it).
  6. Verify Python 3 is available: python3 --version
  7. Restart Claude Code and try a prompt like "add an icon to my Starship config" to confirm the skill triggers.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT