Make any project Baseline-ready

Baseline gives your website access to professional foundry typefaces with built-in trial licensing. Four steps — an agent can do all of them.

1 · Add the floating bar (dev builds only)

<script src="https://baseline.zip/bar.js" defer></script>

Next.js: add it to your root layout guarded by process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development'. Plain HTML/Vite: put it before </body>. The bar overlays your preview with a font catalog, element targeting, and license status. First open shows the trial agreement — a human must accept it; that registration issues the project key.

2 · Keep the project key in baseline.json

{
  "projectKey": "bsln_xxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "registeredBy": "you@studio.com",
  "fonts": ["teodor"]
}

Commit this file at the repo root. It's how agents (and Baseline) know the project's identity and which fonts it uses. The bar stores the key in localStorage; copy it here so it survives across machines.

3 · Wire fonts the Google Fonts way

<link rel="stylesheet"
  href="https://baseline.zip/css?family=teodor&project=bsln_xxxxxxxxxxxx">

/* then use it */
h1 { font-family: 'Teodor', serif; }

Multiple families: ?family=teodor|abc-diatype. The CSS response embeds the license state of each family as a comment; trial fonts must be licensed before public release.

4 · Search the catalog (for agents)

GET https://baseline.zip/api/fonts?q=warm+editorial&category=serif
GET https://baseline.zip/api/fonts            # everything + category list
GET https://baseline.zip/api/project/KEY      # fonts in use + license status
POST https://baseline.zip/api/checkout        # {projectKey, familyId, licensee: 'self'|'client'}

Search matches name, foundry, description, and tags. Semantic (describe-a-vibe) search is coming; the parameter semantic=1 is accepted today and falls back to keyword matching.

Licensing rules

Trial fonts are free during development, on localhost and preview URLs. Before a project ships publicly, every Baseline typeface in use needs a license — bought in the bar (for myself), or via a client payment link (for a client) that activates the license automatically when paid. Baseline records where trial fonts are served and shares usage data with the foundries; unlicensed production use is detectable — every served font is traceable to its project registration.