Pure Python symbol encoder for developers. Compute 11 encoding representations and full Unicode properties for any character. Includes 51 HTML entity mappings, a CLI, MCP server for AI assistants, and an API client for symbolfyi.com.

Look up any symbol at symbolfyi.com -- symbol encoder, HTML entity collections, Unicode blocks

• Install
• Quick Start
• What You Can Do
  • Symbol Encoding
  • Unicode Properties
• CLI
• MCP Server
• API Client
• API Reference
  • Core Functions
  • Data Types
  • Constants
• Features
• Learn More About Symbols
• Creative FYI Family
• License

pip install symbolfyi              # Core (zero dependencies)
pip install "symbolfyi[full]"      # + fonttools for Unicode block/script
pip install "symbolfyi[cli]"       # + CLI (typer, rich)
pip install "symbolfyi[mcp]"       # + MCP server for AI assistants
pip install "symbolfyi[api]"       # + HTTP client for symbolfyi.com API
pip install "symbolfyi[all]"       # Everything

from symbolfyi import get_encodings, get_info, lookup_html_entity

# Encode any character (11 formats)
enc = get_encodings("->")
print(enc.unicode)        # U+2192
print(enc.html_entity)    # →
print(enc.css)            # \2192
print(enc.javascript)     # \u{2192}
print(enc.utf8_bytes)     # e2 86 92
print(enc.url_encoded)    # %E2%86%92

# Full Unicode properties (requires fonttools for block/script)
info = get_info("*")
print(info.name)          # BLACK SPADE SUIT
print(info.category_name) # Other Symbol
print(info.block)         # Miscellaneous Symbols
print(info.script)        # Common

# HTML entity reverse lookup
char = lookup_html_entity("♥")
print(char)               # (heart character)

When working with special characters in web development, you often need the same symbol in different encoding formats -- an HTML entity for markup, a CSS escape for stylesheets, a JavaScript literal for scripts, or raw UTF-8 bytes for server-side processing. The get_encodings() function computes all 11 representations from a single character input, covering every major platform and language.

from symbolfyi import get_encodings

# Encode any symbol into all 11 representation formats
enc = get_encodings("\u00a9")  # Copyright sign
print(enc.unicode)        # U+00A9
print(enc.html_entity)    # ©
print(enc.html_decimal)   # ©
print(enc.css)            # \00A9
print(enc.javascript)     # \u{A9}
print(enc.python)         # \u00a9
print(enc.utf8_bytes)     # c2 a9
print(enc.url_encoded)    # %C2%A9

Learn more: Symbol Encoding Tools · HTML Entity Collections

Every character in the Unicode Standard carries a set of properties that describe its behavior and classification. The Unicode General Category (e.g., "Lu" for uppercase letter, "Sm" for math symbol) determines how text processors handle the character. The block identifies which range of the Unicode codespace the character belongs to (e.g., "Arrows", "Mathematical Operators"), while the script property indicates the writing system (e.g., "Latin", "Common"). Bidirectional properties control text layout in mixed left-to-right and right-to-left content.

from symbolfyi import get_info

# Retrieve full Unicode properties for any character
info = get_info("\u2665")  # Black heart suit
print(info.name)           # BLACK HEART SUIT
print(info.category)       # So
print(info.category_name)  # Other Symbol
print(info.block)          # Miscellaneous Symbols
print(info.script)         # Common
print(info.bidirectional)  # ON

# Access the encodings alongside Unicode properties
print(info.encodings.html_entity)  # ♥
print(info.encodings.css)          # \2665

Learn more: ## CLI

Requires the cli extra: pip install symbolfyi[cli]

# Full symbol info (Unicode properties + all encodings)
symbolfyi info "->"

# Show all 11 encodings
symbolfyi encode "*"

# Reverse HTML entity lookup
symbolfyi entity "♥"
symbolfyi entity amp

Requires the mcp extra: pip install symbolfyi[mcp]

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "symbolfyi": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": ["-m", "symbolfyi.mcp_server"]
        }
    }
}

Available tools:

Requires the api extra: pip install symbolfyi[api]

from symbolfyi.api import SymbolFYI

with SymbolFYI() as api:
    # Encode a character
    info = api.encode("->")
    print(info["encodings"]["html_entity"])

    # Search symbols
    results = api.search("arrow")
    for r in results["results"]:
        print(r["character"], r["name"])

    # Browse Unicode blocks
    blocks = api.blocks()
    print(blocks["count"])

    # Get collection details
    arrows = api.collection("arrows")
    print(arrows["name"])

Full API documentation at symbolfyi.com/developers.

• EncodingInfo -- 11-field NamedTuple: unicode, html_decimal, html_hex, html_entity, css, javascript, python, java, utf8_bytes, utf16_bytes, url_encoded
• SymbolInfo -- 12-field NamedTuple: codepoint, character, name, category, category_name, block, script, bidirectional, combining, mirrored, decomposition, encodings

• 11 encoding types: Unicode, HTML decimal/hex/entity, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Java, UTF-8/UTF-16 bytes, URL-encoded
• Unicode properties: name, category, block, script, bidirectional, combining, mirrored, decomposition
• 51 HTML entities: Common entities with bidirectional lookup
• Zero required deps: Core uses only stdlib (unicodedata, urllib.parse)
• Optional fonttools: Install symbolfyi[full] for Unicode block and script info
• CLI: Rich terminal interface for symbol info, encoding, and entity lookup
• MCP server: AI assistant integration with 3 tools
• API client: HTTP client for symbolfyi.com REST API
• Type-safe: Full type annotations, py.typed marker (PEP 561)

• Browse: Symbol Search · - Collections: HTML Entities · - Guides: Glossary
• API: REST API Docs · OpenAPI Spec

Part of the FYIPedia open-source developer tools ecosystem — design, typography, and character encoding.

Embed SymbolFYI widgets on any website with symbolfyi-embed:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/symbolfyi-embed@1/dist/embed.min.js"></script>
<div data-symbolfyi="entity" data-slug="example"></div>

Zero dependencies · Shadow DOM · 4 themes (light/dark/sepia/auto) · Widget docs

MIT