-# Noto Sans TC (Traditional Chinese) — Upstream Source Info
+# Noto Sans TC — Upstream Source Investigation
**Model**: Claude Opus 4.6
-## Repository
+## Source Repository
-No source block exists in METADATA.pb.
+| Field | Value |
+|-------|-------|
+| Repository | https://github.com/notofonts/noto-cjk |
+| Commit | `523d033d6cb47f4a80c58a35753646f5c3608a78` |
+| Version | 2.004 |
+| Onboarding PR | [google/fonts#5534](https://github.com/google/fonts/pull/5534) |
+| Date | 2022-12-09 |
-## Summary
+## Investigation Summary
-Noto Sans TC (Traditional Chinese) was designed by Google and published under the OFL (copyright Adobe, with Reserved Font Name 'Source'). The family provided a variable font with a weight axis (100–900) covering the Traditional Chinese (Hant) script alongside Cyrillic, Latin, Latin Extended, and Vietnamese subsets, supporting Jin Chinese, Gan Chinese, Hakka Chinese, Xiang Chinese, Literary Chinese, Southern Min, Wu Chinese, Cantonese, Zhuang (Traditional Han), and Traditional Chinese (zh_Hant). No upstream repository, commit, or build configuration was recorded in METADATA.pb. The font was added to Google Fonts on 2018-10-22.
+Noto Sans TC is a regional subset of the Noto CJK mega-font family, targeting Traditional Chinese. The binary was taken from the `Sans2.004` tag at commit `523d033d`, specifically from `Sans/Variable/TTF/Subset/NotoSansTC-VF.ttf`. An 832-byte post-processing difference exists between the upstream binary and the shipped version, consistent with table rewriting during onboarding.
+
+## Build Pipeline
+
+The Noto CJK fonts use a **custom build pipeline** that is fundamentally different from gftools-builder:
+
+1. **Upstream source**: The CJK glyphs originate from [Adobe Source Han Sans](https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-han-sans), a pan-CJK font project maintained by Adobe. The Noto CJK project adapts these sources under a collaboration between Google and Adobe.
+
+2. **Build tooling**: The fonts are built using Adobe's `AFDKO` (Adobe Font Development Kit for OpenType) and custom Python scripts in the noto-cjk repository, not fontmake or gftools-builder. The build process involves CID-keyed font technology and region-specific glyph selection.
+
+3. **Regional subsetting**: The unified CJK source contains glyphs for all regions (SC, TC, HK, JP, KR). Each regional variant is produced by selecting the appropriate glyph forms for that locale — Traditional Chinese uses locale-standard character forms that may differ from other regions for the same Unicode codepoints.
+
+4. **Pre-built binaries**: The notofonts/noto-cjk repository distributes pre-built variable TTF files under `Sans/Variable/TTF/`. The `Subset/` subdirectory contains smaller regional subsets (e.g., `NotoSansTC-VF.ttf`) that are what Google Fonts ships.
+
+5. **No config.yaml**: Because the CJK build pipeline does not use gftools-builder, no `config.yaml` is applicable. Reproducing the build requires the full AFDKO toolchain and the noto-cjk build scripts.
+
+## Commit Verification
+
+This commit corresponds to the `Sans2.004` tag in the notofonts/noto-cjk repository. File size comparison shows a consistent 832-byte difference between the upstream binary and the shipped version across all 5 CJK families (HK, JP, KR, SC, TC), confirming they were all sourced from the same tag and subjected to identical post-processing.
+
+**Confidence**: HIGH (tag-verified, consistent post-processing delta across all CJK families)