-# Noto Color Emoji Compat Test — Source Metadata Investigation
+# Noto Color Emoji Compat Test — Upstream Source Investigation
+
**Model**: Claude Opus 4.6
-**Date**: 2026-03-12
## Source Repository
-- **URL**: No source block present
-- **Commit**: `N/A`
-- **Status**: Source block absent
-
-## What Was Done
-The existing source metadata was reviewed. No source block was found in METADATA.pb; the file contains only font metadata, subsets, stroke, and classification fields.
-
-## Notes
-- **Designer**: Google
-- **Script**: Emoji (symbols)
-- **Category**: SANS_SERIF (classifications: SYMBOLS)
-- This is a compatibility test font related to the Google Noto Emoji project. No upstream source repository link is recorded in the metadata.
+
+| Field | Value |
+|-------|-------|
+| Repository | None (no upstream) |
+| Commit | N/A |
+| Version | 0.000 |
+| Date Added | 2022-01-20 |
+| Last Modified | 2022-02-22 (commit `186b5bc0`) |
+
+## Investigation Summary
+
+Noto Color Emoji Compat Test is a **test font** created and modified entirely within the google/fonts repository. No upstream repository exists. No source block was added to METADATA.pb because there is no external source to reference.
+
+## Build Pipeline
+
+This font was built using [nanoemoji](https://github.com/googlefonts/nanoemoji), a tool for compiling color fonts from SVG/bitmap sources into COLRv1 format. The build process:
+
+1. **Source format**: SVG emoji artwork, compiled into a COLRv1 (Color OpenType) font
+2. **Build tool**: `nanoemoji` — a Google-developed tool for building color vector fonts, distinct from the standard gftools-builder/fontmake pipeline
+3. **Iterative development**: The font was created as an "Exploratory nanoemoji font" (commit `9ac25b635`) and iteratively modified in-place within google/fonts through several commits
+4. **Purpose**: This is a compatibility test font for the COLRv1 emoji format, not a production font for end users. It tests whether platforms can render the newer color font format correctly
+5. **No config.yaml**: The font was hand-built with nanoemoji, not through gftools-builder, so no config.yaml is applicable
+6. **No upstream**: Unlike other Noto emoji fonts (which live in `googlefonts/noto-emoji`), this test font has no corresponding entry in any upstream repository. The files `Noto-COLRv1-emojicompat.ttf` and `NotoColorEmoji-emojicompat.ttf` in the noto-emoji repo are different fonts from `NotoColorEmojiCompatTest-Regular.ttf`
+
+## Git History in google/fonts
+
+The font was modified through several commits, the last being `186b5bc050d1` (2022-02-22, "Restore the red pen, it's helpful to have a marker").
+
+**Confidence**: HIGH (no upstream exists — verified by full git history analysis and cross-reference against googlefonts/noto-emoji)