Kerning pair references undefined class

Definition

A kerning pair references an undefined kerning class. The pair silently does nothing at run time. Either define the class or change the pair to reference one that exists.

How Patens surfaces this

The Patens audit module checks for pair-orphan-class across five teaching surfaces: the edit-panel inline issue list, the project-wide audit page, the release pre-flight check, the family hub, and the home-page project tile. Every surface shows the same plain-English explanation and links back to this page. This rule is detection-only — there's no automatic fix because the correction is design-dependent (it requires a judgment call about the glyph's intended shape or the font's intended behaviour). The audit message links to the specific glyph or field that needs attention.

Run this check yourself

Patens runs every audit rule live as you draw — including this one. The editor (in private alpha) shows pair-orphan-class firing on real glyphs, or check your own work from the CLI:

npx patens audit your-project.font.json

Related rules in Kerning classes

• class-empty Empty kerning class
• class-missing-member Class member missing from project
• class-name-format Kerning class name missing "@" prefix
• kerning-class-singleton Singleton kerning class
• kerning-no-classes Many pairs but no classes
• pair-missing-glyph Kerning pair references missing glyph
• sidebearings-no-classes No sidebearing classes