SymbolFYI — Symbol Tools for AI Agents

Pure Python symbol encoder. Compute 11 encoding representations and full Unicode properties for any character. Includes 47 HTML entity mappings — all with zero dependencies (optional fonttools for block/script info).

Install: pip install symbolfyi · Web: symbolfyi.com · API: REST API · npm: npm install symbolfyi

When to Use

• User asks to encode a symbol or special character into Unicode, HTML, CSS, or programming language format
• User needs Unicode properties for a character (name, category, block, script)
• User wants to look up or reverse-lookup an HTML entity (→, ♥, etc.)
• User needs UTF-8 or UTF-16 byte representation of a character
• User asks about Unicode general categories or bidirectional properties

Tools

get_encodings(char) -> EncodingInfo

Compute 11 encoding representations for any single character.

from symbolfyi import get_encodings

enc = get_encodings("→")
enc.unicode        # 'U+2192'
enc.html_decimal   # '→'
enc.html_hex       # '→'
enc.html_entity    # '→'
enc.css            # '\2192'
enc.javascript     # '\u{2192}'
enc.python         # '\u2192'
enc.java           # '\u2192'
enc.utf8_bytes     # 'e2 86 92'
enc.utf16_bytes    # '21 92'
enc.url_encoded    # '%E2%86%92'

get_info(char) -> SymbolInfo | None

Get full Unicode properties and all encodings for a character.

from symbolfyi import get_info

info = get_info("♠")
info.name           # 'BLACK SPADE SUIT'
info.codepoint      # 9824
info.character      # '♠'
info.category       # 'So'
info.category_name  # 'Other Symbol'
info.block          # 'Miscellaneous Symbols'  (requires fonttools)
info.script         # 'Zyyy'  (requires fonttools)
info.bidirectional  # 'ON'
info.mirrored       # False
info.encodings      # EncodingInfo (all 11 formats)

lookup_html_entity(entity) -> str | None

Resolve an HTML entity string to its character.

from symbolfyi import lookup_html_entity

lookup_html_entity("&")     # '&'
lookup_html_entity("♥")  # '♥'
lookup_html_entity("→")    # '→'
lookup_html_entity("€")    # '€'

get_category_name(category_code) -> str

Get the full name for a Unicode general category code.

from symbolfyi import get_category_name

get_category_name("Sm")  # 'Math Symbol'
get_category_name("Sc")  # 'Currency Symbol'
get_category_name("Lu")  # 'Uppercase Letter'

REST API (No Auth Required)

curl https://symbolfyi.com/api/symbol/2192/
curl https://symbolfyi.com/api/encode/→/
curl https://symbolfyi.com/api/search/?q=arrow
curl https://symbolfyi.com/api/collection/arrows/
curl https://symbolfyi.com/api/random/

Full spec: OpenAPI 3.1.0

Encoding Formats Reference

Format	Example (→)	Use Case
Unicode	U+2192	Standard reference
HTML Decimal	→	HTML pages
HTML Hex	→	HTML pages
HTML Entity	→	Named HTML entity
CSS	\2192	content property
JavaScript	\u{2192}	ES6+ string literals
Python	\u2192	String literals
Java	\u2192	String literals
UTF-8	e2 86 92	Byte-level encoding
UTF-16	21 92	Windows/Java internals
URL	%E2%86%92	URLs, query strings

Common HTML Entities

Entity	Character	Name
&	&	Ampersand
&lt; &gt;	< >	Angle brackets
&copy;	©	Copyright
&reg;	®	Registered
&trade;	™	Trademark
&euro;	€	Euro sign
&pound;	£	Pound sign
&rarr;	→	Right arrow
&hearts;	♥	Heart suit
&infin;	∞	Infinity
&ne;	≠	Not equal
&le; &ge;	≤ ≥	Less/greater or equal

Unicode General Categories

Code	Name	Examples
Lu	Uppercase Letter	A, B, C
Ll	Lowercase Letter	a, b, c
Nd	Decimal Number	0, 1, 2
Sm	Math Symbol	+, =, ∞
Sc	Currency Symbol	$, €, £
So	Other Symbol	♠, ♥, ☆
Po	Other Punctuation	!, ?, .
Ps/Pe	Open/Close Punctuation	(, ), [, ]

Demo

Creative FYI Family

Part of the FYIPedia ecosystem: ColorFYI, EmojiFYI, UnicodeFYI, FontFYI.