better-icons

Better Icons

Search and retrieve icons from 200+ libraries via Iconify.

Installation

Before using any better-icons commands, ensure the tool is available in the environment.

Option 1 — Install globally (recommended, matches all examples below):

# Using npm
npm install -g better-icons

# Using Bun (faster)
bun add -g better-icons

Option 2 — Run without installing (prefix every command with npx or bunx):

# Using npx (npm)
npx better-icons search arrow --limit 10
npx better-icons get lucide:home > icon.svg

# Using bunx (Bun — faster)
bunx better-icons search arrow --limit 10
bunx better-icons get lucide:home > icon.svg

For AI agents: Prefer the global install so that better-icons is on $PATH and the commands below work as-is. Run the install step once during environment setup, then use the commands without npx/bunx.

CLI

# Search icons
better-icons search <query> [--prefix <prefix>] [--limit <n>] [--json]

# Search and download all found icons as SVG files
better-icons search <query> -d [dir] [--color <color>] [--size <px>]

# Get icon SVG (outputs to stdout)
better-icons get <icon-id> [--color <color>] [--size <px>] [--json]

# Setup MCP server for AI agents
better-icons setup [-a cursor,claude-code] [-s global|project]

Examples

better-icons search arrow --limit 10
better-icons search home --json | jq '.icons[0]'
better-icons get lucide:home > icon.svg
better-icons get mdi:home --color '#333' --json

# Batch download all search results
better-icons search arrow -d              # saves to ./icons/
better-icons search check -d ./my-icons   # saves to ./my-icons/
better-icons search star -d -c '#000' -s 24 --limit 64

Icon ID Format

prefix:name - e.g., lucide:home, mdi:arrow-right, heroicons:check

Popular Collections

lucide, mdi, heroicons, tabler, ph, ri, solar, iconamoon

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MCP Tools (for AI agents)

Tool	Description
search_icons	Search across all libraries
get_icon	Get single icon SVG
get_icons	Batch retrieve multiple icons
list_collections	Browse available icon sets
recommend_icons	Smart recommendations for use cases
find_similar_icons	Find variations across collections
sync_icon	Add icon to project file
scan_project_icons	List icons in project

TypeScript Interfaces

interface SearchIcons {
  query: string
  limit?: number        // 1-999, default 32
  prefix?: string       // e.g., 'mdi', 'lucide'
  category?: string     // e.g., 'General', 'Emoji'
}

interface GetIcon {
  icon_id: string       // 'prefix:name' format
  color?: string        // e.g., '#ff0000', 'currentColor'
  size?: number         // pixels
}

interface GetIcons {
  icon_ids: string[]    // max 20
  color?: string
  size?: number
}

interface RecommendIcons {
  use_case: string      // e.g., 'navigation menu'
  style?: 'solid' | 'outline' | 'any'
  limit?: number        // default 10
}

interface SyncIcon {
  icons_file: string    // absolute path
  framework: 'react' | 'vue' | 'svelte' | 'solid' | 'svg'
  icon_id: string
  component_name?: string
}

API

All icons from https://api.iconify.design