suggest-lucide-icons

Suggest Lucide Icons

Suggest the most relevant icons from the Lucide open source icon pack to symbolize a concept or fit specific UI placements. Reason about symbolic associations broadly — across culture, science, and design — rather than only literal matches.

Input

Provide one or both:

• Concept: The idea, action, or meaning to represent
• Screenshot: UI context showing where icons are needed

The catalog script

scripts/lucide.py (Python 3, no dependencies) fetches the entire Lucide set once from unpkg.com/lucide-static@latest/tags.json, caches it ~24h, and searches and validates locally — so you never fetch icons one at a time:

• search "<terms>" — real icons matching a concept by name and semantic tag, ranked. Every result is an icon that exists, listed with its tags so you can see why it fits.
• validate <name>... — confirm specific names (e.g. a compound you built by hand). Misses come back with near-match suggestions, and the exit code is nonzero if any name is missing.

If Python 3 isn't available, fetch that URL directly (it's {name: [tags]}), or check one icon at https://unpkg.com/lucide-static@latest/icons/<name>.svg (200 exists, 404 doesn't; follow the 302 redirect).

Naming conventions

Icon names follow strict rules — apply these when reading results or building compound candidates to validate:

• kebab-case: arrow-up not Arrow Up
• International English: color not colour
• Group variants: <group>-<variant> — e.g. badge-plus is based on badge
• Multiple elements, different sizes: list largest first — circle-person if circle is bigger
• Element with modifier: [element]-[modifier] — circle-dashed not dashed-circle; combined: circle-dashed-heart-broken

Process

1. Brainstorm associations — key ideas, visual metaphors, and screenshot context clues. Turn them into a handful of search terms.

2. Search the catalog — pull candidates from the script's results rather than guessing names:

   python3 scripts/lucide.py search "calendar schedule date"
   

   The tags show why each fits. If you build a compound name from the naming conventions, confirm it before suggesting:

   python3 scripts/lucide.py validate circle-dashed-heart-broken
   

3. Present 3 confirmed candidates — icon name, and why it fits (symbolic meaning, visual clarity, context appropriateness).

4. Recommend best choice — single strongest option, with rationale.

Guidelines

• Only suggest icons confirmed by search (results are real) or validate (for hand-built names) — never a made-up name.
• If fewer than 3 candidates survive, search more terms before giving up.
• If no good matches exist after thorough searching, say so.
• For screenshots, tailor to the specific design context.
• Provide a distinct recommendation for each icon needed.
• Ready for multiple feedback rounds to refine suggestions.

Output Format

Brainstorm: [Key associations and metaphors]

Candidate Icons:

1. icon-name — Explanation of fit
2. icon-name — Explanation of fit
3. icon-name — Explanation of fit

Recommendation: icon-name — Why this is the strongest choice for [context]