Icon Set Extend

Extend an existing icon set

The existing files are the specification. Recover their decisions, then make the selected icons disappear into the set. A new or redrawn icon fails when a stranger can identify it as the addition, even if it looks good alone.

Copy quirks that define the set. Correct defects that break rendering. A heavy stroke or odd arrowhead may be a quirk. A clipped stroke, merged shape, or fixed color that breaks theming is a defect. When one icon cannot settle the distinction, match the set and report the issue.

Workflow

Step 1: Recover the specification

python3 scripts/infer_spec.py path/to/icons/ --write

The command writes style-spec.json and elements.md. Read both files. Check the grid, drawing mode, stroke settings, corner radius, optical envelopes, gaps, and shared parts.

Resolve internal disagreement before drawing. A strong majority can define the answer. For a close split, check which icons are newest. Ask the user only when the repository leaves the direction ambiguous.

The emitted minGap comes from the grid. observedSmallestGap reports the smallest existing gap, which may be a defect rather than a rule.

This step is complete when the target specification is recorded, elements.md exists, and every close split has a documented resolution.

Step 2: Study the nearest neighbors

Open three to five existing icons closest to each requested form. Read their SVG markup and compare detail budget, perspective, terminals, closure, and naming. Check git history when the set appears to be changing direction.

For a known library, read references/matching.md. Treat it as a guide, then verify every convention against the files in the project. Local files outrank published conventions because projects pin versions and often modify vendored SVGs.

This step is complete when every requested icon has named neighbors and a short list of conventions to copy.

Step 3: Draw or restyle one icon at a time

Start from elements.md. Paste an existing shared part verbatim. Translate it by whole units and rotate it only by quarter turns. Derive any missing part from the nearest existing form.

After each icon, compare it with its named neighbors at the target render size. Match the set's detail level and formatting as well as its geometry. Preserve a vendored library's comments, attribute placement, and file formatting when its tooling depends on them.

This step is complete when every requested icon exists and every reused part matches its registry entry exactly.

Step 4: Validate against the combined set

Run validation over old and selected icons together. Limit reported findings with --focus:

python3 scripts/validate_icons.py path/to/icons/ \
  --spec path/to/icons/style-spec.json --focus batch-run,data-lineage,rollback-snapshot

The full directory supplies the specification and optical median. --focus keeps unrelated legacy findings out of the task. A focused run is complete when it reports zero errors for the selected icons. Inspect every warning. Fix it or record a concrete reason for keeping it.

Run once without --focus only when the user asked about the wider set. Leave existing files alone unless the user placed them in scope.

Step 5: Run the stranger test

Build or reuse a contact sheet that mixes old and selected icons. Show it at the smallest common render size without labels first. Compare optical size, visual weight, detail level, shared parts, and terminal treatment.

Revise any selected icon that stands out. Record the neighbor comparison for each selected icon so the visual check cannot collapse into a quick glance.

This step is complete when every selected icon has a recorded comparison and each outlier is resolved or explained.

Step 6: Report the decisions

State which conventions were copied, which defects were corrected, and which ambiguities were resolved. List any retained validator warning with its reason. For a restyled icon, separate the requested redraw from unrelated issues in the old set.

The task is complete when all requested files exist, focused validation has zero errors, every warning has a disposition, the stranger test accounts for every selected icon, and the summary records each judgment call.

Reference files

• Read references/matching.md in Step 2 for any third-party set. It covers Lucide, Heroicons, Feather, Phosphor, Tabler, Radix, Bootstrap Icons, and Material Symbols.
• When icon-set-generator is available and the local set has no useful precedent, read its references/construction.md. Read references/svg-patterns.md only for the specific form being drawn.