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wtf is ionicons?

ionic-team/ionicons — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

★ 18,046TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5LicenseSetup · easy

TL;DR

Ionicons is a free set of over 1,300 SVG icons delivered as a web component, drop in a script tag, use an HTML tag with the icon name, and icons load on demand with no bundler required.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((ionicons))
    Icon variants
      Filled
      Outline
      Sharp
    Platform styles
      iOS style
      Android style
    Usage
      HTML tag
      Script tag
      Ionic Framework
    Customization
      CSS font-size
      CSS color
      Custom SVG

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Add professional icons to any webpage by dropping in a script tag and using the icon name in an HTML attribute

REASON 2

Build a mobile-style web app where icons automatically adopt iOS or Android visual conventions

REASON 3

Pick from filled, outline, or sharp icon variants to match your interface's visual style

REASON 4

Keep page load small by lazily loading only the icon SVGs that are actually visible on screen

What's in the stack?

TypeScriptSVGWeb Components

How it stacks up

ionic-team/ioniconsjimliu/baoyu-skillsmlc-ai/web-llm
Stars18,04618,08117,967
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity1/51/53/5
Audiencedevelopervibe coderdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
MIT, use freely in any personal or commercial project, including apps built with Ionic Framework, with no restrictions beyond keeping the copyright notice.

Wtf does this do

Ionicons is a free, open-source set of over 1,300 icons designed for use in web pages and apps. Each icon comes in three visual variants, filled (solid), outline (just the border), and sharp (with squared edges), so you can match the visual style of your interface. Most icons also have separate versions designed to look appropriate on iOS and on Android, following each platform's visual conventions. The icons are delivered as a web component, which is a reusable piece of code you embed in a page with a script tag. Once loaded, you place icons using a simple HTML tag like ion-icon and specify which icon you want by name. The component only loads the SVG image files for icons that are actually visible on screen, keeping page load small. You can control size with the font-size CSS property and color with the color CSS property. Custom SVG files can also be loaded by pointing to a URL. Ionicons was built for Ionic Framework, a toolkit for building mobile-style web applications, and is packaged with it automatically. However it is freely usable in any web project under the MIT license.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
How do I add Ionicons to a plain HTML page and display a shopping cart icon in red at 48 pixels using CSS?
Prompt 2
Show me how to use Ionicons in a React project and switch between the filled and outline variants of the same icon
Prompt 3
How do I load my own custom SVG file as an ion-icon using the src attribute?
Prompt 4
What is the difference between the iOS and MD icon variants in Ionicons and how does the component decide which to show automatically?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is ionicons?

Ionicons is a free set of over 1,300 SVG icons delivered as a web component, drop in a script tag, use an HTML tag with the icon name, and icons load on demand with no bundler required.

What language is ionicons written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, SVG, Web Components.

What license does ionicons use?

MIT, use freely in any personal or commercial project, including apps built with Ionic Framework, with no restrictions beyond keeping the copyright notice.

How hard is ionicons to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is ionicons for?

Mainly developer.

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