Changelog

This documentation set focuses on how to use IconVectors. This page is included as a convenient reference so you can see when major features were introduced.

Where to find the official release notes

In the application

  • Help ‣ What’s New… (release notes for your installed version)

  • Help ‣ Check For Updates

Online

Version 2.20

  • Visual Studio Code Integration — Open SVG files directly or from references in code, browse asset folders and edit inline SVG in IconVectors. Saving returns inline changes to VS Code with optional review, Undo and recovery. Install the companion from Windows setup or the File menu.

  • Reusable Styles and Libraries — Save colors, gradients, strokes and opacity in the Styles panel. Edit, organize and share .axstyle libraries, collect an icon’s distinct appearances without duplicates, and apply presets to selected artwork or new drawing.

  • Embedded SVG Styles — Create shared classes with Embed Styles in Icon and manage them under This Icon. Artwork edits automatically update and reuse styles without local appearance overrides. Edit a shared definition to update its users, or remove embedded styles while keeping the appearance. New Icon options let you start in this mode and choose responsive output independently of Preferences defaults.

  • Batch Apply Style — Apply a library style to multiple icons, targeting all artwork or SVG IDs. Choose the complete style, fill or stroke, preview the results and modify originals or create copies.

  • Command-Line Automation — Use the independent Command-Line Interface to check SVGs, export PNG/ICO files, optimize icons and apply styles, palettes, gradients, resizing, versions and geometry or stroke changes. Process files or folders with dry-run plans and JSON reports.

  • SVG Source Repair and Checking — Inspect failed imports in the highlighted source editor, edit with live checking and apply suggested corrections. Optional strict SVG checking detects issues beyond XML syntax without blocking batch jobs.

  • Favorite Folders — Keep named project shortcuts with Explorer favorites. Add, rename and organize frequently used folders, with changes saved immediately across instances.

  • Previous and Next Icon — Browse the Explorer’s icon list from the Editor using Previous/Next buttons, with normal save prompts or the Explorer’s optional Auto Save.

  • Safer Multi-Window Saving — Save All saves modified icons across open windows; Revert to Saved reloads after confirmation. External-change protection helps avoid overwriting changes made by other applications.

  • Expanded MCP and Junie Integration — Follow the Junie setup guide and choose Small, Medium or Full tool profiles for your client. Styles commands also expose reusable libraries to assistants.

  • Smoother Color and Panel Workflow — The COLORS picker follows selected solid paints. Styles and Layers clicks return keyboard control to the canvas, and Ungroup works directly on selected children with one-step Undo.

  • Path Connections — Use Connect Selected Points to close an open contour or join paths with a straight segment. Connect endpoints across compound elements in one undoable edit while retaining their other subpaths.

  • Interface and SVG Refinements — Snap to Grid is remembered between sessions, dark-theme lists and drop-downs remain readable, and SVG import better handles styled circles and ellipses. Toggle responsive output for each icon while keeping the new-icon default separate.

Version 2.10

  • Expanded Batch Colors and Strokes — The Explorer offers 14 batch operations, including color replacement, currentColor, adjustments, palettes, strokes and generated gradients with the batch color tools.

  • Batch Geometry and Outlines — Resize, center and fit, rotate or flip icons, and convert strokes into filled paths across a selection with the batch geometry tools.

  • Bitmap Icons, Versions and Badge Overlays — Create PNG and multi-size ICO files, generate Hot, Disabled and Dark Theme SVG versions, or add badge overlays with the batch output tools.

  • SVG Optimization — Optimize SVG Files compacts formatting, colors and path numbers. Preview byte savings and choose whether to round coordinates before applying changes.

  • Clearer Batch Options and Previews — Consistent dialogs remember options and the preferred color picker. Compare before/after results and use Back to adjust settings without restarting.

  • Explorer and Element Library Workflow — Create and edit icons in the current folder, use optional Auto Save and return to your browsing position. Search the Element Library; enjoy clearer high-DPI labels, folder counts and file management.

  • Faster Color and Editing Tools — Sample screen colors with the eyedropper and apply colors directly to Fill or Stroke. Pasted groups keep their selection and layout, badge actions undo in one step, and Ctrl+wheel zooms the canvas.

  • Improved SVG Import and Editing — Better import handling for large canvases, CSS/CDATA and gradients, with more reliable path editing, reflections and canvas restoration.

  • More Reliable MCP Automation — Automate batches and multi-size ICO export with safer targeting. The bridge detects unavailable ports, selects a synchronized fallback and provides clearer connection diagnostics.

Version 2.0

  • Integrated SVG Explorer — Browse, organize and open your SVG files without leaving IconVectors.

  • Editor / Explorer Workspaces — Switch instantly between editing and file management while keeping your Editor layout exactly as you left it.

  • Faster Folder Navigation — Use Back, Forward, Recent Folders, drive selection and direct path entry to move quickly through large icon libraries.

  • Built-in File Management — Copy, duplicate, rename, batch rename and delete SVG files directly from Explorer.

  • Advanced Drag & Drop — Move or copy SVGs between folders, import files into the Editor and navigate through folders while dragging.

  • Batch Processing — Apply common operations such as resizing, palette changes and stroke adjustments to multiple SVG files at once.

  • New Colors Panel — Work with palettes and individual colors from one redesigned panel with HEX, RGB, HSL, Hue and Saturation controls.

  • Faster Fill and Stroke Workflow — Apply colors directly to Fill or Stroke with simple left- and right-click actions.

  • Recent Colors — Quickly reuse colors you have recently applied without rebuilding them each time.

  • Even-Odd and Non-Zero Fill Rules — Control how compound paths and holes are rendered, with proper SVG import and export support.

  • Smarter Control Bar — Controls now adapt automatically to the current workspace, document and selection.

  • Live Folder Updates — Explorer stays synchronized when files are added, removed or changed by another application.

  • Better Multi-File Workflows — Select several SVGs at once for file operations, drag & drop and batch processing.

  • Improved Empty-Document Experience — Explorer remains fully usable even when no SVG document is open.

  • More Powerful MCP Integration — IconVectors 2.0 expands its local MCP interface to exactly 155 tools, including Explorer navigation and new editing capabilities, and adds documented integration with additional MCP-capable coding clients: Gemini CLI, Kiro, Cline, and GitHub Copilot CLI.

  • Improved UI and Reliability — Numerous refinements make navigation, panels, popups, drag & drop and workspace restoration smoother and more predictable.

  • Updated Windows Toolchain — IconVectors 2.0 is now built with the latest MSVC v145 toolchain and updated graphics dependencies.

  • Bug Fixes — Numerous issues have been fixed.

Related documentation: Working with The Icon Explorer for Explorer workflows, Working with Colors for the Colors panel, Even-Odd and Non-Zero Fill Rules for compound-path rendering, and MCP Integration for MCP setup and automation.

Version 1.70

New features

  • Element Library palette - The left toolbar now includes an Element Library button for inserting reusable SVG artwork from a local Element Library folder, with filled and line variants.

  • Pixel-Align Selection - The Element menu and Control Bar can now align selected filled and stroked artwork to the pixel grid in one correction step, using per-object top-left and bottom-right bounds for crisper icon output.

  • Editor keyboard shortcuts - Canvas-focused shortcuts now cycle line cap, cycle line join, run Pixel-Align Selection, and temporarily toggle between the Selection and Path Editor tools with Ctrl.

Version 1.60

New features

  • Fit Icon to Canvas - A new icon-level command scales the current icon to the full available canvas while preserving aspect ratio, centering the result, and keeping stroke widths unchanged. The fit calculation uses the visible icon bounds so stroked artwork stays inside the canvas.

  • Dashed and dotted stroke styles - The Control Bar now includes non-destructive SVG stroke dash presets and a custom dash dialog. Dash styles are saved with stroke-dasharray, stroke-dashoffset, and stroke-linecap.

  • Auto Gradient - Fill and stroke color menus can now turn a flat color into a same-tone SVG gradient in one step, with linear/radial type, angle, and force controls. The same operation is available to MCP clients through paint_autoGradient.

  • Canvas zoom workflow - The status bar now includes an editable zoom field for exact percentages and quick presets, the View menu exposes numpad shortcuts for zooming, and the new Zoom command lets you drag an area on the canvas to fit and center it in one action.

  • Element centering - The Element menu now includes Element ‣ Center ‣ Center on Largest, which centers all other selected elements on the largest selected element.

Improvements

  • Snap to Grid reliability - Snapping is now more consistent when drawing, moving elements, and editing path nodes.

  • Cleaner path editing output - Boolean union and Bezier handle removal now produce cleaner straight-edged paths.

  • Safer SVG output - Save and minified export better preserve root dimensions, viewBox data, comments, and required SVG attributes.

Version 1.50

New features

  • Analyze/Clean Up Icon - IconVectors now includes a dedicated cleanup analysis workflow that detects common icon issues such as off-grid geometry, inconsistent stroke settings, unnecessary shapes, and transform leftovers, then offers focused fixes from a single modeless dialog.

  • Claude-Compatible MCP Tool Naming - The public MCP tool names now use Claude-safe identifiers such as app_ping and document_getSvg so IconVectors works correctly with Claude Desktop and Claude Code, while older dotted tool calls remain accepted for backward compatibility.

Improvements

  • Small Improvements - The application, packaged MCP helper files, and release assets have received small workflow and polish improvements.

  • Icon cleanup MCP command - The public MCP surface now includes document_analyzeCleanupSvg so AI clients can inspect cleanup issues in the current icon and optionally apply the same conservative safe fixes that are available in the UI.

Fixes

  • Bug Fixes - Numerous issues have been fixed.

Version 1.40

New features

  • Public MCP Integration - IconVectors now exposes a local MCP server so AI assistants can create, draw, edit, inspect, render, and export SVG vector icons through the running desktop application instead of working on detached source text alone.

Improvements

  • AI client setup documentation - The help now documents supported local integration patterns for Codex/OpenAI tooling on the same machine, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and other MCP-compatible hosts.

Fixes

  • Bug Fixes - Numerous issues have been fixed.

Version 1.30

New features

  • WPF Geometry / VectorDrawable / SwiftUI code generation — The Source Code window now includes dedicated tabs to generate these output formats from the current SVG document.

  • Recolor with Palette — New icon-level recoloring command that remaps every icon color to the visually closest swatch from the currently selected palette. The operation is undoable.

  • Layer Locking — The Layers panel now has a lock column. Locked elements stay visible but cannot be selected or edited with the mouse.

  • Auto-center Canvas — New toggle in the View menu to automatically re-center the canvas when the main window is resized and when Focus Mode is toggled.

  • Focus Mode — New quick workspace mode that hides non-essential panels/toolbars to maximize drawing area. It is available from the View menu and with Tab.

Improvements

  • Hierarchical lock behavior — Locking a group propagates to all descendants. Parent lock indicators are shown only when all children remain locked.

  • UI responsiveness — Optional GPU acceleration has been added in Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Icon Editor to improve rendering performance on compatible systems.

Fixes

  • Lock persistence — Locked state is preserved during regular editing operations.

  • Grouping safety — Grouping the root SVG element is blocked with a dedicated message.

  • Layer list UX — Better pointer/tooltip feedback over visibility and lock controls.

Version 1.20

New features

  • Text Tool — Insert text and convert it directly into editable paths with one glyph per character.

  • Color Palettes Panel — A new dockable panel to manage palettes and swatches:

    • Palette menu commands: Add, Remove, Rename, Sort Swatches, Add Icon Colors, Load, Save.

    • Swatch management: add, delete, rename (double-click), drag & drop reorder, delete by dragging outside.

    • Apply colors: left-click for fill, right-click for stroke.

  • Add All Icon Colors to Palette — New command in the Icon menu that collects all colors used in the current icon, removes duplicates, sorts by Hue, and adds them to the selected palette.

  • Drag & Drop Export — A new handy feature lets you Drag & drop the icon from the Preview Panel to external apps (it exports a temporary SVG).

Improvements

  • Pen Tool — Curves can be created during initial drawing by click‑and‑drag (no tool switch required).

  • Path Edition Tool — Corner rounding handles with drag and exact value entry (double‑click).

  • Control Bar — New Add Color to Palette command inside the fill/stroke color menu.

  • New Languages — 27 new languages added, for a total of 34: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian. Right-to-left UI is now supported for languages that require it.

Fixes

  • Color Palette workflow — Improved swatch insertion feedback and palette interaction behavior.

  • Path Editing — Better selection and manipulation of anchor and control points.

  • Canvas Zoom — Improved zoom in/out behavior for smoother navigation.

  • Preview Rendering — Improved icon preview when using currentColor.

  • Miscellaneous — Various minor bugs and usability improvements.

Version 1.10

Improvements

  • Enhanced Editor — The editor is more responsive, offering a smoother rendering frame rate.

  • Improved Element Selection — You can now choose how elements are picked when clicking in the canvas:

    • Wireframe (outline proximity) — selection is based on the proximity of the path outline.

    • Visible pixels (fill and/or stroke) — selection is based on the rendered pixels (fill and/or stroke).

    This setting is available in Edit ‣ Preferences on the Icon Editor tab.

  • Refined Layer Management — The element/layer list is easier and more intuitive to use.

  • Better SVG Compatibility — Support for a wider range of SVG files, with improved stability when opening problematic SVGs.

New features

  • Preview Window / Preview Panel — A dedicated preview allows you to inspect the final icon:

    • Light or dark background.

    • Smooth vector rendering or pixel (bitmap) preview.

    • Multiple zoom scales.

    • Live updates while you draw.

    The preview can be shown/hidden from View ‣ Preview Panel (Ctrl+F8).

  • Svgicons.com Integration — Directly open free icons from Svgicons.com inside IconVectors.

  • Upgraded Scale Tool — Scale elements by percentage, or enter exact dimensions.

  • Element Alignment — New commands to align elements horizontally or vertically (see the Element menu).

  • Element Distribution — New commands to distribute elements evenly with fixed spacing, both horizontally and vertically (see the Element menu).

  • Trace Bitmap — Import bitmap images and automatically trace them into black & white SVG paths.

    In the application, this feature is available as File ‣ Place & Trace Bitmap. Tracing also works when pasting bitmap images into the editor.

    Note

    Tracing works best with monochrome images (black & white). Images with multiple colors may produce unpredictable results. Higher-resolution images generally trace better.

Fixes

  • Bug Fixes — Numerous issues have been resolved.

Version 1.0

Version 1.0 introduced the core workflow and tools for creating pixel-perfect SVG icons.

Editor and workflow

  • SVG Vector Icon Editing — Open and save SVG icons. The editor is optimized for small vector artwork, enabling pixel-perfect icon design.

  • User-Friendly Editor — Adjustable zoom, grids, snap-to-grid, and other editor aids.

  • Developer-Oriented Design — Focused on icon creation for software development, with essential tools and developer-friendly features.

  • Layer Management — Organize artwork using layers and groups. Move, rename, group/ungroup, show/hide elements.

  • Multiple Instances Support — Open multiple editor windows and transfer elements between them.

Selection, drawing and editing tools

  • Selection Tool — Select, move, resize, rotate, and duplicate elements (with mouse and shortcuts).

  • Path Editing Tool — Edit vector paths: add/remove/move points, adjust Bézier curves, and convert points between smooth and angular types.

  • Pen Tool — Draw polylines and convert them into curves.

  • Geometric Shape Tools — Create rectangles, ellipses and lines. Shapes can be converted to paths for further editing.

Appearance and color

  • Advanced Color Editing — Edit fill/stroke colors with a color picker and pre-defined palettes.

  • Control Bar — Modify element properties (colors, stroke width, opacity, coordinates, canvas alignment) using the on-canvas controls.

  • Dark and Light UI Themes — A dark theme is available and the UI can follow the OS theme. You can also force the theme from Edit ‣ Preferences (F2).

Code and integration

  • Live Code Viewer — View the icon source code live in multiple formats, such as:

    • SVG

    • Minified SVG

    • XAML

    • SVG Symbol

    • VueTS

    • ReactTS

    • C++

  • Compatible with Industry Standards — Integrates with tools like Visual Studio, VS Code and Adobe Illustrator. Copy/paste SVG code between applications.

Vector operations and icon utilities

  • Boolean Operations — Union, subtract, intersect and exclude.

  • Icon Canvas and Artwork Resizing — Resize the canvas only, or resize the icon with its artwork.

  • Icon Color Adjustments — Brightness/contrast, hue/saturation, levels, desaturation and inversion.

  • Icon Color Variants Generator — Generate variations for states such as Hot, Disabled and Dark Mode.

Badges and overlays

  • Badge Overlay Addition — Add external icons as badge overlays with drag & drop.

  • Badge Overlay Cutout — Apply a cutout effect beneath the badge to improve visibility.

  • Badge Overlay Shadow — Add a shadow under badge overlays with one click for better depth.