Design Atlas
Type
icon library
Verdict
Useful
Licence
Conditional licence, mixedmixedFreemium. The free docs put icons under CC 4.0, fonts under SIL OFL 1.1 and code under MIT, while GitHub and the npm packages say MIT. Pro is $39 a year for one user, $99 for up to 8 seats and $249 for up to 30, under a proprietary licence
Agent channels
cli, skill
Pricing
freemium
Reviewed

← Atlas · Topics: icons, assets, agents-and-prompts

Boxicons ​

Type
icon library
Verdict
Useful
Licence
Conditional licence, mixedmixedFreemium. The free docs put icons under CC 4.0, fonts under SIL OFL 1.1 and code under MIT, while GitHub and the npm packages say MIT. Pro is $39 a year for one user, $99 for up to 8 seats and $249 for up to 30, under a proprietary licence
Agent channels
cli, skill
Pricing
freemium
Reviewed

What it is ​

Boxicons is a long-running open-source icon set that relaunched as version 3 in February 2026 with a paid Pro tier. The repository moved from atisawd/boxicons to box-icons/boxicons (about 3,200 stars at review). The free core holds 1,884 outline (Basic) icons, a matching Filled set and 295 brand logos on a 24×24 grid. According to the site, Pro raises the total past 50,000 across five packs (Basic, Filled, Duotone, Duotone Solid, Duotone Mix), three styles (regular, rounded, sharp) and three weights. The site banner already announces a v4.

When to open it ​

Open it when you want a friendly, rounded UI set with a matching filled twin and brand logos in one family, or when a project already uses the older v2 bx classes. Pro makes sense only if you need the duotone packs or several weights.

Most useful ​

  • Framework packages: @boxicons/react, @boxicons/vue, @boxicons/svelte and @boxicons/js, tree-shakeable, with pack, size, flip, rotate and removePadding props
  • Icon fonts on a CDN: versioned stylesheets at cdn.boxicons.com, with bx, bxf and bxl class prefixes for outline, filled and brands
  • Font helpers: CSS classes for rotation, flipping, borders, pulled icons and simple animations
  • Figma and Framer plugins: colour, padding, flip and rotation controls inside the design tool
  • Legacy site: v2.boxicons.com keeps the old catalogue for projects that have not migrated

Using it with agents ​

The @boxicons/core package includes a SKILL.md written for coding assistants. It lists the version, every free icon name, the install commands and naming rules (kebab-case files become PascalCase components, and names that start with a digit get an Icon prefix). The interactive npx @boxicons/cli offers to copy it into .cursor/skills/boxicons/. Other agents can read it from node_modules/@boxicons/core/SKILL.md. There is no MCP server or llms.txt.

Watch out for ​

  • Two generations live side by side. The npm package boxicons (about 240,000 downloads a month) is still v2.1.4 from 2022, with different class names, while the new @boxicons/* packages are far less used so far
  • The licence story is inconsistent: the docs say CC 4.0 for icons, while the repository and npm list MIT. Keep attribution to be safe
  • Pro terms forbid using Pro icons in open-source projects, public kits or templates for third-party platforms, and in AI training data. Seats are capped per plan
  • The CLI writes your Pro API key into .npmrc, so keep that file out of public repositories
  • Much of the site pushes sign-up and Pro, so check the free filter when browsing

Reusable ideas ​

  • Ship a SKILL.md with a full name catalogue inside the core package so agents stop guessing icon names
  • Encode pack, style and weight in package names so installs stay small and predictable
  • Keep the previous major version online at its own subdomain while users migrate
  • Give icon-font users helper classes for rotation, flipping and animation, not only glyphs

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