intellij-sdk-code-samples/topics/reference_guide/icons.md

Working with Icons

Adding, organizing, and working with IntelliJ Platform and custom icons.

Code: AllIcons

UI Guidelines: Icons list,

See also: UI FAQ - Icons

Icons are used widely by IntelliJ Platform plugins. Plugins need icons mostly for actions, custom component renderers, , etc.

A , which represents the plugin itself, has different requirements than icons used within plugins.

Platform vs. Custom Icons

Plugins should reuse existing platform icons whenever possible.

Use the Icons list to browse existing icons. Platform icons are located in AllIcons. Icons from plugins are located in the corresponding <PLUGIN_NAME>Icons class (e.g., GithubIcons).

If custom icons are required, refer to detailed design guide.

Organizing Icons

See Action Basics sample plugin as a reference.

In the case of a Gradle-based project, icons should be placed in the resources directory. If the project is DevKit-based, the recommended approach is to put icons to a dedicated source root marked as Resources Root, e.g., icons or resources.

If the icons are referenced only in plugin.xml or via @Presentation icon attribute, then they can be referenced by paths. In case the icons are referenced from the code and/or XML many times, it's convenient to organize them in an icon holder class.

Icons Class

Starting with 2021.2, the *Icons class is not required to be located in the icons package but can use the plugin's package:

icons.MyIcons → com.example.plugin.MyIcons.

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Define a class/interface in a top-level package called icons holding icon constants as static fields:

package icons;

public interface MyIcons {
  Icon Action = IconLoader.getIcon("/icons/action.svg", MyIcons.class);
  Icon ToolWindow = IconLoader.getIcon("/icons/toolWindow.svg", MyIcons.class);
}

When using Kotlin, fields must be annotated with @JvmField:

package icons

object MyIcons {
  @JvmField
  val Action = IconLoader.getIcon("/icons/action.svg", javaClass)
  @JvmField
  val ToolWindow = IconLoader.getIcon("/icons/toolWindow.svg", javaClass)
}

The getIcon() method of IconLoader can be used to access the icons. The path to the icon passed in as argument to IconLoader.getIcon() must start with leading /.

Using Icons

Icons defined inside plugin.xml with icon attribute for <action> or extension point, as well as in @Presentation icon attribute, can be referenced in two ways.

By Path

To reference an icon by path, provide the path relative to the resources directory, e.g., for icons located in my-plugin/src/main/resources/icons directory:

<actions>
  <action icon="/icons/myAction.svg" ... />
</actions>

<extensions defaultExtensionNs="com.intellij">
  <toolWindow icon="/icons/myToolWindow.svg" ... />
</extensions>

By Icons Class

In the case of icon holder class, reference the icon constants. Note that if the class is located in the top-level icons package, the icons package name will be automatically prefixed and must not be specified. In case of placing the class in a custom package, the full package name must be provided, e.g.:

<actions>
  <!-- referencing icons from 'MyIcons' class
       in top-level 'icons' package -->
  <action icon="MyIcons.MyAction" ... />
</actions>

<extensions defaultExtensionNs="com.intellij">
  <!-- referencing icons from 'MyIcons' in custom package -->
  <toolWindow icon="com.example.plugin.MyIcons.MyToolWindow" ... />
</extensions>

Icon Files

The IntelliJ Platform supports HiDPI displays and comes with a bundled dark theme. Thus, every icon should have a dedicated variant for dark theme and optionally for HiDPI. If the original icon works well enough in dark theme, a dark variant is not required.

The platform will load the best matching icon variant (if available) depending on the current environment.

Icon Sizes

Required icon sizes depend on the usage as listed in the following table:

Usage	Icon Size
Node, Action, Filetype	16×16
Tool window	13×13
Tool window for New UI	20×20 and 16×16 (see )
Editor gutter	12×12
Editor gutter for New UI	14×14

As SVG icons can be scaled arbitrarily, they provide good results in HiDPI environments or when used in combination with bigger screen fonts (e.g., in Presentation Mode).

A base size denoting the size (in the user space) of the rendered image in 1x scale should be provided. The size is set via the width and height attributes omitting the size units. If unspecified, it defaults to 16×16 pixels.

A minimal SVG icon file:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="16" height="16">
  <rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="green"/>
</svg>

HiDPI Version

The icon graphics of such an icon can be expressed in more details via double precision. If the icon graphics are simple enough so that it renders perfectly in every scale, then the HiDPI version can be omitted. The HiDPI version should still provide the same base size.

Filenames

All icon files must be placed in the same directory following this naming pattern:

Theme/Resolution	Filename	Icon Size
Light	iconName.svg	W×H
Dark	iconName_dark.svg	W×H
Light + HiDPI	iconName@2x.svg	2×W × 2×H
Dark + HiDPI	iconName@2x_dark.svg	2×W × 2×H

Animated Icons

Animated icons are a way to show that a plugin is now performing some long-time action, e.g., when the plugin is loading some data.

Any animated icon is a set of frames that loop with a delay.

To create a new animated icon, use the AnimatedIcon. To create an icon where frames follow each other with the same delay, use a constructor that accepts a delay and icons:

AnimatedIcon icon = new AnimatedIcon(
    500,
    AllIcons.Ide.Macro.Recording_1,
    AllIcons.Ide.Macro.Recording_2);

To create an icon from frames with different delays, use AnimatedIcon.Frame. Each frame represents an icon, and a delay until the next frame.

Use the predefined AnimatedIcon.Default loader icon to indicate a long process. This icon has a larger AnimatedIcon.Big version.

Add true AnimatedIcon.ANIMATION_IN_RENDERER_ALLOWED client property to list, table, and tree components to repaint animated icons automatically. See ANIMATION_IN_RENDERER_ALLOWED's Javadoc for details.

Icon Tooltips

Register a resource bundle via to provide tooltips automatically for all SimpleColoredComponent renderers.

Create icon.<icon-path>.tooltip key in the resource bundle, where <icon-path> is the icon path with leading slash and .svg removed and slashes replaced with dots (e.g., /nodes/class.svg → icon.nodes.class.tooltip).

New UI Icons

See for guidelines and overview.

To fully support the New UI, the plugin must provide additional dedicated icons and mapping information. This allows supporting both UI variants at the same time, depending on what the user has selected.

1. Create a new expui directory in the icon root directory (Reference).
2. Copy all icons for the New UI into this directory.
3. Create an empty $PluginName$IconMappings.json mapping file in the resources directory.
4. Register $PluginName$IconMappings.json in plugin.xml via the .

Sample setup from Maven plugin:

• Icon resources root directory: images
• Mapping file: MavenIconMappings.json
• Extension point registration (<iconMapper mappingFile="MavenIconMappings.json"/>): plugin.xml

Mapping Entries

All New UI icons must be mapped in the $PluginName$IconMappings.json mapping file.

For each New UI icon, add a mapping entry inside expui block. Each directory starts a new block containing all its entries (see linked MavenIconMappings.json sample from above).

In this example, the icon root directory is named icons:

{
  "icons": {
    "expui": {
      "dirName": {
        "icon1.svg": "icons/icon1.svg",
        "icon2.svg": "icons/icon2.svg"
      },
      "anotherDir": {
        "anotherIcon.svg": "images/anotherIcon.svg"
      }
    }
  }
}

If one new icon replaces several old icons, use a JSON list. Example from PlatformIconMappings.json:

"vcs.svg": [
  "toolwindows/toolWindowChanges.svg",
  "vcs/branch.svg"
]

New UI Tool Window Icons

The New UI uses outlined icons for tool windows that have a size of 20×20 pixels and 16×16 pixels in Compact Mode. To provide all necessary variants of a tool window icon use the following filename scheme:

Theme/Mode	Filename	Icon Size
Light	toolWindowIcon@20x20.svg	20×20
Dark	toolWindowIcon@20x20_dark.svg	20×20
Light + Compact Mode	toolWindowIcon.svg	16×16
Dark + Compact Mode	toolWindowIcon_dark.svg	16×16

New UI Icon Colors

To work as expected, the New UI requires specific colors for icon content. This is necessary for situations where tool window buttons are active, during which the background is highlighted. To enhance contrast, the IntelliJ Platform dynamically alters the icon's content color to white.

Hence, for the creation of light and dark mode variants, plugin authors must use the following prescribed colors within their icons:

Theme	Color Code
Light	#6C707E ▆
Dark	#CED0D6 ▆

Various online resources, like the UI Guidelines here and here, will be updated soon and currently don't include information about the New UI.

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