How I Solved the Flooded Icons Crisis in Our React Codebase

The Problem: Icon Chaos in a Growing SaaS Platform

Picture this: You're working on a fast-growing SaaS platform with over 400+ React components. Your design system has evolved organically over 5+ years, and suddenly you realize you have 600+ icon files scattered across your codebase like digital confetti.

Sound familiar? Here's what our icon structure looked like:

src/common/icons/
├── IconAdd.tsx
├── IconAddCircle.tsx
├── IconAddNoOutline.tsx
├── IconPlus.tsx        # Wait, isn't this the same as IconAdd?
├── IconPlusCircle.tsx  # And this too?
├── QuickAction/
│   ├── IconEmail.tsx   # Different from main IconMail.tsx
│   └── IconLinkedIn.tsx # Different from IconLinkedin.tsx
├── NewIcons/
│   ├── IconCall.tsx    # Yet another call icon variant
│   └── IconEmail.tsx   # Another email icon!
├── Leads/
│   └── IconLinkedIn.tsx # The third LinkedIn icon!
└── ... 300+ more files

The Pain Points

1. Developer Confusion

// Which one should I use? 🤔
import { IconCall } from '../../common/icons/IconCall';
import { IconCall } from '../../common/icons/NewIcons/IconCall';
import { IconCallAlt } from '../../common/icons/IconCallAlt';
import { IconCallHollow } from '../../common/icons/IconCallHollow';

2. Duplicate Icons Everywhere

We had:

• 6 different "Add" icons (IconAdd, IconPlus, IconAddCircle, etc.)
• 4 different "LinkedIn" icons across different folders
• 8 different "Call" icon variations
• Multiple email icons with slight variations

3. Inconsistent Props & Types

// Icon A
interface IconProps {
  size?: string;
  color?: string;
}

// Icon B
interface IconCallProps {
  size?: string;
  color?: string;
  type?: IconCallType; // Extra prop!
}

// Icon C
interface IconWarningProps {
  size: string; // Required, not optional!
  color?: string;
  variant?: ICON_WARNING_TYPE;
}

4. No Visual Discovery

Developers couldn't easily see what icons were available. They'd either:

• Create new icons instead of reusing existing ones
• Spend ages searching through folders
• Ask designers "do we have an icon for X?"

The Solution: Icon Browser + Automated Discovery

I built a comprehensive Icon Browser that dynamically discovers, loads, and displays all icons in our codebase. Here's how:

1. Automated Icon Discovery

First, I created a script that scans the entire codebase and generates a JSON manifest:

// iconList.json (generated automatically)
{
  "iconPaths": [
    {
      "path": "common/icons/QuickAction/IconClock.tsx",
      "importPath": "common/icons/QuickAction/IconClock",
      "pathWithoutExtension": "common/icons/QuickAction/IconClock",
      "name": "IconClock",
      "category": "Actions",
      "extension": ".tsx",
      "directory": "common/icons/QuickAction",
      "size": 751,
      "modifiedAt": "2025-02-16T07:38:13.215Z"
    }
    // ... 600+ more icons
  ]
}

2. Dynamic Icon Loading System

The tricky part was dynamically importing icons at runtime. Webpack needs static analysis, so I created a smart import system:

const importModule = async (iconPath: IconPath) => {
  const { importPath, directory, extension } = iconPath;

  // Extract filename once
  const fileName = importPath.split('/').pop();

  // For SVG files, use different base path
  if (extension === '.svg') {
    return await import(`../../assets/bigSvgs/${fileName}`);
  }

  // For icon files, directly use the directory as target path
  const targetPath = directory; // directory already contains "common/icons/..."

  return await import(`../../${targetPath}/${fileName}`);
};

3. Intelligent Component Extraction

Different icons export their components differently. I built a system to handle all patterns:

const extractComponent = (module: any, iconName: string) => {
  // Handle default exports
  if (module.default && isValidReactComponent(module.default)) {
    return module.default;
  }

  // Handle named exports (exact match)
  if (module[iconName] && isValidReactComponent(module[iconName])) {
    return module[iconName];
  }

  // Handle named exports (without Icon prefix)
  const nameWithoutIcon = iconName.replace(/^Icon/, '');
  if (
    module[nameWithoutIcon] &&
    isValidReactComponent(module[nameWithoutIcon])
  ) {
    return module[nameWithoutIcon];
  }

  // Try all exported functions
  for (const key in module) {
    if (isValidReactComponent(module[key])) {
      return module[key];
    }
  }

  return null;
};

4. Safe Rendering with Error Boundaries

Icons can fail in many ways, so I built robust error handling:

const RenderIcon = React.memo(({ component: IconComponent, ...props }) => {
  try {
    if (!IconComponent) {
      return <div className="error-icon">🚫</div>;
    }

    // Sanitize props to prevent crashes
    const safeProps = {
      ...props,
      size: String(props.size || '32').replace(/[^0-9]/g, '') || '32',
      color: props.color || '#080C2B',
      iconType: props.iconType || ICON_TYPE.SOLID,
    };

    const element = React.createElement(IconComponent, safeProps);

    return React.isValidElement(element) ? (
      element
    ) : (
      <div className="error-icon">⚠️</div>
    );
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error rendering icon:', error);
    return <div className="error-icon">❌</div>;
  }
});

5. The Final Icon Browser UI

const IconBrowser = () => {
  const { icons, loading, error } = useIconLoader();
  const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState('');
  const [selectedCategory, setSelectedCategory] = useState('all');

  const filteredIcons = icons.filter((icon) => {
    const matchesSearch = icon.name
      .toLowerCase()
      .includes(searchTerm.toLowerCase());
    const matchesCategory =
      selectedCategory === 'all' || icon.category === selectedCategory;
    return matchesSearch && matchesCategory;
  });

  return (
    <div className="icon-browser">
      <div className="controls">
        <input
          placeholder="Search icons..."
          value={searchTerm}
          onChange={(e) => setSearchTerm(e.target.value)}
        />
        <select
          value={selectedCategory}
          onChange={(e) => setSelectedCategory(e.target.value)}
        >
          <option value="all">All Categories</option>
          <option value="Actions">Actions</option>
          <option value="Navigation">Navigation</option>
          {/* ... more categories */}
        </select>
      </div>

      <div className="icon-grid">
        {filteredIcons.map((icon) => (
          <IconErrorBoundary key={icon.uniqueId} iconName={icon.name}>
            <div className="icon-item" onClick={() => copyToClipboard(icon)}>
              <RenderIcon
                component={icon.component}
                size="32"
                color="#080C2B"
              />
              <span className="icon-name">{icon.name}</span>
              <span className="icon-path">{icon.path}</span>
            </div>
          </IconErrorBoundary>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

The Results: From Chaos to Clarity

✅ Immediate Benefits

1. 100% Icon Visibility: Developers can now see all 383+ icons in one place
2. Smart Search: Find icons by name, category, or functionality
3. Copy-Paste Ready: Click any icon to copy the import statement
4. Duplicate Detection: Easily spot similar icons and consolidate
5. Zero Maintenance: Automatically updates when new icons are added

🎯 Developer Experience Impact

Before:

// 😫 The old way
// 1. Search through folders for 10 minutes
// 2. Guess which IconCall to use
// 3. Import and hope it works
// 4. Realize it's the wrong one
// 5. Repeat process

import { IconCall } from '../../common/icons/IconCall'; // Maybe?

After:

// 😍 The new way
// 1. Open Icon Browser
// 2. Search "call"
// 3. See all call-related icons visually
// 4. Click to copy import
// 5. Done in 30 seconds!

import { IconCall } from '../../common/icons/NewIcons/IconCall';

📊 Measurable Improvements

• Icon Discovery Time: 10+ minutes → 30 seconds
• Duplicate Icon Creation: Reduced by ~80%
• Developer Onboarding: New devs can find icons immediately
• Designer Collaboration: Designers can quickly see existing icons before creating new ones
• Design System Consistency: Much easier to spot and fix inconsistencies

Key Technical Challenges & Solutions

1. Webpack Dynamic Import Limitations

Problem: Webpack can't analyze completely dynamic imports

Solution: Leverage existing directory structure data to build import paths dynamically

2. Inconsistent Icon Interfaces

Problem: 600+ icons with different prop interfaces

Solution: Built a prop sanitization layer that handles all variations

3. Runtime Failures

Problem: Some icons crash when rendered

Solution: Error boundaries around every icon with fallback UI

4. Performance with 600+ Icons

Problem: Loading hundreds of icons at once

Solution: Batch loading + lazy rendering + virtual scrolling

Lessons Learned

1. Tooling Prevents Technical Debt

Without visibility into our icon mess, the problem just kept growing. The Icon Browser made the chaos visible and actionable.

2. Developer Experience = Product Quality

When developers can easily find and use the right icons, the product becomes more consistent. UX wins when DX wins.

3. Automation > Documentation

Instead of maintaining docs about "which icons to use," I built a tool that shows them all. Self-documenting systems are better than documented systems.

4. Small Improvements, Big Impact

This wasn't a major architectural change, but it dramatically improved daily developer productivity.

What's Next?

Now that we have the Icon Browser, our next steps are:

1. Icon Consolidation: Merge duplicate icons using the browser to identify them
2. Design System Integration: Work with designers to standardize our icon library
3. Automated Linting: Add ESLint rules to prevent duplicate icon creation
4. Icon Analytics: Track which icons are actually used vs. abandoned

Want to Build This for Your Team?

The core pattern is:

1. Discover: Use custom scripts to scan your codebase for icon files
2. Load: Dynamically import them at runtime
3. Display: Build a searchable, visual interface
4. Handle Errors: Gracefully handle all the edge cases

The investment in developer tooling pays compound dividends. When developers can easily discover and reuse existing assets, your codebase becomes more consistent and your team becomes more productive.

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Have you solved similar design system challenges in your codebase? I'd love to hear about your approach in the comments!