Material Symbols Cli

Search, download, and generate code for Google Material Symbols icons. Use when user mentions 'material symbols', 'material icons', 'Google icons', 'Android icons', or needs to find/download icons for an app.

CLI for Google Material Symbols — search 3,900+ icons, download SVGs, generate Android Vector Drawable XML, and produce HTML/CSS code snippets.

When To Use This Skill

Use the material-symbols-cli skill when you need to:

• Search icons by keyword to find the right icon name
• Download SVG icons for Android, iOS, or web projects
• Generate Android Vector Drawable XML (res/drawable/) for Android apps
• Get HTML/CSS code snippets for using Material Symbols on the web
• Browse available icon styles (outlined, rounded, sharp) and weights (100–700)

Capabilities

• Search icons — Search 3,900+ Material Symbols by name (partial match, case-insensitive)
• Get icon details — View all available URLs for an icon (SVG, Android XML, browse link)
• Download SVGs — Download an icon SVG with custom style, fill state, and weight
• Generate Android XML — Generate Android Vector Drawable XML (20, 24, 40, 48 dp sizes)
• Batch Android download — Download all Android sizes for an icon into a directory
• Generate HTML/CSS — Get ready-to-use HTML link tags, CSS, and complete HTML pages
• Generate CSS — Get CSS with font-variation-settings for fill, weight, grade, and optical size
• Generate @font-face — Get self-hosting CSS and font download URLs
• Browse styles — List available icon styles (outlined, rounded, sharp)
• Browse weights — List available font weights (100–700) with descriptions

Common Use Cases

• "Find an icon for search functionality in my Android app"
• "Download the settings icon as SVG for my web app"
• "Generate Android XML drawables for the home icon"
• "I need HTML code to show the menu icon on my website"
• "Get the CSS for using Material Symbols with custom weight and fill"
• "Download all sizes of the favorite icon for my Android project"
• "Search for arrow-related icons"

Setup

If material-symbols-cli is not found, install and build it:

bash

bun --version || curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
npx api2cli bundle material-symbols
npx api2cli link material-symbols

api2cli link adds ~/.local/bin to PATH automatically. The CLI is available in the next command.

Always use --json flag when calling commands programmatically.

Working Rules

• Always use --json for agent-driven calls so downstream steps can parse the result.
• Start with --help if the exact action or flags are unclear instead of guessing.
• This CLI does not require authentication — it uses public npm/GitHub data.

Authentication

No authentication required. Material Symbols is open source (Apache 2.0).

Resources

icons

Search, get info, and download Material Symbols icons.

Command	Description	Key Flags
icons list	List all icons, optionally filtered by search	--search, --limit, --fields
icons search <query>	Search icons by keyword with details	--limit
icons get <name>	Get detailed info about an icon (all URLs)	—
icons download <name>	Download an icon SVG	--style, --fill, --weight, --output
icons styles	List available styles (outlined, rounded, sharp)	—
icons weights	List available weights (100–700)	—

android

Generate and download Android Vector Drawable XML icons.

Command	Description	Key Flags
android generate <name>	Generate Android XML for an icon	--style, --fill, --size, --output
android download <name>	Download all Android XML sizes for an icon	--style, --fill, --output-dir
android sizes	List available Android icon sizes	—

compose

Generate Kotlin/Jetpack Compose code snippets.

Command	Description	Key Flags
compose icon <name>	Generate a Kotlin composable function using the icon	--style, --size, --package, --composable-name
compose preview <name>	Generate a @Preview composable	--style, --size
compose migration-guide	Show migration guide from material-icons-extended to Material Symbols	—

code

Generate code snippets for using Material Symbols in your project.

Command	Description	Key Flags
code html <name>	Generate HTML/CSS snippet	--style, --fill, --weight, --grade, --size, --color
code css	Generate CSS with font-variation-settings	--style, --fill, --weight, --grade, --opsz
code font-face	Generate @font-face CSS for self-hosting	--style, --format

Output Format

--json returns a standardized envelope:

json

{ "ok": true, "data": { ... }, "meta": { "total": 42 } }

On error: { "ok": false, "error": { "message": "...", "status": 401 } }

Quick Reference

bash

material-symbols-cli --help                    # List all resources and global flags
material-symbols-cli <resource> --help         # List all actions for a resource
material-symbols-cli <resource> <action> --help # Show flags for a specific action

bash

# Search icons
material-symbols-cli icons list --search home --limit 10
material-symbols-cli icons search arrow --json

# Download an SVG
material-symbols-cli icons download search --style outlined --output icon.svg

# Generate Android XML
material-symbols-cli android generate search --style outlined --size 24 --output res/drawable/ic_search.xml

# Download all Android sizes
material-symbols-cli android download search --style outlined --output-dir app/src/main/res/drawable

# Generate web code
material-symbols-cli code html settings --style rounded --weight 500 --json

Global Flags

All commands support: --json, --format <text|json|csv|yaml>, --verbose, --no-color, --no-header

Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = API error, 2 = usage error