Minecraft Material Icons

A VS Code icon theme for Minecraft mod development that combines:

1. Custom Minecraft icons in the minimalist Material style (a single-color folder with a pixel-art symbol in a lighter tint of the same color) for the folders and files you find in Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt mods, written in Java or Kotlin;
2. General icons derived from the Material Icon Theme (MIT license) for everything else: JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, Python, JSON, YAML, XML, Markdown, images, fonts, Docker, Git, Gradle, npm, databases, common folders and more.

Every Minecraft folder has a closed and an open icon. Like the Material Icon Theme, each icon uses a single color: the folder uses Material's folder shape, and the symbol is a solid, monochrome shape in a light tint of that color. Folders that Material already had (src, config, test, java, gradle...) keep Material's colors; new ones use the same Material Design palette. Mod files (fabric.mod.json, *.mixins.json, pack.mcmeta...) get colorful pixel-art icons with a dark outline so they stand out. The same icons work in dark, light and high-contrast themes.

Unofficial project. Not affiliated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. No Minecraft textures or assets were copied: the icons are conceptual (portal, block, gear, world, database, sword, network, code...).

Installation

From the Marketplace: search for Minecraft Material Icons in the VS Code Extensions view, or run ext install hadrykkxd.minecraft-material-icons from Quick Open (Ctrl+P).

From a .vsix file: open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X), click ... (top right), choose Install from VSIX... and select minecraft-material-icons-1.1.2.vsix.

From the terminal:

code --install-extension "minecraft-material-icons-1.1.2.vsix"

Enable the theme: Ctrl+Shift+P → Preferences: File Icon Theme → Minecraft Material Icons.

There are two options in the picker:

• Minecraft Material Icons: with the expand/collapse arrows (›/⌄) next to folders.
• Minecraft Material Icons (No Arrows): hides the Explorer arrows. The open/closed folder icon shows the state.

Hiding the vertical tree lines: they are a VS Code setting, not part of the theme. Open Ctrl+Shift+P → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON) and add:

"workbench.tree.renderIndentGuides": "none"

The extension is standalone: it does not modify your Material Icon Theme installation. Both can be installed side by side; whichever you pick in File Icon Theme is used.

Priority rules

When a name has more than one association, this order applies:

1. Specific Minecraft folder association (folderNames, folderNamesExpanded, rootFolderNames, rootFolderNamesExpanded)
2. Specific Minecraft file association (mod fileNames and fileExtensions)
3. General Material Icon Theme association
4. Generic icon (Material's default file/folder)

General extensions keep the Material icon: .java, .json, .js, .ts, .py, .md, .yml, .yaml, .xml, .toml, .gradle, .properties, .png, .jpg, .svg, .gif, .wav and .ogg.

Mod files with a Minecraft icon: fabric.mod.json, quilt.mod.json, mods.toml, neoforge.mods.toml, *.mixins.json, *.accesswidener, accesstransformer.cfg, pack.mcmeta, pack.png, *.mcmeta, *.nbt, *.snbt, *.schem, *.litematic, *.mcfunction, *.fsh, *.vsh, *.bbmodel, sounds.json, *.zs, *.lang and language files (en_us.json, pt_br.json...).

VS Code matches names case-insensitively: META-INF and meta-inf use the same icon.

Folders: found and predicted

Last scan: project chaoticdimensions (2026-11-11): Minecraft 1.20.1, Fabric, 134 Java / 0 Kotlin files.

Project-specific names: registry, chaoticdimensions, worldgen, mixin, compat, versions, progression.

Development

Requirements: Node.js 18 or later.

npm install        # installs vsce, the official Material Icon Theme (npm, MIT) and helpers
npm run package    # generates icons, merges the theme, validates and creates dist/minecraft-material-icons-<version>.vsix

Structure

package.json                     extension manifest
themes/                          generated themes (do not edit by hand)
icons/minecraft/                 generated Minecraft SVGs (custom)
icons/material/                  SVGs copied from Material Icon Theme (MIT)
images/icon.png                  extension icon
src/minecraft-icons.json         ← config: categories, colors, folder and file names
src/glyphs.mjs                   ← folder symbols (solid, single-color pixel art)
src/file-glyphs.mjs              ← mod file icons (colorful pixel art + PALETTE)
scripts/                         build, validation, scan, add-folder, .vsix check
licenses/, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md   Material Icon Theme license and credits

Adding new folders later

npm run add-folder -- --list                              # available categories and glyphs
npm run add-folder -- dims dimensions                     # "dims" uses the portal icon
npm run add-folder -- mymod chaoticdimensions --root      # also when it is the workspace root
npm run add-folder -- quests --new --glyph trophy --color "#8a6a1a"   # new category
npm run add-folder -- --file mymod.mixins.json mixin-config
npm run add-folder -- --ext mcpack pack-meta
npm run package

You can also edit src/minecraft-icons.json directly. For a new drawing, add a glyph to src/glyphs.mjs (folders) or src/file-glyphs.mjs (files): a grid of up to 8×8 using # (pixel) and . (empty) for folders, or PALETTE color letters for files. The folder color comes from color in src/minecraft-icons.json, and the symbol automatically uses a light tint of it (or glyphColor, if you set one).

Scanning your mod project

npm run scan -- "C:\path\to\your\mod"
npm run package

The scan detects the Minecraft version, the loader (Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Quilt or Architectury), Java and/or Kotlin, the Gradle files, the wrapper, subprojects and source sets, including repositories with several loaders/versions in subfolders. It also lists the folders it found (with a Minecraft icon, with a Material icon or without an icon) and the predicted-only categories. It never creates or changes folders in your project. After npm run package, the folder table in this README marks the folders that were found.

Updating the extension

1. Make your changes (add-folder, src/minecraft-icons.json, src/glyphs.mjs or src/file-glyphs.mjs).
2. Bump the version: npm version patch --no-git-tag-version (or minor/major).
3. Record the change in CHANGELOG.md.
4. Run npm run package to build the new dist/minecraft-material-icons-<version>.vsix.
5. Publish: on marketplace.visualstudio.com/manage, open the extension's ⋮ menu → Update → upload the new .vsix. Or install the new .vsix the same way as above. The ID stays the same (hadrykkxd.minecraft-material-icons), so it replaces the previous version. Reload the window if asked.

Updating the general Material icons:

npm install material-icon-theme@latest --save-dev --save-exact
npm run package

The build copies only the required SVGs again, reapplies the Minecraft priority and validates everything.

Credits and license

• Minecraft icons, scripts and configuration: © hadryphern, MIT. See LICENSE. Source code: https://github.com/hadryphern/minecraft-material-icons
• Folder shapes (closed/open) and general icons: Material Icon Theme © Material Extensions, MIT license. A copy of the original license is in licenses/material-icon-theme-LICENSE, with details in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. The SVGs come unmodified from the official material-icon-theme npm package.
• Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang Studios/Microsoft. This extension is not official.