MōIcons – AI‑powered macOS app‑icon generator

What it is – A native macOS desktop app that lets you create .icns app‑icon bundles using OpenAI’s image‑generation API. You type a short description (and optionally supply a reference picture), get three AI‑generated variants, refine the one you like, and export a ready‑to‑use icon set.

Key capabilities

• Prompt‑driven generation – Text prompts are wrapped in a fixed system prompt that enforces macOS‑style constraints (centered subject, no text, squircle‑friendly layout).
• Three variants per request – Quickly compare three AI‑produced images.
• Reference image support – Attach a PNG (sketch, logo, etc.) to steer the model.
• Refine workflow – After picking a variant, subsequent generations use its original artwork as the reference, preserving masks, margins and shadows.
• Accurate preview – Generates a 1024 × 1024 PNG with macOS‑15 contour, transparent margins and a soft outer shadow; the UI shows this final PNG directly.
• One‑click export – The preview PNG is resized to all standard .iconset sizes and packed into a proper .icns bundle, preserving transparency and shadow.
• Safety nets – Unsaved work triggers a confirmation dialog; production builds include optional Sentry telemetry.

How it works

1. Write a short description (e.g. “blue clipboard with folded corner”).
2. (Optional) attach a reference PNG.
3. Press Generate → the app calls the OpenAI API and returns three 1024 × 1024 PNGs.
4. Choose a variant; the app enters refine mode, using the chosen image’s raw artwork as the next prompt’s reference.
5. Iterate until satisfied, then click Save to write YourName.icns and YourName.iconset to disk.

Technical stack

• Platform: macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon)
• Runtime: Node.js 24 LTS
• Framework: MōBrowser (Electron‑like) 2.13+
• UI: React (renderer process)
• AI backend: OpenAI image generation API
• Build: npm scripts (dev, dev:mock, build)
• Telemetry: Optional Sentry (enabled via SENTRY_DSN).

Project layout

• src/main/ – Main process: window handling, IPC, prompt construction, icon‑set assembly.
• src/renderer/ – React UI, image preparation, state machine for generation/refinement.

Installation & usage

# clone the repo, then:
npm install          # install dependencies
npm run dev           # launch in dev mode (real OpenAI calls)
npm run dev:mock     # launch with a mock provider for UI work
npm run build         # produce a production bundle

The built app is signed and notarized; pre‑built binaries are available on the GitHub releases page.

Why it matters Designers and developers often need custom macOS icons but lack the time or skill to draw them at every required size. MōIcons automates the creative step with a large‑language‑model‑backed image generator and handles the tedious resizing and packaging into a standards‑compliant .icns bundle, all within a native macOS experience.

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All information above is taken directly from the repository’s README.