In Icecat Release 234, we delivered a series of strategic updates across the Icecat ecosystem aimed at improving user experience, platform reliability, and operational efficiency. Key achievements include the introduction of the PartnerAuth Service for seamless SSO access to the Hexagon platform, enhanced visibility and stability of the MCP Server, new integrations and workflow improvements for partners and editorial team, and a range of technical and maintenance optimizations to ensure a robust and high-performing system. These enhancements collectively strengthen the Icecat ecosystem and prepare the platform for future growth and integrations. For additional details, please refer to the previous Icecat Release Notes.
In this sprint, we took a significant step toward integrating Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities across the Icecat ecosystem. Our goal is to ensure a seamless and secure access experience for all users allowing them to navigate between Icecat products and platforms without additional authentication barriers.
The main focus of this sprint was the delivery of the PartnerAuth Service, which lays the groundwork for enabling Icecat account–based access to the Hexagon platform.
Hexagon is a new-generation platform within the Icecat ecosystem, designed to provide advanced analytics, partner insights, and enhanced collaboration tools.
Later this year, Hexagon will be launched under a Freemium access model, allowing our partners to explore its capabilities with flexible access levels.
The PartnerAuth Service acts as a foundation layer for secure data exchange between Icecat and Hexagon. This service is responsible for validating Icecat accounts and generating authentication tokens that will later be used by the Hexagon API to grant access to users.
In the upcoming sprints, we will continue to build on this foundation by:
This update sets the stage for a unified experience across Icecat products, where one account unlocks access to multiple services safely and effortlessly.
In this sprint, we continued enhancing our Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server – Icecat’s AI-powered functionality that helps automate and optimize product content operations.
Our focus was twofold: increasing user awareness through improved visibility and reinforcing system reliability through automated testing.
To make the MCP Server more accessible to users who may not yet be familiar with this new AI capability, we have added a dedicated MCP banner on the icecat.biz Home page.
The banner serves as a prominent entry point for discovering the MCP functionality. A single click on the banner takes users directly to our official MCP manual, where they can learn how to start using the service.
This change helps promote MCP adoption among our partners by positioning it as a key innovation within the Icecat ecosystem.
In parallel, we continued improving the stability and reliability of the MCP infrastructure.
This sprint focused on expanding the autotest coverage for the private API that powers the MCP server.
These automated tests help us:
This continuous investment in test automation strengthens the technical foundation of MCP, ensuring consistent performance for all users.
In addition to the key improvements, this sprint included several important enhancements across the platform.
We added a direct connection to Amazon Ireland Vendor Central for users who want Icecat to push product data on their behalf.
Senior editors now have the ability to generate reports directly from the User List functionality in the Brand Cloud. This new capability allows senior editors to access reports without asking managers for them, saving time and simplifying workflows.
To improve data integrity, we implemented a safeguard in the category management system: features cannot be deleted from categories if they have at least one filled-in product value. This prevents accidental loss of valuable product information and ensures that category structures remain consistent and reliable across all products.
In this sprint, we also had technical upgrades, platform optimizations, and maintenance improvements across Icecat’s ecosystem. These enhancements strengthen system reliability, improve developer efficiency, and ensure smoother performance for both internal teams and end users.
Our platform and back office infrastructure received several key updates to improve stability and maintainability. GitLab has been upgraded to the latest version, ensuring our development environment is up-to-date and secure. We also cleaned up unused APIs and scripts, removing the LoginInfo API and automatically deleting obsolete MMOs. Developer tools and project structure were enhanced by updating Axios and Jest, and by organizing constants and types directories for better maintainability. Additionally, notifications were added for services whenever a category is changed or deleted, providing improved awareness of structural changes across the system.
On the front end, we added flexibility for managing default SEO keywords on product pages. This improvement helps the content manager to optimize product visibility more efficiently and ensures that our catalog remains search-engine-friendly.
To improve maintainability at the time, the category logo handler was migrated from Perl to PHP. Although PHP is now considered a legacy language within our group, this migration was initiated before that decision and has allowed the handler to be better integrated and managed within the existing system. The change ensures continuity and stability of the service while aligning with the technology decisions in place at the time of implementation.
The Video-Encoder service, responsible for processing videos linked to Multimedia objects, received several performance improvements. We added indexes to speed up data queries, optimized logic to skip unnecessary actions when data is already up-to-date, and improved database performance directly within the service. These optimizations allow us to process videos more efficiently, reducing latency and improving the overall user experience.
These technical and maintenance improvements provide long-term value by enhancing system reliability, operational efficiency, and developer productivity. Users benefit indirectly through faster processing, smoother content updates, and more robust platform performance.
This release reflects Icecat’s commitment to creating a connected, efficient, and reliable ecosystem for partners, editors, and users. By combining SSO foundations, improved AI capabilities, marketplace integrations, streamlined workflows, and technical optimizations, we are enhancing both the user journey and platform maintainability. These updates lay the groundwork for future features, automation, and service expansions, while maintaining high standards of data integrity, security, and performance.
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