In Icecat Release 233, we focused on enhancing the platform across multiple areas to deliver better performance, improved user experience, and clearer product guidance. This release includes updates to search functionality, MCP Server, mobile navigation, platform stability, and code modernization. Each improvement is designed to make Icecat more reliable, intuitive, and efficient for our users and partners. For additional details, please refer to the previous Icecat Release Notes.
At Icecat, we aim to make product search as smooth and accurate as possible. However, until recently, the Icecat.biz search functionality sometimes caused frustration: filters were being automatically applied in the wrong way based on keywords.
Instead of helping, this behavior created confusion. For example, when a user searched for “laptop”, the system incorrectly auto-applied the filter for Laptop Spare Parts — instead of showing the most demanded Laptop category. This led to incomplete or misleading results, forcing users to clear filters and restart their search.
What We Fixed:
This improvement is already live. From now on, searches on Icecat.biz will always present results that truly match user query, leaving users in full control of filtering.
We’ll continue refining the search experience based on users feedback and search best practices.
At Icecat, we continue to invest in the MCP Server to ensure it can seamlessly support the growing number of partners who rely on it for product content delivery. In this sprint, our goal was to strengthen the foundation, improve performance, and ensure the scalability needed for increasing adoption.
In this sprint, our development team focused on making key technical optimizations to the MCP Server. These improvements are designed to handle higher loads and guarantee the best possible performance for our partners. As usage continues to grow, these optimizations ensure that MCP Server remains stable, responsive, and capable of meeting demanding integration needs.
In addition to backend improvements, we also worked on raising awareness of the MCP Server among our users. To achieve this, we added a direct link to the Icecat MCP manual to the Embed block on Icecat.biz product pages.
This small but effective promotion is aimed at informing users about our new service encouraging partners to explore the benefits of MCP integration.
With MCP Server, our ambition is to provide a reliable, high-performance content delivery service that scales with partner needs. We will continue to invest in both technical optimizations and user adoption efforts to make sure MCP becomes an essential part of the Icecat ecosystem.
At Icecat, we are committed to continuously enhancing the usability of our platform across all devices. In this sprint, we focused on improving the mobile experience of Icecat.biz, ensuring that important information is easier to access and more intuitive to navigate.
On our mobile pages, we provide valuable information for manufacturers and channel partners, structured into sections and sub-sections. Previously, the sub-section menu was placed at the very top of the mobile screen.
This layout created two problems:
To address this, we made a simple but effective change – the sub-section menu has been moved below the section content. Users now see the core information immediately, without distraction. The menu remains available for those who want to explore sub-sections further, but only after engaging with the main content.
This improvement is already live on Icecat.biz mobile version. It’s a small adjustment, but one that makes a meaningful difference in how manufacturers and channel partners interact with our content on the go.
In this sprint, our development team worked on strengthening the Icecat platform. The work included infrastructure upgrades, performance optimizations, and reducing legacy dependencies – all contributing to a more scalable, maintainable, and user-friendly system.
We upgraded the Kubernetes cluster, improving stability and scalability. This ensures the platform remains reliable under higher traffic loads and can adapt to future growth.
We applied optimizations that decrease the system load related to Feature Value Translations, resulting in smoother performance and better responsiveness.
To modernize our database: a migration plan was created, unused tables were identified for deletion, three tables were successfully migrated to UTF8MB4, supporting a wider range of international characters and improving compatibility.
The Family Logo handler was migrated from Perl to PHP, reducing reliance on legacy code.
The useful_features table update mechanism was also migrated and optimized from Perl to PHP, improving both performance and maintainability.
We refactored and organized utility functions (Array and Object). This cleanup improves code quality, consistency, and maintainability, making the system easier to extend and debug.
These updates ensure that Icecat remains a reliable, efficient, and user-friendly platform for our partners and customers. As always, we encourage feedback from users and partners to continue shaping Icecat’s roadmap and delivering solutions that truly meet user needs.
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