Release 262 focuses on improving the reliability, performance, and accessibility of Icecat product content. We are preparing Icecat Live for delivery through a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve content loading times and reduce the risk of service interruptions. We also improved product search on icecat.biz to find products even when product codes are entered with minor differences. In addition, we have prepared the foundation for improved catalog coverage statistics. This release also introduces Kazakh language support, a new search filter for Guarantee Conditions in Icecat Brand Cloud, and multiple improvements to the tools used by channel partners, brand owners, and Icecat editors. Together, these updates help make Icecat services more reliable, product data easier to access, and everyday workflows more efficient.
For additional details, please refer to the previous Icecat Release Notes.
Icecat Live allows channel partners to display Icecat product content directly on their own product pages. To improve the reliability and availability of this content, we are preparing to move Icecat Live delivery to a global Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Channel partners rely on Icecat Live to display product information to their customers. If the service becomes unavailable, product content may be missing from their websites. A global CDN will help reduce this risk by distributing content delivery across multiple locations worldwide instead of relying on a single location.
This improvement will benefit both channel partners displaying Icecat content and brands whose product information is shown through Icecat Live. Release 262 includes the technical preparation for this change. We will announce the switch to CDN delivery in a future release note.
Today, Icecat Live content is delivered from a single location. After the switch to a global CDN, content will be delivered from multiple locations worldwide. This will reduce the risk of service interruptions affecting product content on channel partners’ websites.
We have also added independent monitoring to detect availability issues and determine whether they relate to Icecat or the CDN.
We have prepared a fallback procedure that allows Icecat Live to return to direct delivery from Icecat if the CDN becomes unavailable. We have already included this procedure in our incident mitigation protocols.
After the switch, Icecat Live content will be delivered from servers closer to shoppers, instead of from a single location in Europe. This will help improve loading times, especially for popular products. The CDN will also serve certain publicly available product content directly, making repeated requests faster.
The switch to CDN delivery will not require any changes to existing Icecat Live integrations. All URLs, endpoints, parameters, response formats, and authentication methods will remain unchanged. The product content will also stay the same. Only the way it is delivered to channel partners’ websites will change.
This release makes product search more forgiving when a product code isn’t typed perfectly and lays the groundwork for redesigned Catalog Coverage statistics, so customers can see how well Icecat covers their catalog in each language, with figures refreshed automatically after every product-matching run.
Searching by product code now works even when the first characters are missing. Instead of an empty results page, users see matching product (s) with similar product codes.
This means a partially remembered or partially copied code still leads to the right product, so users spend less time retyping and retrying searches.
This release delivers the technical foundation for the upcoming Catalog Coverage statistics page on Icecat.biz. Once the page is in place, customers will be able to:
To make this possible, this release introduces:
Release 262 also includes four smaller changes, each requested by a different group of Icecat partners.
Icecat now supports the Kazakh language (kk_KZ) for product content. Brand owners can publish product information in Kazakh, and channel partners selling in Kazakhstan can request product content in this language. If a product does not have a Kazakh translation, Russian will be used as the fallback language.
Please note that separate Index files for the Kazakh locale are not available at this stage.
Icecat Brand Cloud users can now filter products by the availability of Guarantee Conditions documents. The new filter is available under Other Digital Assets and can be combined with other search filters, including one or more locales and International.
This improvement helps Icecat editors and brand owners quickly find products with Guarantee Conditions documents.
The filter also works with documents uploaded before this release, so you don’t need to upload them again.
The Icecat taxonomy team can now remove a category feature and all its values from affected products in a single action. Before the removal, the system shows how many products will be affected. The system also records the changes in product history.
This improvement simplifies taxonomy maintenance and helps keep product data accurate and up to date.
For channel partners, removed features will no longer appear in product content. Affected products will be included in the next daily Index file, so partners can receive these changes through their existing integrations.
The Skipped Products Report now provides a more accurate reason when a product cannot be processed due to missing identifiers. If a product has a recognized brand but no product code, and its GTIN cannot be found in Icecat, the report will show No mandatory product identifier provided instead of Brand name is missing.
The CSV report also includes a specific reason code, missing_mpn_gtin_not_found, to distinguish this case from products with no identifiers at all.
This improvement helps partners better understand why products were skipped and what information they need to correct in their feeds.
The report format, email recipients, and delivery schedule remain unchanged.
Much of the work in Release 262 happens behind the scenes. These improvements help keep product data accurate, services reliable, and performance stable. They also help us detect and resolve issues before they affect our partners.
The Icecat MCP server is now automatically updated in the public MCP Registry after each production release that changes its description. This ensures that AI assistants connecting to Icecat can always find up-to-date connection information.
We have improved product retrieval in the Icecat Live API to ensure consistent results across different product identifiers. Products can now be retrieved by brand and product code in the same way as with an Icecat ID or GTIN.
The Import tool now correctly applies the gallery image order for each language. When an import file contains images for multiple languages, the system places each image in the position specified in the file, regardless of the language column order. This ensures that product galleries display images in the correct order for each language.
The Product Gallery now prevents fully white images from being added, including during uploads and image cropping. We also removed existing fully white images from product galleries. This helps prevent empty-looking images from appearing on product pages. Additionally, when editors try to modify brand-owned products without the required permissions, the system now displays a clear Access denied message instead of a technical error.
In Icecat Brand Cloud, users can now delete a language entry that contains only bullet points, even if no product description is available. This removes the need to add a description before deleting the entry.
We have improved how content import and export tools handle connection interruptions. If a connection fails, the system now correctly identifies the error instead of treating it as a successful response. Imports continue processing the remaining rows, while only affected rows are marked as failed. Reports are still generated and delivered, making issues easier to identify and resolve.
We have corrected file size information for downloads from data.icecat.biz. Download tools now receive the correct file size, helping prevent incomplete downloads.
Allowed IP addresses now automatically receive the correct access permissions when an account’s subscription level changes. This ensures access updates immediately, without manually changing the IP address list.
The Upload Product Feed tool now provides clearer error messages when a file uploaded from a computer cannot be processed.
The Distributor Coverage Report now includes product gallery changes in the Modified during selected period and Modified and Created statistics. Products with image-only updates are now correctly counted.
We improved loading on the Coverage from File page. Its sections now load independently, and the list of running reports refreshes automatically. This makes the page more responsive and easier to use.
We have removed 516 duplicate restricted values across 313 categories. This improves data consistency and helps brand owners map values correctly during automated imports.
We have fixed layout issues in product datasheet PDFs to prevent the disclaimer, product image, and Catalog Object Cloud QR code from overlapping. The QR code is now displayed correctly and can be scanned again.
On October 21, we released new PHP security updates. Right after that icecat.biz was successfully updated in production, including product pages, REST services, and the Brand Statistics API.
Keeping our technology up to date helps protect Icecat services against security vulnerabilities and ensures stable performance.
We have also improved our internal update and release processes:
These changes help us respond faster to security risks, maintain reliable services, and reduce the risk of disruptions for our partners.
We have improved our monitoring systems to detect issues earlier and provide more accurate information about the health of Icecat services.
Monitoring now distinguishes between successful checks and checks that have stopped running. We have also improved monitoring for the Product Gallery, brand-to-reseller data synchronization, and platform logs.
These changes help our technical teams identify and resolve issues faster, often before they affect our partners.
We have also improved the performance and reliability of the Product Gallery. A new caching layer reduces requests to the storage system and speeds up image delivery. Currently, 47% of requests and 63% of transferred data are served from cache. We have also improved how gallery requests are processed to prevent large background operations from slowing down regular product requests.
These improvements help ensure faster image loading, more stable product pages, and quicker detection and resolution of technical issues.
We completed several technical improvements to support upcoming releases.
These changes create a stronger technical foundation for future development, helping us improve performance, reliability, and maintainability of Icecat services.
Release 262 improves the reliability, performance, and quality of Icecat services. Icecat Live is being prepared for global CDN delivery to improve content availability and reduce interruption risk. Channel partners benefit from improved product search, more accurate coverage and Skipped Products Reports, and more reliable export downloads. Brand owners can now publish content in Kazakh, use improved restricted-value lists, and search for products by the availability of Guarantee Conditions documents. Behind the scenes, we have also strengthened platform security, monitoring, and performance, including a successful upgrade to the latest PHP version. These improvements help make Icecat product content more reliable, easier to manage, and more accessible.
To learn more about these improvements or discuss their impact on an existing integration, contact your Icecat account manager.
Read further: Icecat, e-commerce, ecommerce, Icecat, release notes
