Each shown at 128px (hero) and 64/48/32/16px (sizes strip). The 16px column is the truth-teller — if it doesn't read at favicon size, it fails. Top 3 picks flagged. Ordered roughly by fit for this product.
Direct connection to the product story. Your README already uses the broom emoji 🧹. Reads as "cleaning" instantly, even at 16px. Risk: too literal — verges on emoji territory. Mitigated by the gradient backplate and the geometric stroke treatment.
Literally shows the product output: a clean table, sparkle = "we cleaned this." Conveys "data tool" without ambiguity. The sparkle motif is increasingly the AI-tool default though, so it may read more "AI-adjacent" than you want.
Wordmark as icon. The "D" already lives in your sidebar — extracting it as the full app icon is the lowest-risk, highest-consistency move. Ink-on-cream matches your color tokens. Looks deliberate, not decorative. This is what Linear, Vercel, and Notion do.
Rows of data with a check on one. Clear "data + verified" reading. The check disappears at 16px so the meaning shifts — reads as generic "list" or "rows" small. Acceptable, but loses specificity at favicon size.
Funnel = filtering = cleaning. Conceptually accurate but the funnel icon is owned by analytics tools (Mixpanel, Amplitude). Risk of category confusion. The green palette also doesn't connect to your warm-editorial direction.
Cells of data with one "validated." Composition is too busy — three elements competing at small sizes. Falls back to just a checkmark at 16px, which is generic. Skip unless you specifically want the cells-of-data motif.
Sieve = separating clean from dirty. Conceptually strong, visually weak. Reads as "bowl" or "U-shape" at small sizes. Requires explanation. Not recommended.
Fraunces "D" on cream. Editorial, distinctive, premium. Loses contrast at 16px (cream-on-cream desktop wallpapers vanish). Better as a wordmark in marketing than as an OS icon. Pick if you're going Fraunces direction and want full brand consistency.
Magnifier + data rows. Degrades into "just a magnifying glass" at 16px — which means it reads as "search" not "data cleaning." Wrong category signal at the small sizes that matter most.
Many inputs → cleaning step → clean output. Pipeline metaphor. Too much information at small sizes; degrades to "two dots." Better as an explainer diagram than as an app icon.
Abstract hex/cube. Reads as "tech tool" or "database" but not specifically data cleaning. Generic. Already used by too many products (CockroachDB, several blockchain logos). Skip.
Arc + trailing particles = motion of cleaning. Most abstract option, most differentiated. Risk: too abstract to communicate "data tool" without context. Works well at 16px because the arc shape is preserved.