figma-use

name	figma-use
description	Control Figma via CLI — create shapes, frames, text, components, set styles, layout, variables, export images. Use when asked to create/modify Figma designs or automate design tasks.

figma-use

CLI for Figma. Two modes: commands and JSX.

# Commands
figma-use create frame --width 400 --height 300 --fill "#FFF" --layout VERTICAL --gap 16
figma-use create icon mdi:home --size 32 --color "#3B82F6"
figma-use set fill 1:23 "$Colors/Primary"

# JSX (props directly on elements, NOT style={{}})
echo '<Frame p={24} bg="#3B82F6" rounded={12}>
  <Text size={18} color="#FFF">Hello</Text>
</Frame>' | figma-use render --stdin --x 100 --y 100

Before You Start

figma-use status  # Check connection

If not connected — start Figma with remote debugging:

# macOS
open -a Figma --args --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Windows
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Figma\Figma.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Linux
figma --remote-debugging-port=9222

Figma 126+ blocks remote debugging. Run figma-use patch once to fix, then restart Figma. Click Always Allow on the keychain prompt. Re-run after Figma updates.

Can't patch? Use figma-use daemon start --pipe — launches Figma with debug pipe, no patching needed.

Start Figma with --remote-debugging-port=9222 and you're ready.

Non-default port? If Figma is on another port, pass --port <N> to any command (or set the FIGMA_PORT env var). Errors will show the correct port.

open -a Figma --args --remote-debugging-port=9333
figma-use get components --port 9333

Two Modes

Imperative — single operations:

figma-use create frame --width 400 --height 300 --fill "#FFF" --radius 12
figma-use set fill <id> "#FF0000"
figma-use node move <id> --x 100 --y 200

Declarative — render JSX trees:

echo '<Frame p={24} gap={16} flex="col" bg="#FFF" rounded={12}>
  <Text size={24} weight="bold" color="#000">Title</Text>
  <Text size={14} color="#666">Description</Text>
</Frame>' | figma-use render --stdin --x 100 --y 200

stdin supports both pure JSX and full module syntax with imports:

import { Frame, Text, defineComponent } from 'figma-use/render'

const Button = defineComponent(
  'Button',
  <Frame bg="#3B82F6" p={12} rounded={6}>
    <Text color="#FFF">Click</Text>
  </Frame>
)

export default () => (
  <Frame flex="row" gap={8}>
    <Button />
    <Button />
  </Frame>
)

Elements: Frame, Rectangle, Ellipse, Text, Line, Star, Polygon, Vector, Group, Icon, Image, Instance

Use <Instance> to create component instances:

<Frame flex="row" gap={8}>
  <Instance component="59763:10626" />
  <Instance component="59763:10629" />
</Frame>

⚠️ Always use --x and --y to position renders. Don't stack everything at (0, 0).

Icons

150k+ icons from Iconify by name:

figma-use create icon mdi:home
figma-use create icon lucide:star --size 48 --color "#F59E0B"
figma-use create icon heroicons:bell-solid --component  # as Figma component

In JSX:

<Icon name="mdi:home" size={24} color="#3B82F6" />

Images

Load images from URL:

<Image src="https://example.com/photo.jpg" w={200} h={150} />

Export JSX

Convert Figma nodes back to JSX code:

figma-use export jsx <id>           # Minified
figma-use export jsx <id> --pretty  # Formatted

# Format options
figma-use export jsx <id> --pretty --semi --tabs

# Match vector shapes to Iconify icons (requires: npm i whaticon)
figma-use export jsx <id> --match-icons
figma-use export jsx <id> --match-icons --icon-threshold 0.85 --prefer-icons lucide,tabler

Round-trip workflow:

# Export → edit → re-render
figma-use export jsx <id> --pretty > component.tsx
# ... edit the file ...
figma-use render component.tsx --x 500 --y 0

Compare two nodes as JSX:

figma-use diff jsx <from-id> <to-id>

Export Storybook (Experimental)

Export all components on current page as Storybook stories:

figma-use export storybook                      # Output to ./stories/
figma-use export storybook --out ./src/stories  # Custom output dir
figma-use export storybook --match-icons        # Match vectors to Iconify icons
figma-use export storybook --no-semantic-html   # Disable semantic HTML conversion

Semantic HTML: By default, components are converted to semantic HTML elements based on their names:

• Input/*, TextField/* → <input type="text">
• Textarea/* → <textarea>
• Checkbox/* → <input type="checkbox">
• Radio/* → <input type="radio">
• Button/* → <button>
• Select/*, Dropdown/* → <select>

Use --no-semantic-html to disable this and keep <Frame> elements.

Generates .stories.tsx files:

• ComponentSets → React component with props + stories with args
• VARIANT properties → Union type props (variant?: 'Primary' | 'Secondary')
• TEXT properties → Editable string props (label?: string)
• Components grouped by / prefix → Button/Primary, Button/Secondary → Button.stories.tsx

Example output for Button with variant and label:

// Button.tsx
export interface ButtonProps {
  label?: string
  variant?: 'Primary' | 'Secondary'
}
export function Button({ label, variant }: ButtonProps) {
  if (variant === 'Primary')
    return (
      <Frame>
        <Text>{label}</Text>
      </Frame>
    )
  // ...
}

// Button.stories.tsx
export const Primary: StoryObj<typeof Button> = {
  args: { label: 'Click', variant: 'Primary' }
}

Variables as Tokens

Reference Figma variables in any color option with var:Name or $Name:

figma-use create rect --width 100 --height 100 --fill 'var:Colors/Primary'
figma-use set fill <id> '$Brand/Accent'

In JSX:

<Frame bg="$Colors/Primary" />
<Text color="var:Text/Primary">Hello</Text>

Style Shorthands

Size & Position:

Short	Full	Values
w, h	width, height	number or "fill"
minW, maxW	minWidth, maxWidth	number
minH, maxH	minHeight, maxHeight	number
x, y	position	number

Layout:

Short	Full	Values
flex	flexDirection	"row", "col"
gap	spacing	number
wrap	layoutWrap	true
justify	justifyContent	"start", "center", "end", "between"
items	alignItems	"start", "center", "end"
p, px, py	padding	number
pt, pr, pb, pl	padding sides	number
position	layoutPositioning	"absolute"
grow	layoutGrow	number
stretch	layoutAlign	true → STRETCH

Appearance:

Short	Full	Values
bg	fill	hex or $Variable
stroke	strokeColor	hex
strokeWidth	strokeWeight	number
strokeAlign	strokeAlign	"inside", "outside"
opacity	opacity	0..1
blendMode	blendMode	"multiply", etc.

Corners:

Short	Full	Values
rounded	cornerRadius	number
roundedTL/TR/BL/BR	individual corners	number
cornerSmoothing	squircle smoothing	0..1 (iOS style)

Effects:

Short	Full	Values
shadow	dropShadow	"0px 4px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.25)"
blur	layerBlur	number
overflow	clipsContent	"hidden"
rotate	rotation	degrees

Text:

Short	Full	Values
size	fontSize	number
weight	fontWeight	"bold", number
font	fontFamily	string
color	textColor	hex

Grid (CSS Grid layout):

Short	Full	Values
display	layoutMode	"grid"
cols	gridTemplateColumns	"100px 1fr auto"
rows	gridTemplateRows	"auto auto"
colGap	columnGap	number
rowGap	rowGap	number

Components (via .figma.tsx)

First call creates master, rest create instances:

import { defineComponent, Frame, Text } from 'figma-use/render'

const Card = defineComponent(
  'Card',
  <Frame p={24} bg="#FFF" rounded={12}>
    <Text size={18} color="#000">
      Card
    </Text>
  </Frame>
)

export default () => (
  <Frame gap={16} flex="row">
    <Card />
    <Card />
  </Frame>
)

figma-use render ./Card.figma.tsx --x 100 --y 200
figma-use render --examples  # Full API reference

Variants (ComponentSet)

import { defineComponentSet, Frame, Text } from 'figma-use/render'

const Button = defineComponentSet(
  'Button',
  {
    variant: ['Primary', 'Secondary'] as const,
    size: ['Small', 'Large'] as const
  },
  ({ variant, size }) => (
    <Frame
      p={size === 'Large' ? 16 : 8}
      bg={variant === 'Primary' ? '#3B82F6' : '#E5E7EB'}
      rounded={8}
    >
      <Text color={variant === 'Primary' ? '#FFF' : '#111'}>
        {variant} {size}
      </Text>
    </Frame>
  )
)

Creates real ComponentSet with all combinations.

Diffs

Compare frames and generate patch:

figma-use diff create --from <id1> --to <id2>

--- /Card/Header #123:457
+++ /Card/Header #789:013
 type: FRAME
 size: 200 50
-fill: #FFFFFF
+fill: #F0F0F0

⚠️ Context lines need space prefix: size: 200 50 not size: 200 50

Apply with validation:

figma-use diff apply patch.diff            # Fails if old values don't match
figma-use diff apply patch.diff --dry-run  # Preview
figma-use diff apply patch.diff --force    # Skip validation

Visual diff (red = changed pixels):

figma-use diff visual --from <id1> --to <id2> --output diff.png

⚠️ After initial render, use diffs or direct commands. Don't re-render full JSX trees.

Query (XPath)

Find nodes using XPath selectors:

figma-use query "//FRAME"                              # All frames
figma-use query "//FRAME[@width < 300]"                # Frames narrower than 300px
figma-use query "//COMPONENT[starts-with(@name, 'Button')]"  # Name starts with
figma-use query "//FRAME[contains(@name, 'Card')]"     # Name contains
figma-use query "//SECTION/FRAME"                      # Direct children
figma-use query "//SECTION//TEXT"                      # All descendants
figma-use query "//*[@cornerRadius > 0]"               # Any node with radius
figma-use query "//FRAME[@width > 100 and @width < 500]"  # Range

Attributes: name, width, height, x, y, cornerRadius, opacity, visible, characters, fontSize, layoutMode, itemSpacing

XPath functions: contains(), starts-with(), string-length(), not(), and, or

Common Commands

# Create
figma-use create frame --width 400 --height 300 --fill "#FFF" --layout VERTICAL --gap 16
figma-use create text --text "Hello" --font-size 24 --fill "#000"
figma-use create rect --width 100 --height 50 --fill "#F00" --radius 8

# Find
figma-use query "//FRAME[@name = 'Header']"
figma-use find --name "Button"
figma-use find --type FRAME
figma-use selection get

# Explore
figma-use node ancestors <id>              # Get parent chain (useful for navigation)
figma-use node bindings <id>               # Get variable bindings for fills/strokes
figma-use page bounds                      # Find free space for new objects
figma-use variable find "Text/Neutral"     # Search variables by name

# Modify
figma-use set fill <id> "#FF0000"
figma-use set radius <id> 12
figma-use set text <id> "New text"
figma-use set text-resize <id> height   # Wrap text (height auto, fixed width)
figma-use set layout <id> --mode VERTICAL --gap 12 --padding 16
figma-use set layout <id> --mode GRID --cols "1fr 1fr 1fr" --rows "auto" --gap 16
figma-use node move <id> --x 100 --y 200
figma-use node resize <id> --width 300 --height 200
figma-use node delete <id> [id2...]
figma-use arrange                              # Tidy up overlapping frames on canvas
figma-use node to-component <id>

# Export
figma-use export node <id> --output design.png
figma-use export screenshot --output viewport.png

# Navigate
figma-use page list
figma-use page set "Page Name"
figma-use viewport zoom-to-fit <id>

# Daemon (faster sequential commands)
figma-use daemon start                     # Background daemon
figma-use daemon start --pipe              # Launch Figma with debug pipe (no patching)
figma-use daemon stop
figma-use daemon status

Full reference: REFERENCE.md

Analyze

Discovery tools for understanding design systems:

# Repeated patterns — potential components
figma-use analyze clusters
figma-use analyze clusters --min-count 5

# Color palette
figma-use analyze colors                   # Usage frequency
figma-use analyze colors --show-similar    # Find similar colors to merge

# Typography
figma-use analyze typography               # All font combinations
figma-use analyze typography --group-by size

# Spacing
figma-use analyze spacing --grid 8         # Check 8px grid compliance

# Accessibility snapshot — extract interactive elements
figma-use analyze snapshot                 # Full page
figma-use analyze snapshot <id> -i         # Interactive only (buttons, inputs, etc.)
figma-use analyze snapshot --depth 6       # Limit depth

Use cases:

• Component extraction — find copy-pasted elements that should be components
• Design audit — identify inconsistencies, similar-but-different elements
• Design system creation — discover existing colors, typography, spacing patterns
• Onboarding — understand structure of unfamiliar design files

Output shows counts, examples, and warnings (e.g., off-grid spacing, hardcoded colors).

Lint (Experimental)

Check designs for consistency and accessibility issues:

figma-use lint                          # Recommended preset
figma-use lint --page "Components"      # Lint specific page
figma-use lint --preset strict          # Stricter rules
figma-use lint --preset accessibility   # A11y only (contrast, touch targets)
figma-use lint --rule color-contrast    # Single rule
figma-use lint -v                       # With fix suggestions
figma-use lint --json                   # For CI/CD
figma-use lint --list-rules             # Show all rules

Presets: recommended, strict, accessibility, design-system

17 rules:

• Design tokens: no-hardcoded-colors, consistent-spacing, consistent-radius, effect-style-required
• Layout: prefer-auto-layout, pixel-perfect
• Typography: text-style-required, min-text-size, no-mixed-styles
• Accessibility: color-contrast, touch-target-size
• Structure: no-default-names, no-hidden-layers, no-deeply-nested, no-empty-frames, no-groups
• Components: no-detached-instances

Exit code 1 if errors found — use in CI pipelines.

Output

Human-readable by default — prefer this to save tokens. Use --json only when you need to parse specific fields programmatically.

Node IDs

Format: session:local (e.g., 1:23). Inside instances: I<instance-id>;<internal-id>.

Get IDs from figma-use selection get or figma-use node tree.

Colors

Hex: #RGB, #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA Variables: var:Colors/Primary or $Colors/Primary

---

Best Practices

Always verify visually

figma-use export node <id> --output /tmp/check.png

Always zoom after creating

figma-use viewport zoom-to-fit <id>

Position multiple renders separately

echo '...' | figma-use render --stdin --x 0 --y 0
echo '...' | figma-use render --stdin --x 500 --y 0    # Not at same position!

Arrange after batch creation

After creating multiple frames/sections, run arrange to spread them out:

figma-use arrange --mode grid --gap 60       # Grid layout (default)
figma-use arrange --mode squarify --gap 60   # Smart packing for mixed sizes

Copy between pages

figma-use node clone <id> [id2...] --json | jq -r '.[].id'
figma-use node set-parent <new-id> --parent <target-page-id>
figma-use node move <new-id> --x 50 --y 50

Replace node

# Replace with component (creates instance)
figma-use node replace-with <id> --target <component-id>

# Replace with JSX from stdin
echo '<Icon name="lucide:x" size={16} />' | figma-use node replace-with <id> --stdin

Convert to component

figma-use node to-component <id>
figma-use node to-component "1:2 1:3 1:4"  # Multiple

Instance internal IDs

figma-use set text "I123:456;789:10" "New text"  # I<instance>;<internal>

Row layout needs width

# ❌ Collapses to 1×1
<Frame flex="row" gap={8}>

# ✅ Explicit width
<Frame w={300} flex="row" gap={8}>

Sections

figma-use create section --name "Buttons" --x 0 --y 0 --width 600 --height 200
figma-use node set-parent <id> --parent <section-id>

⚠️ Deleting section deletes all children!

Comment-driven workflow

Wait for designer feedback and react:

figma-use comment watch --json

Output when comment arrives:

{
  "id": "123456",
  "message": "Make this button bigger",
  "user": { "handle": "designer" },
  "client_meta": { "node_id": "1:23" }
}

Agent workflow — run once per comment, then restart:

1. figma-use comment watch --json — blocks until new comment
2. Parse the JSON, get message and target_node (exact element under comment)
3. Process the request (modify design, etc.)
4. Reply: figma-use comment add "Done!" --reply <comment-id>
5. Resolve: figma-use comment resolve <comment-id>
6. Exit. External runner restarts for next comment.

Options:

• --timeout 60 — exit after 60s if no comment (returns {"timeout":true})
• --interval 5 — poll every 5s (default: 3s)

Vector paths — iterative workflow

Draw, screenshot, adjust, repeat — like a designer tweaking Bezier curves:

# 1. Draw initial shape
figma-use create vector --path "M 50 0 L 100 100 L 0 100 Z" --fill "#F00"

# 2. Check result
figma-use export node <id> --output /tmp/shape.png

# 3. Adjust: scale, move, flip
figma-use path scale <id> --factor 0.8
figma-use path move <id> --dx 20 --dy -10
figma-use path flip <id> --axis x

# 4. Or replace path entirely
figma-use path set <id> "M 50 0 C 80 30 80 70 50 100 C 20 70 20 30 50 0 Z"

# 5. Screenshot again, repeat until good
figma-use export node <id> --output /tmp/shape.png

For complex illustrations, import SVG:

figma-use import --svg "$(cat icon.svg)"