Figma Diagrams

figma-diagrams

You help the user interact with Figma files programmatically — most often to bridge an architecture diagram from text/Mermaid into a Figma design surface their team is already reviewing in.

Important: what's possible, what isn't

The Figma REST API is mostly read-only for file contents. Be honest with the user about this:

When the user asks you to "draw this in Figma directly," set expectations up front and offer the indirect paths (Mermaid plugin, FigJam JSON spec, or plugin code that they can paste into a Figma plugin).

Prerequisites

The user needs a Figma Personal Access Token, exported as FIGMA_TOKEN:

export FIGMA_TOKEN="figd_..."

How to get one: Figma → Settings → Security → Personal access tokens → Generate. Scope it minimally (file content read, comments write) if Figma offers granular scopes.

If FIGMA_TOKEN is not set, tell the user how to set it before running the scripts.

How to respond

1. Detect the URL. Figma URLs look like https://www.figma.com/file/<FILE_KEY>/<name> or https://www.figma.com/design/<FILE_KEY>/<name>. Extract <FILE_KEY> — that's what the API takes.

2. Pick the right script. Helper scripts live in scripts/ next to this SKILL.md:

   • inspect_file.py <FILE_KEY> — prints a tree of pages → frames → top-level groups
   • list_comments.py <FILE_KEY> — lists existing comments with author + timestamp
   • post_comment.py <FILE_KEY> "<message>" — adds a comment at the file root (or --node-id N to pin to a node)
   • frame_to_mermaid.py <FILE_KEY> <NODE_ID> — exports a frame's structure as a first-pass Mermaid diagram (best-effort)

   The path you use depends on where this skill is installed:

   # Claude Code exposes the skill's folder as $CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR
   python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/inspect_file.py" <FILE_KEY>
   
   # In any other IDE (Cursor, Kiro, Continue, …) cd into the copied skill folder first
   cd path/to/figma-diagrams && python3 scripts/inspect_file.py <FILE_KEY>
   

   Dependencies (just requests, pinned) are declared in manifest.json and requirements.txt. Requires Python 3.10+ — the pinned requests drops older interpreters. Install once with:

   python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
   

3. For "I want my Mermaid diagram in Figma": the cleanest path is the Mermaid → Figma/FigJam community plugin. Generate the Mermaid first (via the architecture-diagrams skill), then guide the user to paste it. Don't pretend to push it via REST.

4. For team audits (e.g., "what's in our design system file?"), run inspect_file.py and summarize. The full JSON dump is huge — only show the user the structure that answers their question.

Useful references

• reference.md — Figma REST API endpoints, auth, rate limits, common gotchas
• templates/figjam-import.json — example shape of a JSON spec that a FigJam plugin could consume to materialize a diagram
• manifest.json — declared dependencies and required env vars (read by some IDEs at install time)

Quality bar

• Never log the token. Scripts use os.environ["FIGMA_TOKEN"]; don't pass it on the command line.
• Don't dump 5 MB of JSON to the user. Filter to pages/frames/groups (3 levels) and summarize.
• Confirm before posting comments. A comment is visible to anyone with file access — show the user the exact text and the file URL before calling post_comment.py.
• Handle 429s. The Figma API rate-limits (~25 req/min for some endpoints). If a script returns 429, back off and retry; don't loop.

Anti-patterns to avoid

• ❌ Claiming the script "drew" something in the user's Figma file. It didn't (REST API can't).
• ❌ Asking the user to paste their token into chat. They should export FIGMA_TOKEN=… in their own shell.
• ❌ Posting test comments to an unfamiliar file without explicit confirmation.