Figma Design Handoff

Figma dominates design tooling in 2026, with the majority of product teams using it as their primary design tool. A structured handoff workflow eliminates design drift — the gap between what designers create and what developers build. This skill covers the full pipeline: Figma Variables to design tokens, component spec extraction, Dev Mode inspection, Auto Layout to CSS mapping, and visual regression testing.

Quick Reference

Rule	File	Impact	When to Use
Figma Variables & Tokens	rules/figma-variables-tokens.md	CRITICAL	Converting Figma Variables to W3C design tokens JSON
Component Specs	rules/figma-component-specs.md	HIGH	Extracting component props, variants, states from Figma
Dev Mode Inspection	rules/figma-dev-mode.md	HIGH	Measurements, spacing, typography, asset export
Auto Layout → CSS	rules/figma-auto-layout.md	HIGH	Mapping Auto Layout to Flexbox/Grid
Visual Regression	rules/figma-visual-regression.md	MEDIUM	Comparing production UI against Figma designs

Total: 5 rules across 1 category

Figma Dev Mode MCP Server (2026 default path)

The Figma Dev Mode MCP Server replaces most manual REST + Dev Mode inspection. Configure it once and any Claude Code session with Figma access can pull design context, tokens, and code mappings directly.

Key tools (16 documented — developers.figma.com/docs/figma-mcp-server/tools-and-prompts):

Tool	Returns	Use for
get_design_context	Component tree + layout + typography + spacing	First call on any Figma node → grounds every other tool
get_variable_defs	Token collections (variables + modes + aliases)	Straight export to W3C DTCG JSON — skip the REST pipeline
get_code_connect_map	Figma node → codebase component mapping	Linking generated code to existing repo components
get_screenshot	PNG of a node or frame	Screenshot for visual diffing / embed in chat
search_design_system	Token/component search across libraries	Finding existing tokens before generating new ones
use_figma (beta)	Writes back to the Figma canvas	Code-to-design round-trip (write-to-canvas)
generate_figma_design (beta)	Creates a design frame from a prompt	AI-generated design stubs for handoff

Install: Enable in the Figma desktop app under Preferences → Dev Mode MCP Server, or use the remote MCP endpoint (no desktop required for read tools). Pair with Code Connect UI (GA 2026) to map Figma node IDs → codebase components without manual JSON wiring.

// .claude/mcp-servers/figma.json — sample config
{
  "figma": {
    "command": "figma-mcp",
    "args": ["--mode=dev"],
    "env": { "FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${FIGMA_TOKEN}" }
  }
}

Quick Start

# 1. Export Figma Variables → tokens.json (using Figma REST API)
curl -s -H "X-Figma-Token: $FIGMA_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.figma.com/v1/files/$FILE_KEY/variables/local" \
  | node scripts/figma-to-w3c-tokens.js > tokens/figma-raw.json

# 2. Transform with Style Dictionary
npx style-dictionary build --config sd.config.js

# 3. Output: CSS custom properties + Tailwind theme
# tokens/
#   figma-raw.json        ← W3C Design Tokens format
#   css/variables.css     ← --color-primary: oklch(0.65 0.15 250);
#   tailwind/theme.js     ← module.exports = { colors: { primary: ... } }

// W3C Design Tokens Format (DTCG)
{
  "color": {
    "primary": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": "{color.blue.600}",
      "$description": "Primary brand color"
    },
    "surface": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": "{color.neutral.50}",
      "$extensions": {
        "mode": {
          "dark": "{color.neutral.900}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

// Style Dictionary config for Figma Variables
import StyleDictionary from 'style-dictionary';

export default {
  source: ['tokens/figma-raw.json'],
  platforms: {
    css: {
      transformGroup: 'css',
      buildPath: 'tokens/css/',
      files: [{ destination: 'variables.css', format: 'css/variables' }],
    },
    tailwind: {
      transformGroup: 'js',
      buildPath: 'tokens/tailwind/',
      files: [{ destination: 'theme.js', format: 'javascript/module' }],
    },
  },
};

Handoff Workflow

The design-to-code pipeline follows five stages:

1. Design in Figma — Designer creates components with Variables, Auto Layout, and proper naming
2. Extract Specs — Use Dev Mode to inspect spacing, typography, colors, and export assets
3. Export Tokens — Figma Variables → W3C tokens JSON via REST API or plugin
4. Build Components — Map Auto Layout to CSS Flexbox/Grid, apply tokens, implement variants
5. Visual QA — Compare production screenshots against Figma frames with Applitools

┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐
│  Figma File  │────▶│  Dev Mode    │────▶│  tokens.json  │
│  (Variables, │     │  (Inspect,   │     │  (W3C DTCG    │
│  Auto Layout)│     │   Export)    │     │   format)     │
└─────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └───────┬───────┘
                                                  │
                                                  ▼
┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐
│  Visual QA  │◀────│  Components  │◀────│ Style         │
│  (Applitools,│     │  (React +   │     │ Dictionary    │
│   Chromatic) │     │  Tailwind)   │     │ (CSS/Tailwind)│
└─────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └───────────────┘

Rules

Each rule is loaded on-demand from the rules/ directory:

<!-- load:rules/figma-variables-tokens.md --> <!-- load:rules/figma-component-specs.md --> <!-- load:rules/figma-dev-mode.md --> <!-- load:rules/figma-auto-layout.md --> <!-- load:rules/figma-visual-regression.md -->

Auto Layout to CSS Mapping

Quick reference for the most common mappings:

Figma Auto Layout	CSS Equivalent	Tailwind Class
Direction: Horizontal	flex-direction: row	flex-row
Direction: Vertical	flex-direction: column	flex-col
Gap: 16	gap: 16px	gap-4
Padding: 16	padding: 16px	p-4
Padding: 16, 24	padding: 16px 24px	py-4 px-6
Align: Center	align-items: center	items-center
Justify: Space between	justify-content: space-between	justify-between
Fill container	flex: 1 1 0%	flex-1
Hug contents	width: fit-content	w-fit
Fixed width: 200	width: 200px	w-[200px]
Min width: 100	min-width: 100px	min-w-[100px]
Max width: 400	max-width: 400px	max-w-[400px]
Wrap	flex-wrap: wrap	flex-wrap
Absolute position	position: absolute	absolute

Visual QA Loop

// Applitools Eyes + Figma Plugin — CI integration
import { Eyes, Target } from '@applitools/eyes-playwright';

const eyes = new Eyes();

await eyes.open(page, 'MyApp', 'Homepage — Figma Comparison');

// Capture full page
await eyes.check('Full Page', Target.window().fully());

// Capture specific component
await eyes.check(
  'Hero Section',
  Target.region('#hero').ignoreDisplacements()
);

await eyes.close();

The Applitools Figma Plugin overlays production screenshots on Figma frames to catch:

• Color mismatches (token not applied or wrong mode)
• Spacing drift (padding/margin deviations)
• Typography inconsistencies (font size, weight, line height)
• Missing states (hover, focus, disabled not implemented)

Key Decisions

Decision	Recommendation
Token format	W3C Design Tokens Community Group (DTCG) JSON
Token pipeline	Figma REST API → Style Dictionary → CSS/Tailwind
Color format	OKLCH for perceptually uniform theming
Layout mapping	Auto Layout → CSS Flexbox (Grid for 2D layouts)
Visual QA tool	Applitools Eyes + Figma Plugin for design-dev diff
Spec format	TypeScript interfaces matching Figma component props
Mode handling	Figma Variable modes → CSS media queries / class toggles

Anti-Patterns (FORBIDDEN)

• Hardcoded values: Never hardcode colors, spacing, or typography — always reference tokens
• Skipping Dev Mode: Do not eyeball measurements — use Dev Mode for exact values
• Manual token sync: Do not manually copy values from Figma — automate with REST API
• Ignoring modes: Variables with light/dark modes must map to theme toggles, not separate files
• Screenshot-only QA: Visual comparison without structured regression testing misses subtle drift
• Flat token structure: Use nested W3C DTCG format, not flat key-value pairs

References

Resource	Description
references/figma-to-code-workflow.md	End-to-end workflow, toolchain options
references/design-dev-communication.md	PR templates, component status tracking
references/applitools-figma-plugin.md	Setup, CI integration, comparison config

Related Skills

• ork:design-system-tokens — W3C token architecture and Style Dictionary transforms
• ork:ui-components — shadcn/ui and Radix component patterns
• ork:accessibility — WCAG compliance for components extracted from Figma