figma-api

Figma CLI — a subcommand-per-endpoint wrapper of the official Figma REST API, plus a plugin bridge for the canvas writes the REST API can't do.

figma-api auth figd_xxx                 # personal access token (or FIGMA_TOKEN env)
figma-api me
figma-api file https://figma.com/design/AbC123/My-File
figma-api comment-add AbC123 "looks great" --node 1:2

Inspired by the Figma MCP servers (read design context) but extended to the full REST surface and to live canvas manipulation through a companion plugin.

Install

npm i -g @todoforai/figma-api    # or: bun add -g @todoforai/figma-api
figma-api --help

Auth

Personal Access Token, stored in ~/.config/figma-api/credentials.json, or passed via FIGMA_TOKEN (FIGMA_API_TOKEN) env. OAuth bearer tokens also work.

# https://www.figma.com/settings → Personal access tokens → Generate
figma-api auth figd_xxx

Scopes: reads need file_content:read; writes need the matching scope (file_comments:write, file_dev_resources:write, webhooks:write, file_variables:* is Enterprise-only).

REST commands

Every file command takes a raw file key or a Figma URL (node-id is parsed from the URL).

Read: me, file, nodes, file-meta, versions, images, image-fills, comments, reactions, projects, project-files, components/team-components/ component, component-sets/team-component-sets, styles/team-styles/style, variables-local/variables-published, dev-resources, webhooks/webhook/ webhook-requests, analytics, activity-logs, payments, oembed.

Write: comment-add/comment-delete, reaction-add/reaction-delete, variables-modify, dev-resource-add/dev-resources-bulk-add/dev-resources-update/ dev-resource-delete, webhook-create/webhook-update/webhook-delete.

Run figma-api <command> --help for parameters, scopes and examples.

Plugin bridge — canvas writes

The REST API cannot create canvas nodes (frames/text/shapes) or edit variables off-Enterprise. The Figma Plugin API can. The bridge lets the CLI drive a small companion plugin:

figma-api run '...'  ──POST──▶  relay (figma-api bridge)  ◀──poll──  Figma plugin
                                                          ──result─▶  (runs on canvas)

Setup:

1. figma-api bridge — start the relay (keep it running).
2. Figma desktop → Plugins → Development → Import plugin from manifest → plugin/manifest.json. Run it, paste the relay URL, click Connect.
3. Drive it from the CLI:

figma-api ping
figma-api run 'const t = figma.createText(); await figma.loadFontAsync({family:"Inter",style:"Regular"}); t.characters="Hi from the CLI"; figma.currentPage.appendChild(t); return t'
figma-api run @make-card.js

run executes arbitrary Figma Plugin API code (figma in scope, await and return supported), so it subsumes any draw/create helper.

Cross-machine: cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8917 and paste that https URL into the plugin.

⚠️ Security: the relay has no auth and run executes arbitrary code in your Figma document. Only use it on a trusted machine/network; don't expose the tunnel URL publicly or run code you don't trust.

Note: development (unpublished) plugins can only be imported in the Figma desktop app, not the browser. Once published, the browser works too.

Why both REST and a plugin?

| | REST API | Plugin bridge | |---|----------|---------------| | Files / nodes / images (read) | ✅ | ✅ | | Comments, dev resources, webhooks | ✅ | — | | Create frames / text / shapes | ❌ (no endpoint) | ✅ | | Edit variables off-Enterprise | ❌ (403) | ✅ | | Works headless / CI | ✅ | needs Figma open |

Reference

• figma/rest-api-spec — authoritative endpoint list.
• GLips/Figma-Context-MCP — read design-context MCP.
• Official Figma MCP — mcp.figma.com.
• The bridge mirrors the architecture of community plugin bridges (e.g. southleft/figma-console-mcp) but driven by a plain CLI instead of MCP.

Dev

bun install
bun src/index.ts --help

License

MIT