figjam-context-mcp

A local MCP server that turns FigJam boards into source-cited context for LLMs. It reads a board through the Figma REST API, groups stickies, tables, images and arrows into clusters, and answers questions with links back to the original nodes.

Rendered from the tool calls and outputs of a real run against the public demo board with figjam-context-mcp 0.10.2 and openai/gpt-4.1-mini. Figma's MCP server (use_figma) made the edit.

Why

Workshop boards hold research notes, decisions and open questions, but an LLM cannot read a canvas. Screenshots and PDF exports lose tables, arrow direction and the link to the source. This server keeps the board's structure and cites every answer to the nodes it came from.

Compared with Figma's MCP server

Figma's official MCP server reads a FigJam board or node with its images (get_figjam) and edits boards (use_figma). This server turns a workshop board into context an assistant can cite and track:

• large boards read section by section, with an overview, size-limited pages and search
• source IDs in compact overviews, with Figma links in full excerpts and answer citations
• tables read row by row
• local snapshots, and diff_board to see what changed
• explicit credentials redacted before they reach the cache, the output or a model
• image descriptions from a vision model you configure

The two work together: in the demo above, Figma's server edits the board and this one reports the change.

Tools

| Tool | What it does | LLM call | | --- | --- | --- | | ingest_board | Reads a board, clusters it and saves a local snapshot. Re-ingests reuse unchanged clusters; focusNodeIds chooses which sections' images are interpreted first. | In balanced (default) and max_quality mode | | get_board_context | Reads saved context, automatically using compact source-ID lines for large section reads; detail: "full" returns complete excerpts and Figma links. Also supports topic search and pagination. | No | | answer_from_board | Answers one specific question (a number, status or decision) from the most relevant excerpts, with node-level citations or an insufficient-evidence result. Not meant for whole-board summaries. | Yes | | diff_board | Compares two snapshots: new, removed and changed clusters, nodes, table cells and arrows. | No | | diagnose_llm_config | Tests the configured models with small text and image JSON checks. | Yes |

Quick start

Requires Node.js 22.12 or later.

1. Create a Figma personal access token under Settings → Security → Personal access tokens with the scope file_content:read. The token's account needs access to the board.
2. Optional: create an OpenRouter key at openrouter.ai/keys. It enables image interpretation, answer_from_board and diagnose_llm_config. Without it, use ingestMode: "max_speed" with get_board_context and diff_board.
3. Add the server using the example for your client below. @latest with --prefer-online makes npx check the registry for the latest release on every start, even when package metadata is cached (npm configuration).

Claude Code

claude mcp add figjam-context -e FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-figma-token -e LLM_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 -e LLM_API_KEY=your-openrouter-key -- npx -y --prefer-online figjam-context-mcp@latest

For longer ingests, set MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT=300000 in the environment that launches Claude Code and INGEST_BOARD_VISION_BUDGET_MS=270000 in the server environment, leaving about 30 seconds for the rest of the ingest (Claude Code environment variables).

Codex CLI and ChatGPT desktop app

Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml; the app, CLI and IDE extension share this configuration (OpenAI MCP setup):

[mcp_servers.figjam-context-mcp]
enabled = true
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "--prefer-online", "figjam-context-mcp@latest"]
startup_timeout_sec = 30
default_tools_approval_mode = "approve"

[mcp_servers.figjam-context-mcp.env]
FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN = "your-figma-token"
LLM_BASE_URL = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
LLM_API_KEY = "your-openrouter-key"

Without default_tools_approval_mode = "approve", ChatGPT may ask for approval or abort tools with external effects; with it, the client never asks before board content goes to the model provider, so use max_speed and avoid answer_from_board for confidential boards.

For longer ingests, set tool_timeout_sec = 300 under [mcp_servers.figjam-context-mcp] and INGEST_BOARD_VISION_BUDGET_MS = "270000" in its env table, leaving about 30 seconds for the rest of the ingest (OpenAI timeout options).

GitHub Copilot CLI

Add this to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json (Copilot CLI MCP setup):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "figjam-context": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--prefer-online", "figjam-context-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-figma-token",
        "LLM_BASE_URL": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
        "LLM_API_KEY": "your-openrouter-key"
      },
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

For longer ingests, set "timeout": 300000 on the server in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json and "INGEST_BOARD_VISION_BUDGET_MS": "270000" in its env, leaving about 30 seconds for the rest of the ingest (tested with a 600000 ms timeout).

VS Code

Add this to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace, or open MCP: Open User Configuration for your profile. VS Code uses servers and type: "stdio" (VS Code MCP configuration):

{
  "servers": {
    "figjam-context": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--prefer-online", "figjam-context-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-figma-token",
        "LLM_BASE_URL": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
        "LLM_API_KEY": "your-openrouter-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

For longer ingests, use the Local harness with a per-server "timeout": 300000 in mcp.json and "INGEST_BOARD_VISION_BUDGET_MS": "270000" in its env (about 30 seconds below the timeout); #343135 reports that remote HTTP tool calls in the Copilot harness, the default in 1.142, ignore that timeout and stop after about 180 seconds, while the Local harness honors it.

Other MCP clients

For clients that accept mcpServers, add this to their MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "figjam-context": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--prefer-online", "figjam-context-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-figma-token",
        "LLM_BASE_URL": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
        "LLM_API_KEY": "your-openrouter-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Where the client supports a configurable tool timeout, raise it to about 300 seconds using its documented setting and set INGEST_BOARD_VISION_BUDGET_MS=270000 in the server environment, about 30 seconds below it. Cursor has no configurable timeout: its IDE allows about 60 minutes, while ACP/CLI calls stop at 60 seconds even with progress, so keep the default image budget on that path (Cursor support).

Then ask your assistant to ingest a board URL, for example "Ingest https://www.figma.com/board/FILE_KEY/Name and list the open questions." The boardId of every later call is the file key from that URL. To summarize a board, the assistant calls ingest_board, then get_board_context without parameters, whose first page names the largest sections and includes a section overview with IDs within the page's size limit, and then reads the largest sections by passing their IDs as nodeIds. Large nodeIds reads automatically use short source-ID lines, grouped by section, when the first full page would leave unread excerpts. limit applies only with the full view; an overview ignores it even when supplied. Read complete text and its Figma link with the same boardId and snapshotId, the line's ID in nodeIds, and detail: "full". For a table row, use its table ID. Everything that lies in no section, such as loose notes and tables, comes with outsideSections: true.

All settings: configuration. Problems: troubleshooting.

How it works

1. Read. ingest_board downloads the board through the Figma REST API on every call. get_board_context and answer_from_board read the saved snapshot without a new request.
2. Normalize. Nodes become text, table cells, images and connectors, with their pages and sections. Tables are read row by row: row and column come from the cell IDs, and each row becomes one excerpt.
3. Cluster. Nearby nodes are grouped by rotation-aware distance. Arrows between groups become directed relations. Clusters without a model label are named after their section, and an arrow appears in the context once one of its ends, or a section, frame or group around one, is on the page.
4. Interpret. In balanced mode, clusters with an image, or drawings without any text, get a vision-model summary within a 40-second budget; text clusters, however short, keep their extracted text. A cluster starts only when the time left fits it; unfinished clusters continue on the next ingest. With focusNodeIds, the images of the given sections, frames or nodes come first. In max_quality, one ingest interprets only a few dozen clusters within the 40-second image budget (20–35 on a board with about 300 clusters, measured with 3 parallel requests); the next ingest continues, each costs a Tier 1 file download, and focusNodeIds sets the order.
5. Serve. The snapshot is saved to a private local cache. Search favors excerpts containing more of the question’s words. get_board_context searches it (BM25 over original text, table rows and names), answer_from_board answers with citations and diff_board compares snapshots. The first get_board_context page includes a size-limited section overview with IDs; pass a page, section, frame or group ID as nodeIds to read everything inside it; several IDs in one call take turns in request order. With default detail: "auto", reads of multiple distinct IDs or one container use a compact overview when the first full page would leave unread excerpts. Text is shortened to a shared 50–120-character prefix with …; the host writes the summary. Topic searches, outsideSections, single leaf/table/cell IDs and small containers stay full. Text content is the readable page; structuredContent holds each excerpt once, in overview.text (with empty evidence and clusters) or in evidence for the full view. In full excerpts, only snapshotId is inherited from the response: absent chunkIndex means 0 and absent truncated or modelDerived means false, with no inheritance of these flags from a cluster.

Models and cost

The default preset student-free uses free OpenRouter models: text and images go to openrouter/free, which picks a free model that supports structured outputs (and images, for images). The free default is best effort: free models change, hit rate limits and time out. A request to openrouter/free or openrouter/auto that fails with a provider error is sent once more, since the router may pick another model. Images go to the model with at most 1,024 px on the longest side; larger ones are scaled down locally.

• OpenRouter allows free models 20 requests per minute and 50 requests per day, or 1,000 per day once you have bought at least 10 credits (limits).
• Figma limits requests by seat and plan (rate limits). File downloads and image renders are Tier 1: Dev and Full seats on paid plans get 10–20 requests per minute, View and Collab seats and files in Starter plans at most 20 per month. Every ingest_board call is one file download, so a View or Collab seat allows about 20 ingests a month. Images come from the image fills instead, Tier 2 with at least 5 requests per minute, in one request per ingest. Renders are left for drawings without an image and as a fallback for single images; one render request covers up to 18 nodes. max_speed needs neither.
• LLM_BASE_URL takes any OpenAI-compatible endpoint; for paid models, set LLM_TEXT_MODELS, LLM_FAST_TEXT_MODELS and LLM_VISION_MODELS, for example all three to openai/gpt-4.1-mini (provider charges apply).
• Run diagnose_llm_config after every model change. It checks JSON replies and image understanding with synthetic inputs.

Privacy

• The server reads from Figma and never changes a board.
• balanced and max_quality ingests send board text and images (originals or renders) to the configured LLM provider. answer_from_board sends the question and selected excerpts. max_speed with get_board_context and diff_board sends nothing to an LLM provider.
• Snapshots stay in a private per-user cache on your machine. Delete the cache directory to remove them.
• Explicit credentials such as Passwort: … or API keys are redacted before they reach the cache, tool output or an LLM provider (FIGJAM_MCP_REDACT_CREDENTIALS). This is a safety net, not a guarantee: images are not redacted, so keep credentials off the board.
• Keep tokens in the client's environment. A token passed as a tool argument can appear in client logs.

Limitations

• Image interpretation gets 40 seconds per ingest by default; large boards need several ingests to interpret every image cluster.
• A client that cancels an ingest, for example after a 60-second timeout, gets no partial result.
• Free models are best effort. Citations show where an answer comes from, not that its conclusion is right.
• Search is lexical; synonyms without shared words do not match.
• Local stdio only; no hosted or multi-user mode.

Measured results: evaluation.

Development

git clone https://github.com/ecestnrkl/figjam-mcp.git
cd figjam-mcp
npm ci
cp .env.example .env    # add your tokens
npm run check           # typecheck, tests, build, package validation
npm run package:smoke   # install the packed package and exercise all tools
npm run eval:retrieval  # offline retrieval and diff evaluation
npx --prefer-online @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --config inspector.config.json

See CONTRIBUTING.md and the changelog.

License

MIT © 2026 ecestnrkl