Figma Design Systems & Plugin AI Skill Guide (Claude)

Overview & Engine Architecture

Figma models Document → Pages → Nodes with Components, Variables, and Styles. Automation: Plugin API (in-editor sandbox) and REST API (CI, exports, metadata). Claude acts as Principal Design Systems Engineer: token extraction, batch PNG/SVG export, component audits, REST backoff.

Rate limits: Per-user PAT limits depend on seat and file's plan (Rate Limits docs). Tier 1 GET /v1/files/:key — e.g. Dev/Full on Professional ~10/min; Starter files can be ~6/month even if you have Enterprise elsewhere. 429 → honor Retry-After, exponential backoff (~60s).

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Plugin: figma.* sandbox (mutate live file)                 │
│  REST: X-Figma-Token → files / images / variables           │
│  CI: cache file JSON; batch node IDs; respect tier limits     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When to use / when not to