Figsnap

Figsnap MCP

The Figma file you have open, as MCP tools — and nothing else.

claude mcp add figsnap-mcp -s user -- npx -y figsnap-mcp

Those install the MCP server. It answers nothing until the daemon is running and the Figma plugin is open — see Getting it running, which is five steps and takes about two minutes.

A Figma plugin, a local daemon, and an MCP server. Your coding agent reads the design, extracts a node as PNG, React, HTML or CSS, edits the canvas when you allow it, and shares a saved set of components with you. No relay, no account, no network beyond loopback.

  MCP client              figsnap-mcp              daemon                 the plugin
  (Claude Code)   stdio    (stateless      HTTP :3058       ws         (open in Figma)
       ─────────────────►   proxy)          ──────────►   /panel   ──────────►   figma.*
                                            127.0.0.1 only

Three processes and one rule: figma.* exists only while the plugin is open, so the plugin holds the connection and everything else asks questions down it.

What this is not

This repo is a derivative of Figsnap, cut down to one job. Figsnap ships four products from one package.json — the plugin, a Cloudflare Worker relay with accounts, an ACP chat client, and this MCP server. If all you want is MCP tools and a saved set, you had to clone all of it, build a 4,200-line panel you would never open, and load a plugin whose manifest whitelists a Worker you would never sign in to.

So: no ACP client, no harness discovery, no session store, no relay, no accounts, no chat, no API browser, no code-export UI. What is left is the extraction engine, the 41 tools, and a panel with three panes.

Figsnap is not modified by any of this, and the two can run side by side — this daemon is on port 3058 with its token in ~/.figsnap-mcp/agent-token, where Figsnap's is on 3056 with its token in ~/.figsnap/agent-token.

One caution on that manifest: Figma validates allowedDomains and refuses an IP literal — Invalid value for allowedDomains. 'ws://127.0.0.1:3058' must be a valid URL — and a manifest it refuses is a manifest it does not load, so the plugin quietly keeps running the last good one. Name localhost, and check the console after any change here, because nothing else reports it.

They are kept apart in Figma too. clientStorage is keyed by plugin id, so the manifest carries an id of its own rather than Figsnap's REPLACE_ON_PUBLISH, and every key this plugin writes is prefixed figsnap-mcp: on top of that. Sharing either one means sharing the stored daemon address, and a panel that inherits ws://localhost:3056 is then blocked by its own manifest's CSP — with a console error the designer never sees. The panel also refuses any stored or typed address outside the port its manifest allows, and drops the token that came with it.

Install

npm install -g figsnap-mcp

Two commands come with it:

You can skip the install and let npx fetch it, which is what an MCP client config usually does. The Figma plugin ships in the package too: after a global install its manifest is at

npm root -g   # …/lib/node_modules — the manifest is figsnap-mcp/manifest.json

Or clone the repository and npm install && npm run build, which is the same thing with the sources beside it.

Getting it running

Five steps, once.

1. Build it.

npm install -g figsnap-mcp

From a clone instead: npm install && npm run build.

2. Start the daemon. Leave it running; it is the only thing that talks to Figma.

figsnap-mcp-daemon                # --allow-edits opens the writing tools at boot

From a clone: npm run daemon. figsnap-mcp-daemon --help lists the rest.

It prints its address and its token:

figsnap-mcp-daemon 0.1.0
  panel socket   ws://127.0.0.1:3058/panel
  http           http://127.0.0.1:3058
  token          8fT2qN4vRk1pXwLzYc7BhJ0mAeUdSg9T
  edits          off — turn them on in the plugin, or start with --allow-edits

3. Load the plugin. In Figma desktop: Plugins → Development → Import plugin from manifest, pick the package's manifest.json (npm root -g finds it, or it is in the repository root), then run Figsnap MCP.

4. Pair the panel. Copy the token line from step 2 into the panel's Connect pane and press Connect. The dot turns green and the Address reads ws://localhost:3058/panel.

This is the only place a token is ever typed. It is stored in Figma's own per-user storage, so the panel reconnects itself every time from now on.

5. Register the MCP server.

claude mcp add figsnap-mcp -s user -- npx -y figsnap-mcp

Restart the client, then claude mcp list shows figsnap-mcp · ✔ Connected. From a clone, name the file instead: -- node /path/to/FigsnapMCP/agent/mcp-stdio.mjs.

Check the whole chain:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3058/health
# { "ok": true, "panelConnected": true, "editsAllowed": false, ... }

panelConnected: true is the line that matters — it means Figma is on the other end.

The token

An MCP client never needs it. This is the part that surprises people: claude mcp add takes no token, no environment variable, no config. The MCP server reads the daemon's own file on the way past.

Only two things use the token, and only one of them is you:

Where it comes from. The first time the daemon starts it makes one — 24 random bytes, base64url — and writes it to ~/.figsnap-mcp/agent-token with mode 600. Every later start reads that same file back, so the token is stable and the panel is not re-paired every morning.

How to see it again without restarting anything:

cat ~/.figsnap-mcp/agent-token

Why there is one at all. The daemon listens on a loopback port, and any web page you happen to visit can open a socket to localhost. Two things stop it: the Origin header, checked on upgrade, which a browser cannot forge; and this token, because a browser WebSocket cannot set headers. Only GET /health is reachable without it — so the panel can tell you the daemon is running before it has been paired.

If it leaks, rotate it:

npm run daemon -- --new-token

That writes a fresh one and invalidates the old. Re-paste it in Connect; MCP clients pick the new one up on their own, because they read the file.

To use one of your own — a fixed token in a script, say — set FIGSNAP_MCP_TOKEN and the daemon uses it instead of the file. Set the same variable for the MCP client if it cannot read your home directory. FIGSNAP_MCP_URL moves the address the client dials.

Wiring up an MCP client

claude mcp add figsnap-mcp -s user -- npx -y figsnap-mcp

For a client that takes JSON:

{ "mcpServers": { "figsnap-mcp": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "figsnap-mcp"] } } }

figsnap-mcp-daemon --mcp prints both, with paths already filled in.

Then claude mcp list should show figsnap-mcp · ✔ Connected, and in a session figma_get_selection answers about whatever is selected on the canvas.

When it does not answer

Three things can be wrong, and each says so differently:

Resources

Three things a question about a Figma file almost always needs are addressable rather than called for, so a client can @-mention them:

The panel

Four panes, and the one it opens on is Selection.

Selection is a preview of whatever you have picked on the canvas — the picture, its name, type, size, child count and node id — with a folder picker and a Save button beside it. Saving from here is the short way round: no switching panes, no hunting for the layer again in a list.

The preview costs one PNG export. The panel used to run a full extraction on every selection change — HTML, TSX, two stylesheets and a 2× image — for a picture nobody was looking at; the code outputs are what MCP asks for, on request, not what a click costs. A small layer is magnified at most 4×, so an icon and a screen do not both fill the stage.

Minimise (the ▼ at the top right) drops the window to a 44px strip and the preview under it, so the canvas is clear while the plugin keeps running — the daemon needs the panel open, but you do not need to look at it. The strip still names what is selected and still has Save, because those are the two things worth having while you work. ▲ puts it back to whatever size you had dragged it to.

Connect and Tools are pairing and the tool list; Saved is the folder manager. Both are described below.

The tools

41 of them: 14 read Figma, 26 write to it, and one is answered in the daemon. The Tools pane lists them all with the writing ones marked; GET /tools is the same list as JSON.

Reading is always allowed. Writing is not, until you say so — every mutating tool is refused until Allow edits is on, which is a switch the designer holds rather than a prompt the agent can talk past. A harness running with permission prompts disabled still cannot get past it. --allow-edits opens the same gate from the terminal, for when the work is happening there.

Two tools fold thirteen plugin commands into one argument each, because 41 tool descriptions already cost real context on every request:

• figma_extract takes nodeId, or nodeIds, urls, selection: true, saved: true for a batch.
• figma_saved takes an action: list, folders, save, unsave, clear, move, newFolder, renameFolder, deleteFolder.

A picture comes back as a real image block, never as base64 in a text field — that is what figma_export_png is for, one node at a time.

figma_ios_spec answers with the properties Figma actually holds rather than with CSS, in points: per-axis sizing, auto layout and its padding, stroke weight and alignment, corner smoothing, effects, the text block — and every fill and stroke marked painted or not. Reach for it when the answer becomes code. figmaCss describes what a node would look like on the web, which drops what an implementation needs and also reports paint that is never painted: a stroke switched off still comes back as border: 1px solid. A stroke here carries both layoutFrame and visualFrame, because a CENTER stroke puts half its weight outside the bounds while UIKit draws borders inside them, and an effect carries uikitShadowRadius, which is half the blur.

One limit: a gradient paint reports its type, opacity and painted flag but not its stops, so you learn that a gradient is there without being able to reproduce it. Read those colours off figma_export_png for now.

figsnap_skill is the odd one out: the plugin has no part in it, so it answers with Figma closed. check says whether this project has the skill this package ships — missing, current, or modified if you have edited your copy, which is yours and so is reported rather than replaced. install hands back the file and where it goes instead of writing it, because whatever is calling already asks you before it writes into your repository. Which project it means comes from the MCP client's own directory, which mcp-stdio.mjs names on every call — the daemon's is wherever you started it, and usually not where you are working.

The saved set

The Saved pane is a place to keep the components you keep coming back to: folders, Save selection, jump-to-node, move, remove. It is reachable over MCP as figma_list_saved and figma_saved, so you and the agent are looking at the same list.

It lives in figma.clientStorage, keyed by document id. That means: per user, per file, per machine. Up to 100 entries and 30 folders, one level deep.

One deliberate loss. Figsnap also mirrors this set to its relay, so it follows you to a second machine. Without the Worker, these sets are local only. That is the right trade for this repo — no account, no network, and always writable even in a file you can only view — but it is a real difference. If cross-device sync is wanted later it is an additive change: the plugin would gain a sync target, not a new owner of the data.

Layout

index.mjs              the library entry point; importing it starts nothing
index.d.mts            hand-written types for it
manifest.json          the Figma plugin manifest; localhost:3058 only
build.mjs              esbuild → dist/code.js + a self-contained dist/ui.html
shared/                nodes.mjs (findable types), shape.mjs (what a body means)
agent/
  index.mjs            the daemon: WS server, HTTP server, the Edits gate
  mcp-stdio.mjs        the MCP server; a stateless proxy to the daemon
  lib/tools.mjs        the 41 tools — one command each, no logic in between
  lib/skill.mjs        the skill on disk: the one tool answered without Figma
  lib/plugin-socket.mjs  the panel socket: origin check, token, request/response
  lib/http.mjs         /health, /tools, /tool
  lib/gate.mjs         the Edits switch
  lib/paths.mjs        the port, the host and the token file, defined once
src/
  code.ts              the main thread: 51 commands, extraction and codegen
  figma-css.ts         Figma's own CSS, rendered
  daemon.ts            the one address the plugin dials
  ui/                  the panel: bridge.ts, main.ts, index.html, style.css
test/                  run.mjs and five suites; see Tests below
.github/workflows/     CI on Node 20, 22 and 24; publish on a version tag

Using it as a library

Most people want the two commands. If you are building your own bridge, the package exports the catalogue and the pieces the daemon is assembled from:

import { toolManifest, createGate, createPluginSocket, createHttpHandler } from 'figsnap-mcp'

console.log(toolManifest().length)  // 39

Importing it starts no server and opens no socket — agent/mcp-stdio.mjs connects an MCP server to stdio the moment it loads, so it is deliberately not re-exported, and the constants that used to live on it are in agent/lib/paths.mjs. index.d.mts is hand-written and the test suite checks it against the runtime in both directions.

Semver applies from 1.0.0. While this is 0.x, the factories are the part most likely to move; the catalogue and the constants are the stable half.

Security

The daemon binds 127.0.0.1 only, and two things guard the socket, because a local port is reachable by any page you happen to visit:

• Origin, checked on upgrade. A plugin iframe is a sandboxed document and sends null; the editor sends figma.com. Anything else is closed with 4001. A browser cannot forge this header, and CORS does not apply to an upgrade, so it is the check that matters.
• A token in the query string, because a browser WebSocket cannot set headers. It is the same one HTTP callers send as x-figsnap-token, and only /health is reachable without it — so the panel can probe before it is paired.

--new-token rotates it if one ever leaks.

Tests

npm test          # four suites: no wrangler, no network, no Figma
npm run typecheck

• e2e-plugin.mjs runs the shipped dist/code.js against a fake figma, wired to a real daemon, and drives it through POST /tool — extraction fidelity, figma_find_nodes, the saved set including a reload, and a write with the gate both shut and open.
• e2e-mcp.mjs spawns the daemon, fakes the panel as a WebSocket client, and drives a real MCP client over stdio: the guards, the tool list, the batch and image rules, all ten saved-set commands, the resources, and the three ways a call can fail before it reaches Figma.
• e2e-panel.mjs loads the shipped dist/ui.html into jsdom with the main thread and the daemon replaced, and drives the designer's side: the panes render what they are sent, the clicks mean what they say, and a destructive folder action arms before it fires.
• contract.mjs is the drift guard. shared/, agent/lib/tools.mjs and src/code.ts exist in both this repo and Figsnap, and the protocol between them has no shared type. So it asserts what a one-sided edit would break: every command a tool can name is a case in src/code.ts and every case is reachable from a tool, MAX_BATCH agrees, the caps the panel prints are the caps the plugin enforces, the find_nodes schema offers exactly FINDABLE_TYPES, all three files agree on 3058, and nothing has quietly imported the relay, the accounts or the ACP client back in.

Publishing the plugin to your organisation

The plugin can stay a development install — import the manifest, done — but publishing it to your Figma organisation puts it in everyone's plugin list and updates them automatically, without it appearing in Community.

That option needs a Figma Organization or Enterprise plan. On Professional the only published option is Community, which is public; a development install is the private route there.

1. Build first: npm run build. Figma publishes what dist/ holds, not what src/ says.
2. Figma desktop → Plugins → Development → Figsnap MCP → Publish.
3. Choose Only rather than Community.
4. Fill in the listing: a 128×128 icon, a description, and a cover image. An org-only publish skips Community review, so it is live once you submit.

Figma writes a plugin id into manifest.json on that first publish, replacing REPLACE_ON_PUBLISH_FIGSNAP_MCP. Commit that change — it is what identifies later versions as updates rather than a new plugin, and it is also what keeps this plugin's clientStorage separate from Figsnap's. To release an update, build again and publish again from the same menu.

One thing worth being clear about: this repository and the npm package are public, and both carry the built plugin. Org-only publishing controls listing and distribution inside Figma, not who can obtain the code — it is MIT either way.

Releasing

CI runs the suites on Node 20, 22 and 24 for every push.

The first release is manual, because npm configures a trusted publisher on a package's own settings page and there is no page until the package exists:

npm login
npm publish --access public

Then turn on trusted publishing, once, at npmjs.com/package/figsnap-mcp/access → Trusted Publisher → GitHub Actions:

Every release after that is a tag:

npm version patch          # writes package.json and the v0.1.1 tag
git push --follow-tags

npm version also runs scripts/sync-server-json.mjs, which copies the new version into server.json's two version fields and stages it, so all three end up in the same commit. The workflow refuses a release where they disagree — which is how 0.2.0 was caught before it reached the registry.

.github/workflows/publish.yml picks the tag up, refuses it if it disagrees with package.json, and publishes with provenance over OIDC — no token exists to leak, which matters because npm is restricting tokens that bypass 2FA (account changes August 2026, direct publishing January 2027).

prepublishOnly typechecks, builds and runs every suite first, so a release that would not have worked cannot reach the registry. npm pack --dry-run shows exactly what would be sent; test/e2e-package.mjs asserts those contents.

Licence

MIT.