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Show HN: Figma-use – CLI to control Figma for AI agents
I'm Dan, and I built a CLI that lets AI agents design in Figma.
What it does: 100 commands to create shapes, text, frames, components, modify styles, export assets. JSX importing that's ~100x faster than any plugin API import. Works with any LLM coding assistant.
Why I built it: The official Figma MCP server can only read files. I wanted AI to actually design — create buttons, build layouts, generate entire component systems. Existing solutions were either read-only or required verbose JSON schemas that burn through tokens.
Demo (45 sec): https://youtu.be/9eSYVZRle7o
Tech stack: Bun + Citty for CLI, Elysia WebSocket proxy, Figma plugin. The render command connects to Figma's internal multiplayer protocol via Chrome DevTools for extra performance when dealing with large groups of objects.
Try it: bun install -g @dannote/figma-use
Looking for feedback on CLI ergonomics, missing commands, and whether the JSX syntax feels natural.
I'm curious to understand more about your use case. I've been working on getting fellow designers out of Figma since it's easier to express intent in code now using LLMs.
Not OP, but my interest in Figma is that when a human designer needs to take over, UI/UX designers know Figma.
I like how MCP is not shoved into our face anymore after people realised more mcp servers eat into context and agents can easily use CLI tools.
I fully agree with the comment but CLI tools don't do auth and session management in a consistent way. Besides, imagine if now every vendor out there need to distributed custom binaries for their services. Some of them do. Many don't.. but overall it is just increased security risk for the end user when the functionality that is delivered is simply an interface to an API.
I remember that a llm agents often store those in clear text files (I think claude-code beeing one of them). Many of the CLIs I use have a better secret hygiene than that i.e. allow passwords commands or use secret apis.
MCP tools do not do auth and session management in a consistent way based on just the seven or so I use regularly.
Can it make a SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle?
"Humanity's last exam" HN edition
I am a human and I can't...
looks like you failed your last exam, please exit through the red door down the aisle.
I can attest that ai agent executing cli binaries is better than use of an mcp, just because of the limitations of mcp, also figma mcp requires a pro license. Does the figma cli require a pro license as well ?
Nice work!
How does it do applying styles from an existing codebase?
We have style guides, strong base css, etc. If that was represented when it built in Figma, that could be interesting.
Any thoughts on why Citty, or if there's any other cli tools you might recommend?
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