Figma hello world

Figma Hello World

Overview

Make your first Figma REST API call. Fetch a file's metadata and document tree, then inspect the node structure that represents every layer and object in a Figma design.

Prerequisites

• Completed figma-install-auth setup
• A Figma file key (from the URL: figma.com/design/<FILE_KEY>/...)
• FIGMA_PAT environment variable set

Instructions

Step 1: Fetch a File

# Get the full document JSON for a file
curl -s -H "X-Figma-Token: ${FIGMA_PAT}" \
  "https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${FIGMA_FILE_KEY}" | jq '{
    name: .name,
    lastModified: .lastModified,
    version: .version,
    pages: [.document.children[] | .name]
  }'

Expected output:

{
  "name": "My Design File",
  "lastModified": "2025-03-15T10:30:00Z",
  "version": "1234567890",
  "pages": ["Page 1", "Components", "Tokens"]
}

Step 2: Understand the Node Tree

Every Figma file is a tree of typed nodes:

DOCUMENT (root)
├── CANVAS (page)
│   ├── FRAME (container / auto-layout)
│   │   ├── TEXT
│   │   ├── RECTANGLE
│   │   └── INSTANCE (component instance)
│   ├── GROUP
│   │   └── VECTOR
│   ├── COMPONENT (reusable master)
│   └── SECTION

Key node types: DOCUMENT, CANVAS, FRAME, GROUP, RECTANGLE, ELLIPSE, TEXT, VECTOR, COMPONENT, COMPONENT_SET, INSTANCE, LINE, SECTION, BOOLEAN_OPERATION.

Step 3: TypeScript Hello World

// hello-figma.ts
const PAT = process.env.FIGMA_PAT!;
const FILE_KEY = process.env.FIGMA_FILE_KEY!;

interface FigmaNode {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  type: string;
  children?: FigmaNode[];
}

interface FigmaFileResponse {
  name: string;
  lastModified: string;
  version: string;
  document: FigmaNode;
  components: Record<string, { key: string; name: string; description: string }>;
  styles: Record<string, { key: string; name: string; style_type: string }>;
}

async function main() {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${FILE_KEY}`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': PAT } }
  );

  if (!res.ok) {
    throw new Error(`Figma API error: ${res.status} ${res.statusText}`);
  }

  const file: FigmaFileResponse = await res.json();

  console.log(`File: ${file.name}`);
  console.log(`Last modified: ${file.lastModified}`);
  console.log(`Components: ${Object.keys(file.components).length}`);
  console.log(`Styles: ${Object.keys(file.styles).length}`);

  // Walk the first page and list top-level frames
  const firstPage = file.document.children?.[0];
  if (firstPage) {
    console.log(`\nPage: ${firstPage.name}`);
    for (const child of firstPage.children ?? []) {
      console.log(`  ${child.type}: ${child.name} (${child.id})`);
    }
  }
}

main().catch(console.error);

Step 4: Fetch Specific Nodes

// Fetch only specific nodes by ID (faster for large files)
async function fetchNodes(fileKey: string, nodeIds: string[]) {
  const ids = nodeIds.join(',');
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}/nodes?ids=${ids}`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': PAT } }
  );
  const data = await res.json();
  // data.nodes is a map: { "nodeId": { document: {...}, components: {...} } }
  return data.nodes;
}

// Node IDs use the format "pageId:frameId" (e.g., "0:1", "123:456")
const nodes = await fetchNodes(FILE_KEY, ['0:1', '2:3']);

Output

• File metadata (name, version, last modified)
• Page names listed from the document tree
• Top-level frames with node IDs and types
• Component and style counts

Error Handling

Error	Status	Cause	Solution
Not found	404	Invalid file key	Verify the key from the Figma URL
Forbidden	403	No access to file	Check token scopes and file permissions
Rate limited	429	Too many requests	Honor Retry-After header
Empty document	200	File has no pages	Check if file was recently created

Examples

Quick Node Counter

# Count total nodes in a file
curl -s -H "X-Figma-Token: ${FIGMA_PAT}" \
  "https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${FIGMA_FILE_KEY}" \
  | jq '[.. | .id? // empty] | length'

Get File Thumbnail

curl -s -H "X-Figma-Token: ${FIGMA_PAT}" \
  "https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${FIGMA_FILE_KEY}" \
  | jq -r '.thumbnailUrl'

Resources

• Figma REST API Introduction
• File Endpoints Reference
• Node Types Reference

Next Steps

Proceed to figma-local-dev-loop for setting up a development workflow.