Figma performance tuning

Figma Performance Tuning

Overview

Optimize Figma REST API performance. Large Figma files can return multi-megabyte JSON responses. Key strategies: fetch only what you need, cache aggressively, and batch requests.

Prerequisites

• Working Figma API integration
• Understanding of your access patterns (which endpoints, how often)

Instructions

Step 1: Reduce Payload Size

// BAD: fetches the entire file tree (can be 10+ MB for large files)
const file = await fetch(`https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}`, {
  headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token },
}).then(r => r.json());

// GOOD: use depth parameter to limit tree depth
// depth=1 returns only pages (CANVAS nodes), not their children
const fileMeta = await fetch(
  `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}?depth=1`,
  { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token } }
).then(r => r.json());

// GOOD: fetch only specific nodes you need
const nodes = await fetch(
  `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}/nodes?ids=${nodeIds.join(',')}`,
  { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token } }
).then(r => r.json());

// GOOD: use plugin_data or branch_data params only when needed
// By default, plugin data and branch data are NOT returned

Step 2: Response Caching

import { LRUCache } from 'lru-cache';

// File metadata changes rarely -- cache for 5 minutes
const fileCache = new LRUCache<string, any>({
  max: 100,
  ttl: 5 * 60 * 1000, // 5 minutes
});

async function getCachedFile(fileKey: string, token: string) {
  const cached = fileCache.get(fileKey);
  if (cached) return cached;

  const file = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}?depth=1`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token } }
  ).then(r => r.json());

  fileCache.set(fileKey, file);
  return file;
}

// Image URLs expire after 30 days -- cache them but with a shorter TTL
const imageUrlCache = new LRUCache<string, string>({
  max: 1000,
  ttl: 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 1 day (well within 30-day expiry)
});

async function getCachedImageUrl(
  fileKey: string, nodeId: string, format: string, token: string
): Promise<string | null> {
  const cacheKey = `${fileKey}:${nodeId}:${format}`;
  const cached = imageUrlCache.get(cacheKey);
  if (cached) return cached;

  const data = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/images/${fileKey}?ids=${nodeId}&format=${format}`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token } }
  ).then(r => r.json());

  const url = data.images[nodeId];
  if (url) imageUrlCache.set(cacheKey, url);
  return url;
}

Step 3: Webhook-Driven Cache Invalidation

// Instead of polling, use webhooks to know when to re-fetch
// See figma-webhooks-events for full webhook setup

async function handleFileUpdate(fileKey: string) {
  // Invalidate cached data for this file
  fileCache.delete(fileKey);

  // Proactively re-fetch commonly accessed data
  const token = process.env.FIGMA_PAT!;
  await getCachedFile(fileKey, token);

  console.log(`Cache invalidated and refreshed for ${fileKey}`);
}

Step 4: Batch Node Fetches

// The /nodes endpoint accepts multiple IDs -- batch them
// Max practical batch size: ~50-100 IDs per request

async function batchFetchNodes(
  fileKey: string,
  nodeIds: string[],
  token: string,
  batchSize = 50
): Promise<Map<string, any>> {
  const results = new Map<string, any>();

  for (let i = 0; i < nodeIds.length; i += batchSize) {
    const batch = nodeIds.slice(i, i + batchSize);
    const ids = encodeURIComponent(batch.join(','));

    const data = await fetch(
      `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}/nodes?ids=${ids}`,
      { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token } }
    ).then(r => r.json());

    for (const [id, node] of Object.entries(data.nodes)) {
      results.set(id, node);
    }
  }

  return results;
}

Step 5: Connection Reuse

import { Agent } from 'undici';

// Reuse HTTP connections to api.figma.com
const figmaAgent = new Agent({
  keepAliveTimeout: 30_000,
  keepAliveMaxTimeout: 60_000,
  connections: 5,
});

// Use with Node.js 18+ built-in fetch
async function optimizedFetch(path: string, token: string) {
  return fetch(`https://api.figma.com${path}`, {
    headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': token },
    // @ts-ignore -- dispatcher is a Node.js fetch option
    dispatcher: figmaAgent,
  });
}

Output

• Reduced API payload sizes with depth and nodes endpoints
• Response caching with appropriate TTLs
• Webhook-driven cache invalidation
• Batched node fetches reducing request count
• Connection reuse for lower latency

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Stale cache	No invalidation	Use webhooks to invalidate on changes
Out of memory	Caching full file JSON	Use depth=1 or nodes endpoint
Slow image exports	Large batch, high scale	Reduce scale; batch in groups of 50
Expired image URLs	Cached URL older than 30 days	Set image cache TTL to <24h

Examples

Measure the win from payload reduction (Step 1) on a real design-system file:

for url in "files/${FIGMA_FILE_KEY}" "files/${FIGMA_FILE_KEY}?depth=1"; do
  curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{size_download}B  %{time_total}s  ${url}\n" \
    -H "X-Figma-Token: ${FIGMA_PAT}" "https://api.figma.com/v1/${url}"
done

41520883B  6.180s  files/AbC123        ← full tree
38412B     0.310s  files/AbC123?depth=1 ← 1000x smaller, 20x faster

Confirm the version-keyed cache (Step 2) short-circuits repeat fetches:

GET file AbC123  cache MISS  (version 1234567890) → fetched, cached
GET file AbC123  cache HIT   (version unchanged) → 0 API calls
webhook FILE_UPDATE AbC123 → invalidated → next GET refetches

Batching and connection reuse details: references/batch-node-fetches.md, references/connection-reuse.md.

Resources

• Figma File Endpoints
• Figma Rate Limits
• lru-cache

Next Steps

For cost optimization, see figma-cost-tuning.