Figma Migration Deep Dive

Overview

Automate migration of design data between Figma files, from other tools to Figma, or from Figma styles to the Variables API. Covers inventory, extraction, transformation, and validation.

Prerequisites

• Source and destination Figma file keys

• FIGMA_PAT

  with

  file_content:read

  and

  file_variables:write

  (Enterprise) scopes
• Understanding of source file structure

Instructions

Step 1: Inventory Source File

const PAT = process.env.FIGMA_PAT!;

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

  const inventory = {
    name: file.name,
    pages: file.document.children.map((p: any) => p.name),
    componentCount: Object.keys(file.components).length,
    styleCount: Object.keys(file.styles).length,
    styles: {
      fills: Object.values(file.styles).filter((s: any) => s.style_type === 'FILL').length,
      text: Object.values(file.styles).filter((s: any) => s.style_type === 'TEXT').length,
      effects: Object.values(file.styles).filter((s: any) => s.style_type === 'EFFECT').length,
      grids: Object.values(file.styles).filter((s: any) => s.style_type === 'GRID').length,
    },
  };

  // Count total nodes
  let nodeCount = 0;
  function countNodes(node: any) {
    nodeCount++;
    if (node.children) node.children.forEach(countNodes);
  }
  countNodes(file.document);
  (inventory as any).totalNodes = nodeCount;

  return inventory;
}

// Usage
const inv = await inventoryFile(process.env.FIGMA_FILE_KEY!);
console.log(`File: ${inv.name}`);
console.log(`Pages: ${inv.pages.join(', ')}`);
console.log(`Components: ${inv.componentCount}, Styles: ${inv.styleCount}`);
console.log(`Total nodes: ${(inv as any).totalNodes}`);

Step 2: Extract Styles from Source

async function extractAllStyles(fileKey: string) {
  const file = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': PAT } }
  ).then(r => r.json());

  const styleNodeIds = Object.keys(file.styles);
  const nodesRes = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${fileKey}/nodes?ids=${styleNodeIds.join(',')}`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': PAT } }
  ).then(r => r.json());

  const extracted = [];
  for (const [nodeId, styleMeta] of Object.entries(file.styles) as any[]) {
    const node = nodesRes.nodes[nodeId]?.document;
    if (!node) continue;

    extracted.push({
      name: styleMeta.name,
      type: styleMeta.style_type,
      nodeId,
      data: {
        fills: node.fills,
        strokes: node.strokes,
        effects: node.effects,
        style: node.style,       // typography
        characters: node.characters,
      },
    });
  }

  return extracted;
}

Step 3: Transform and Map to Target

// Map extracted styles to design tokens JSON
interface MigrationToken {
  name: string;
  category: 'color' | 'typography' | 'effect';
  source: { file: string; nodeId: string };
  value: any;
}

function transformStyles(styles: any[], sourceFileKey: string): MigrationToken[] {
  return styles.map(style => {
    switch (style.type) {
      case 'FILL':
        const fill = style.data.fills?.[0];
        return {
          name: style.name,
          category: 'color' as const,
          source: { file: sourceFileKey, nodeId: style.nodeId },
          value: fill?.color
            ? {
                r: Math.round(fill.color.r * 255),
                g: Math.round(fill.color.g * 255),
                b: Math.round(fill.color.b * 255),
                a: fill.color.a ?? 1,
              }
            : null,
        };
      case 'TEXT':
        return {
          name: style.name,
          category: 'typography' as const,
          source: { file: sourceFileKey, nodeId: style.nodeId },
          value: style.data.style
            ? {
                fontFamily: style.data.style.fontFamily,
                fontSize: style.data.style.fontSize,
                fontWeight: style.data.style.fontWeight,
                lineHeight: style.data.style.lineHeightPx,
              }
            : null,
        };
      default:
        return {
          name: style.name,
          category: 'effect' as const,
          source: { file: sourceFileKey, nodeId: style.nodeId },
          value: style.data.effects,
        };
    }
  }).filter(t => t.value !== null);
}

Step 4: Write to Target (Variables API)

// Enterprise only: create variables in the target file
async function migrateToVariables(
  targetFileKey: string,
  tokens: MigrationToken[]
) {
  const colorTokens = tokens.filter(t => t.category === 'color');

  // Create variable collection and variables
  const payload = {
    variableCollections: [{
      action: 'CREATE' as const,
      id: 'temp_collection_1',
      name: 'Migrated Colors',
    }],
    variables: colorTokens.map((token, i) => ({
      action: 'CREATE' as const,
      id: `temp_var_${i}`,
      name: token.name.replace(/\//g, '/'), // preserve Figma group paths
      variableCollectionId: 'temp_collection_1',
      resolvedType: 'COLOR' as const,
      codeSyntax: { WEB: `--${token.name.toLowerCase().replace(/[\s/]+/g, '-')}` },
    })),
    variableModeValues: colorTokens.map((token, i) => ({
      variableId: `temp_var_${i}`,
      modeId: '', // Will use default mode
      value: {
        r: token.value.r / 255,
        g: token.value.g / 255,
        b: token.value.b / 255,
        a: token.value.a,
      },
    })),
  };

  const res = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${targetFileKey}/variables`,
    {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'X-Figma-Token': PAT,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify(payload),
    }
  );

  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Variable creation failed: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
  return res.json();
}

Step 5: Validation

async function validateMigration(
  sourceFileKey: string,
  targetFileKey: string
): Promise<{ passed: boolean; issues: string[] }> {
  const sourceStyles = await extractAllStyles(sourceFileKey);
  const targetVars = await fetch(
    `https://api.figma.com/v1/files/${targetFileKey}/variables/local`,
    { headers: { 'X-Figma-Token': PAT } }
  ).then(r => r.json());

  const issues: string[] = [];
  const targetNames = new Set(
    Object.values(targetVars.meta.variables).map((v: any) => v.name)
  );

  for (const style of sourceStyles) {
    if (style.type === 'FILL' && !targetNames.has(style.name)) {
      issues.push(`Missing in target: ${style.name}`);
    }
  }

  return { passed: issues.length === 0, issues };
}

Output

• Source file inventoried (components, styles, nodes)
• Styles extracted and transformed to tokens
• Tokens written to target file via Variables API
• Migration validated with comparison report

Error Handling

/nodes

Resources

• Figma Variables API
• Figma File Endpoints
• Design Tokens Format

Next Steps

For advanced troubleshooting, see

figma-advanced-troubleshooting