Figma and AI agents
The agent won't design anything — that's your work and your taste. But everything else lives around the Figma file: forty client comments spread across three frames, three copies of the same screen with names only you can read, and a change you can't remember agreeing to, which may or may not be the third free round. That's the part an agent takes.
What an agent does around Figma
- Works in the files and projects you give it access to, and none of the others.
- Pulls client comments into a single list of edits, grouped by screen rather than by the order they arrived.
- Holds the answer to which version is current and how much of it the client has already seen.
- Checks a request against what was agreed and marks the part that falls outside the scope.
- Assembles the handoff: exports in the formats you need, names that read, a draft note to the client.
Processes that run themselves
A playbook isn't a button — it's a process with a condition that starts it. In Figma the condition is usually the file itself: new comments, a version changing status, a project going quiet.
A round of edits
A client leaves comments on the file
- Collect the comments from every frame into one list, grouped by screen
- Mark the two requests that contradict each other, without choosing between them
- Separate out anything that falls outside the agreed scope
- Hand you the list before any work starts
The handoff pack
A version is marked ready for handoff
- Check that every comment is either resolved or raised with you
- Export the formats you need into one folder with names that read
- Draft the note to the client covering what changed since last time
- Wait for your go-ahead — the message only goes out after it
A project gone quiet
The file hasn't moved since the date you promised to show something
- Work out whose move it is, yours or the client's
- Collect what is waiting on an answer, and since when
- Draft the nudge to the client if the move is theirs
- Show you the projects where the move is yours, and leave them alone
Where the agent stops
- It makes no design decisions and generates no design. The idea, the taste and the call are yours.
- It summarises client comments and lays them out, but doesn't decide which to accept: contradictions come to you as a question.
- It flags that a request is outside the agreed scope. Whether to charge for it is your decision and your conversation with the client.
- It doesn't touch files, layers or versions: nothing gets renamed, deleted or overwritten.
FAQ
Do I have to give it access to my Figma?
No. The basic setup works from exports and files, and there's no direct access by default — you connect it deliberately. With access the agent sees comments and version history, and that's the whole difference: the list of edits assembles itself instead of coming from your retelling.
Will it draw or change anything in the file?
No. It reads the file and the comments; it doesn't move layers and it doesn't generate mockups. Design is what the client is buying from you, and substituting something generated would be a lie in both directions.
Will it reply to the client in the comments?
Only where you've allowed it, and only on facts: what has gone into the round, what has been raised with you. By default it collects the comments and hands you the list, and writes nothing in your name.
How does it know a request is outside the contract?
From what you agreed: the scope, the number of revision rounds, the list of screens. Anything that doesn't line up gets flagged and held until you say otherwise. It doesn't invoice, and it doesn't discuss money with the client.
Where this shows up
Walkthroughs where the rest of the process assembles around a Figma file.