FigEx - Figma Exporter

FigEx is a utility tool to export styles and icons from Figma using the Figma REST API.

Features:

• Support for modes and variables in Figma
• Code generation using Jinja2 templating syntax for any code language
• Export of icons as SVG, PDF, PNG, WEBP or Android XML vectors
• Simple configuration with many options

config.json is a simple configuration, telling FigEx what to put where:

{
  "type": "values",
  "templatePath": "../samples/AndroidValues.xml.figex",
  "destinationPath": "~/Downloads/AndroidValuesModeB.xml",
  "defaultMode": "modeB",
  "templateVariables": {
    "templateVarDemo": "\uD83D\uDE80\uD83D\uDE80\uD83D\uDE80"
  }
},
{
  "type": "icons",
  "format": "androidxml",
  "filter": "{% if fullName|startsWith('icon-', true) %} true {% else %} false {% endif %}",
  "fileNames" : "{{ fullName|replaceSpecialChars('_')|lowercase }}",
  "destinationPath": "~/Downloads/icons",
  "clearDestination": true
  }

You can defined template files with Jinja-tokens to generate source code files in any language:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    {{ }}
    {%- for color in colors -%}
    <color name="{{ color.name.snake }}">#{{ color.argb }}</color>
    {% endfor %}
</resources>

Getting started

See the files in the samples for a few examples! You can download the samples folder to get started. Go to the Figma Variables playground example and select "Open in Figma". The file will open in your workspace and the URL will look like this:

https://www.figma.com/design/{{figmaFileKey}}/Variables-playground-(Community)?node-id=41-11&t=SPTJno70ETNtkk5D-0

Copy the {{figmaFileKey}} section and replace the file key in samples/config.json. Now select your profile picture in the top left of Figma and select "Settings", then scroll down to "Personal access tokens" and create a new one. Now run figex. This will create a samples_output folder next to the samples folder. Enjoy!

Option A: Using the gradle plugin

FigEx can be used as part of your gradle build system. Add the plugin to the root build.gradle.kts` file:

plugins {
    id("com.iodigital.figex") version "{latest-version}"
}

figex {
  figmaToken = "{Figma Token}"
  configFile = file("path/to/config.json")
}

Now you can run ./gradlew exportFigma to export all your Figma resources!

Option B: Using shell

FigEx can be run standalone from the shell.

1. Make sure Java is installed on your machine, run java --version to confirm
2. Download a figex.zip from the release list
3. Extract the zip file and place it in your system
4. Create a config file for your project, see the sample/config.json
5. Create a Figma personal access token

macOS / Linux

 export FIGMA_TOKEN="Figma token"
 figex -c "path to your config"

Windows

 set FIGMA_TOKEN="your token"
 java -jar "path to figex jar" -c "path to your config"

Option C: Using the core library

You can make use of the FigEx core library in any Java/Kotlin project by including it in your build.gradle file:

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

implementation("com.iodigital:figex-core:{latest-version}")

In your code you can now use FigEx:

FigEx.exportBlocking(
    configFile = "path/to/config.json",
    figmaToken = "{Figma Token}",
)

Setup in Figma

Nothing to do here really! All you need is the file key from the URL. You can then use this in the configuration (see below).

We use FigEx to export a "style library" file which is not containing the actual visual designs but only colors, text styles, icons and dimensions. The design files then reference this style library. This is a small sample file: https://www.figma.com/design/0VIabis5OosbFC3Q1tYXnT

Modes in Figma

Modes in Figma allow you to have multiple values for the same variable. This can be used for light and dark modes, different brand styles or languages. FigEx does see the modes you configured in Figma, but not the names you gave these modes. Initially, the modes will show up as their id, e.g. 834:0. In the logs, FigEx will list modes that you did not give a name to yet and also some sample values. Using the values, you can identify the modes and then add a modeAliases entry in the config.json file. Afterwards, FigEx will represent the modes by their alias instead of their id.

Config file

See the example config in the samples directory.

• figmaFileKey: The key for the figma file. You can obtain it from any Figma URL, the section in >> and << is the key: figma.com/file/>>dqsg8P1c2ayjNJPyPYmv4X<<
• modeAliases: Aliases for the modes. FigEx sees modes only as their IDs, e.g. 8124:0 and 8124:1. You can defined aliases here for your convenience. There is no way to look up the name for a mode from the free Figma API, so you need to figure out what is what.
• exports: Defines the exports to be done. There are two kinds of exports:
  • "type": "values" is used to export any values like colors, dimensions or text styles
    • templatePath: The path to the Jinja2 template. See samples/AndroidValues.xml.figex for an example and see below for more details
    • destinationPath: The path to where the generated file should be written
    • defaultMode: The default mode to be used for the values. If the defaultMode is e.g. test then color.test.argb is the same as color.argb
    • templateVariables: A map of extra variables for the template. If you define test here you can later use {{ test }} in your template file
    • filter: A template that should read true to include a value in the export
  • "type": "icons" is used to export icons and illustrations
    • format: One of svg, pdf, png, webp or androidxml
    • filter: A template that should read true to include a component in the export
    • fileNames: A template defining the file name of the exported component. A / will cause a directory to be created
    • destinationPath: The directory to which the files should be written
    • clearDestination: If true, all files in the destination directory will be deleted before exporting the icons
    • rasterScales: A list of scale objects defining the sizes for raster graphics exports (png and webp)
      • scale: A float defining the scale, 1 being original size
      • nameSuffix: A string that is appended to the name generated from fileNames, comes before the file suffix
      • namePrefix: A string tha tis prepended to the name generated from fileNames. A / will cause a directory to be created.
    • useAndroidRasterScales: A shorthand to create mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi, xxxhdpi exports of raster graphics. Ignored if rasterScales is defined

Templating

The templating engine uses Jinja syntax. You can use loops, if statements and more. FigEx's templating is build with jinjava which is also the base of HubSpot's HubL templating system. This means the syntax for if-statements and loops also applies to FigEx, same goes for the filters available. Of course, HubSpot specific variables and functions are not available.

Templating for icon exports

This templating is used in the filter and fileNames configurations.

• figma: A Figma object
• date: The current date
• full_name: The full name of the component. If part of a component set, comprised of the name of the component set and the component name. The component name otherwise.
• name: The name of the component
• key: The key of the component
• id: The id of the component
• set_name: The name of the set of which this component is a part of, empty if not part of a set
• set_key: The ket of the set of which this component is a part of, empty if not part of a set
• set_id: The id of the set of which this component is a part of, empty if not part of a set
• scale: A scale object representing the current scale for the export

Templating for values export

This templating is used in the file at the templatePath configuration.

• colors: A list of Color objects
• floats: A list of Float objects
• strings: A list of String objects
• booleans: A list of Boolean objects
• text_styles: A list of TextStyle objects
• figma: A Figma object
• date: The current date

Templating objects

Color

• name: A name object
• a, r, g, b: The alpha, red, green and blue value 0..1 (for the default mode)
• a255, r255, g255, b255: The alpha, red, green and blue value 0..255 (for the default mode)
• argb: The argb hex string (for the default mode)
• modeA: A nested Color object for modeA, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modeB: A nested Color object for modeB, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modes: A list of nested Color objects for each mode in which the name field represents the name of the mode, not the color

Float

• name: A name object
• value: The value (for the default mode)
• modeA: A nested Float object for modeA, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modeB: A nested Float object for modeB, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modes: A list of nested Float objects for each mode in which the name field represents the name of the mode, not the float

String

• name: A name object
• value: A string
• modeA: A nested String object for modeA, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modeB: A nested String object for modeB, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modes: A list of nested String objects for each mode in which the name field represents the name of the mode, not the string

Boolean

• name: A name object
• value: A boolean string
• modeA: A nested Boolean object for modeA, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modeB: A nested Boolean object for modeB, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modes: A list of nested Boolean objects for each mode in which the name field represents the name of the mode, not the boolean

TextStyle

• name: A name object
• font_family: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• font_post_script_name: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• font_size: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• font_weight: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• letter_spacing: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• line_height_percent: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• line_height_percent_font_size: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• line_height_px: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• line_height_unit: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• text_align_horizontal: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• text_align_vertical: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• text_auto_resize: As defined in Figma (for the default mode)
• modeA: A nested TextStyle object for modeA, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modeB: A nested TextStyle object for modeB, contains the same values as above. The name depends on your modes and the modeAliases in the config
• modes: A list of nested TextStyle objects for each mode in which the name field represents the name of the mode, not the style

Name

Hint: You can also use Jinja filters to modify the name, e.g. {{ color.name|lowercase|replace("some", "other") }}

• original: The name as defined in Figma
• snake: The name in snake case
• kebab: The name in kebab case
• pascal: The name in pascal case

Figma

• file: The Figma file name
• last_modified: Last modified date of the Figma file
• version: The version of the Figma file
• file_key: The file key from config
• file_url: The URL of the file to open in the browser

Scale

• scale: The scale as floating point number as configured
• name_prefix: The prefix of the filename as configured
• name_suffix: The suffix of the filename as configured

Build the project

• Clone the Git
• To test, open in Android Studio and
  • Create a .figmatoken file containing your token in figex-cli/.figmatoken
  • Run the Run sample configuration
• ./gradlew clean build will build the project and create files in figma-exported/build/distributions