Code Generation | Techlist.io

figmaJan 24, 20242 min readCurated summary

What’s next for Dev Mode: Annotations, Compare Changes, Plugins, and More | Figma Blog

Figma is moving Dev Mode out of free beta on January 31, 2024, while adding features designed to improve design-to-development handoff. The update introduces connected annotations, richer visual and code comparisons, customizable plugins, Jira integration, and a redesigned VS Code experience. Dev Mode will require a paid seat after the beta ends. ## Annotations for clearer handoff - Designers can add measurements, properties, specifications, and contextual notes directly to design layers. - Annotations update automatically when the associated design changes. - They appear or disappear at different zoom levels, keeping designs informative without cluttering the canvas. - Teams can use plugins to create and manage annotations in bulk. ## Visual and code-based change comparisons - The compare changes experience has been redesigned to show differences both visually and in code. - The Figma for Jira app brings design context into Jira issues. - Jira users can receive notifications when related designs change. ## Custom code generation with plugins - Codegen plugins let teams generate code for technologies such as HTML, React, Tailwind, and Bootstrap. - Organizations can customize generated output around their frameworks, design systems, component libraries, and internal APIs. - Plugins can validate design-system usage, link to documentation, and identify existing code components. - Enterprise administrators can pin plugins and configure them to run by default across organizational files. - Figma highlights custom implementations such as Razorpay’s RazorSharp plugin. ## Improvements to Figma for VS Code - The extension makes it easier to inspect designs without switching between tools. - A redesigned navigation experience replaces difficult canvas panning with a grid of frames. - Developers can open individual frames in a focused view. - Plugins can now run directly in VS Code, including private and customized tools. Teams using Dev Mode should prepare for the paid-seat requirement and evaluate annotations, plugins, Jira integration, and the VS Code extension to fit their existing handoff and design-system workflows.

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Code Generation Figma Design Systems Dev Mode+4

figmaNov 21, 20233 min readCurated summary

Dev Mode: Building a Design Tool that Works Harder for Developers | Figma Blog

Figma built Dev Mode to make developers first-class participants in product design rather than secondary users of a designer-focused tool. The team initially emphasized code generation, but real-world differences in teams, workflows, and codebases exposed its limitations. By combining developer research, the acquisition of Visly, and a broader focus on inspection and collaboration, Figma shifted toward reducing the gap between design and code. ## Designing for Developers as Core Users - Figma’s multiplayer canvas was created for entire product teams, including product managers and developers. - Developers were already using Figma to explore work in progress, despite the tool not being optimized for their workflows. - By 2023, developers represented roughly one-third of Figma’s users. - The goal became a tailored developer experience that did not require developers to learn or navigate design-centric interactions. - Proposed directions included: - Component playgrounds - Code snippets - GitHub and Storybook integrations - Developer-specific resources - Design inspection and change comparison ## The Visly Acquisition - Figma acquired Visly in 2021, bringing in eight designers and engineers who had built a React UI development tool. - The Visly team contributed: - Extensive research into developer tooling - Practical experience with development workflows - A developer-oriented perspective and intuition - Their involvement accelerated Figma’s efforts and helped the company understand how developers work across different environments. ## Moving Beyond a Codegen-First Strategy - Early versions of Dev Mode focused on code generation: automatically translating designs into code according to predefined rules. - Codegen could save hours or even days when designs mapped cleanly to implementation. - Testing showed that successful code generation in controlled scenarios did not necessarily work in production. - Companies differ in their: - Team structures - Engineering practices - Toolchains - Codebases - Workflow conventions - These variations made it difficult to generate universally useful code, prompting the team to reconsider codegen as the central solution. ## Redefining Design-to-Code Handoff - Figma’s broader objective was to break down the traditional “handoff wall” between designers and developers. - Dev Mode was positioned as a dedicated space where developers could inspect designs, compare changes, work with VS Code, and access implementation-oriented information. - The team continued refining the product through beta feedback, including daily customer requests collected through an internal Slackbot. - Rather than assuming developers would live inside a design tool, Figma focused on making the parts of the design process they needed more accessible and useful. Dev Mode’s central lesson is that developer tooling must reflect real engineering practices, not just generate code from idealized designs. A practical developer experience combines accurate design context, collaboration, integrations, and workflow flexibility with code generation where it genuinely helps.

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Code Generation Figma React Github+3