figmaclaw CLI

figmaclaw CLI reference

A consumer-side guide to figmaclaw commands. For the underlying data contract, invariants, and the design rationale behind each command, invoke the figmaclaw:figmaclaw canon skill — that's authoritative. This skill is the practical "which command writes which artifact" lookup.

Refresh-trigger summary

figmaclaw data lives in four tiers (per canon §3). Pick the cheapest tier that answers your question.

Tier	Trigger	Cost	Refreshed by
File meta	every pull (1 cheap REST call/file)	<1s	pull
File-scope registries (variables, components)	when file version changes	1 REST call/file	variables, census, also during pull
Page structure	when file version changed AND page hash differs	1 REST call/page	pull, sync
Page body (LLM prose)	when frame hash differs from enriched_frame_hashes	LLM $$	claude-run → write-body

If you only need updated tokens, run figmaclaw variables --file-key <k> — don't run pull --force.

Commands and what they write

Pulling structure

Command	What it does	Writes
figmaclaw pull	Bulk sync all tracked files. Skips at file-version layer; per-page hash gating beneath. With --team-id, stamps source project/lifecycle provenance into the manifest. Auto-fetches component_sets and (when implemented) variables for changed files.	figma/{slug}/pages/*.md (frontmatter), figma/{slug}/components/*.md (frontmatter), *.tokens.json sidecars, .figma-sync/manifest.json, .figma-sync/ds_catalog.json
figmaclaw pull --file-key <k>	Same, single file.	Same, scoped.
figmaclaw pull --force	Bypasses page-hash skip; rewrites every page. Slow. Use only when schema bumps or for explicit re-render.	Same.
figmaclaw sync <md_file>	Re-sync one page from REST, preserving body.	One .md (frontmatter only) + manifest.
figmaclaw track <file_key>	Register a Figma file for syncing.	.figma-sync/manifest.json.
figmaclaw list <team_id>	Discover Figma files in a team.	stdout (or --track-only to add to manifest).

File-scope registries

Command	What it does	Writes
figmaclaw census	Snapshot published component sets to _census.md per tracked file. Hash-gated; no commit if registry unchanged. Frontmatter includes source lifecycle when known, so archived component systems remain explicit migration evidence.	figma/{slug}/_census.md.
figmaclaw variables	Refresh DS variable catalog from Figma's variable registry. Default --source auto uses Figma MCP plugin-runtime export for Figma Design files. REST /variables/local is Enterprise-only and is tried only when repo config sets [tool.figmaclaw] license_type = "enterprise". FigJam files skip the MCP local-variable export path because Figma's variable-registry MCP readers are Design-file tools. Per canon TC-1/TC-11, successful REST/MCP exports are authoritative for token names, modes, scopes. Catalog libraries include source lifecycle when the manifest knows it.	.figma-sync/ds_catalog.json.
figmaclaw variables --file-key <k>	Same, single file. Add --source rest to disable MCP fallback, or --source mcp to force plugin-runtime export.	Same, scoped.

Inspection (read-only)

Command	What it does
figmaclaw inspect <md_file>	Show page state: frame count, sections, enrichment status.
figmaclaw inspect <md_file> --json	Machine-readable. Includes needs_enrichment, pending_frames, stale_frames.
figmaclaw inspect <md_file> --needs-enrichment	Boolean shortcut for CI gating.
figmaclaw inspect-instance --file-key <k> --node <id> --current-ds-hash <key>	Print a JSON diff for one INSTANCE against its master. Repeat --node for JSONL output.
figmaclaw inspect-instance --file-key <k> --nodes-from audit_nodes.jsonl --filter type=INSTANCE	Batch diff INSTANCE records from audit-page fetch-nodes JSONL.
figmaclaw doctor	Verify install, env vars, manifest sanity.
figmaclaw self skill <name>	Print a bundled skill's content.

inspect-instance is read-only and writes JSON to stdout for one node, JSONL for multiple nodes. It chunks REST reads internally and skips synthesized nested instance ids containing ;. Stale/missing node ids are emitted as per-record JSONL errors with is_resolvable: false, not as batch failures. It emits properties[], override_properties, and master identity fields (component_key, component_set_key, published_key, is_current_ds). Use properties[].override_kind (none, value, binding, both) to distinguish clean inheritance from numeric overrides, variable swaps, and combined value+binding overrides. --current-ds-hash accepts a published component-set key, component key, library hash, or DS file key.

LLM enrichment workflow

The body of a page .md is LLM-authored. The flow is gated by frame hashes so unchanged frames are not re-described.

figmaclaw inspect <md_file> --json                # check needs_enrichment, list stale frames
figmaclaw screenshots <md_file> --stale           # download PNGs for new + modified frames
# LLM reads PNGs, writes new body content
figmaclaw write-body <md_file> < new-body.md      # write body, preserves frontmatter (BP-6)
figmaclaw set-flows <md_file> --flows '[[...]]'   # write inferred flows to frontmatter
figmaclaw mark-enriched <md_file>                 # snapshot hashes (D5)

For per-section enrichment on giant pages (>80 frames), use --section <node_id> on screenshots and write-body. See the figmaclaw:figma-enrich-page skill for the full LLM prompt and orchestration.

Token migration

Command	What it does	Writes
figmaclaw suggest-tokens --sidecar <path>	Annotate raw/stale token issues with DS-variable candidates.	A sibling <base>.suggestions.json next to the sidecar (sidecar itself is read-only — never mutated).
figmaclaw suggest-tokens --sidecar <path> --library tap --library lsn	Limit candidates to specific DS libraries (substring match on library name OR library_hash).	Same sibling file. Use this for migration audits — without --library, suggestions can point at the OLD design system instead of the migration target.
figmaclaw suggest-tokens --sidecar <path> --output <path>	Write to a custom path.	<path>.
figmaclaw suggest-tokens --sidecar <path> --output -	Write JSON to stdout (informational messages go to stderr — pipeable to jq etc).	stdout.
figmaclaw suggest-tokens --sidecar <path> --dry-run	Print stats without writing anywhere.	nothing.

suggest-tokens reads .figma-sync/ds_catalog.json. If the catalog is stale, run figmaclaw variables first; per canon CR-2 the consumer should refuse to produce results from a stale catalog.

The output file (*.suggestions.json) is regeneratable and should be added to .gitignore — it's recomputed from the sidecar + catalog on every run, so checking it in causes merge conflicts and quietly stale data.

Webhooks (server side)

Command	What it does
figmaclaw webhooks list	List registered Figma file-modified webhooks for a team.
figmaclaw webhooks ensure <file_key> --target <url>	Idempotently create/update a webhook.
figmaclaw webhooks delete <id>	Remove a webhook.
figmaclaw apply-webhook <payload.json>	Process a Figma webhook payload locally (incremental sync).

CI scaffolding

Command	What it does
figmaclaw init	Copy reusable workflow templates into .github/workflows/.
figmaclaw init --with-webhook-proxy	Also scaffold a Cloudflare Worker proxy for Figma webhooks.
figmaclaw workflows status	Compare local workflow files against bundled templates; flag drift.
figmaclaw claude-run <target>	Discover and enrich files via Claude Code CLI (used inside CI).
figmaclaw stream-format	Reformat claude -p's stream-json output for human-readable CI logs.

Common pitfalls

• Don't edit figma/**/*.md by hand, especially the frontmatter. The body is LLM-authored; for changes, use write-body with the body content, never a partial edit. (Canon BP-1..6.)
• Don't run pull --force to refresh the catalog. Use figmaclaw variables instead — it's seconds, not hours. (Canon TC-5, TC-6.)
• Don't add hardcoded library hashes in any code or skill that classifies tokens. Library identity comes from ds_catalog.json libraries map, populated by figmaclaw variables. (Canon D12.)
• Single-line YAML flow style for frames, flows, enriched_frame_hashes, component_set_keys, raw_frames. The renderer enforces this; never block-indent these manually.

Refer to the canon

For:

• The four-layer data contract (frontmatter / body / manifest / file-scope registries)
• All invariant classes (BP, SC, FM, CL, W, CR, KS, TS, CW, LW, HE, TC, TS-S)
• All design decisions (D1..D14)
• The full failure-mode catalog (F1..F10)

→ Invoke figmaclaw:figmaclaw canon.