Design Tokens

The Design Tokens plugin for figma allows you to export design tokens into a json format that can be used with the Amazon style dictionary package. This allows you to transform your tokens to different languages / platforms like web, iOS or Android.

Table of content

• Installation
• Plugin usage
• FAQ
• Transforming tokens using Amazon style dictionary
• Creating design tokens
  • Figma style design tokens
  • Custom design tokens
    • Border tokens
    • Radii token
    • Size token
    • Spacing token
    • Breakpoints token
    • Motion token
    • Opacity token
  • Available properties
• Settings
  • File Export Settings
  • Push tokens to Github / Server
• Contribution

Installation

1. Go to the design tokens plugin page
2. Click on install in the top right corner

Plugin usage

The plugin has a couple options in the menu items:

Design Tokens > Export Design Token File

This creates a .json file with all design tokens from your Figma project. A dialog will open allowing you to save the file on your hard drive.

Design Tokens > Send Design Tokens to Url

This triggers a request sending your tokens to a server. For this to work you must have configured a server to send your tokens to in the plugin settings.

Design Tokens > Settings

Opens the settings view, which allows you to change all settings mentioned in the settings section below.

Design Tokens > Reset Settings

Resets all your settings to the default. This is helpful when you run into problems with corrupted settings (Plugin does not work as expected).

Design Tokens > Demo File

Opens the demo figma file. Note: You will not have permission to change or export tokens from this file but it will give you an idea of how to set up tokens.

Design Tokens > Help

Opens this documentation page.

FAQ

You can find frequent questions and issues in the faq.

Transforming tokens using Amazon style dictionary

1. Clone the design token transformer repositiory.

git clone https://github.com/lukasoppermann/design-token-transformer.git

2. Export your tokens using the plugin and place the json file in the tokens folder within the transformer repositry
3. Run npm run transform-tokens from the commandline
4. 🎉 Your converted tokens should be in the build folder. For more customization options check out the design token transformer documentation

Creating Design Tokens

Figma style design tokens

The plugin converts the styles you define in Figma into design tokens, this includes Text Styles, Color Styles, Grid Styles and Effect Styles.

Depending on the export format you get a different result. In the Original format every property of a style will be converted to an individual token. When using the Standard format composite tokens are created, for example the properties of a text style are all exported as one composite token.

However for Text Styles the Standard format has a special typography type that if enabled exports the individual tokens as well. This may result in the following tokens (show as transformed css custom properties for readability).

  --font-headline-3-font-size: 20;
  --font-headline-3-text-decoration: none;
  --font-headline-3-font-family: Roboto;
  --font-headline-3-font-style: italic;
  --font-headline-3-font-weight: 500;
  --font-headline-3-font-stretch: condensed;
  --font-headline-3-font-style-old: Medium Italic Condensed; /* only to preserve original value */
  --font-headline-3-letter-spacing: 2;
  --font-headline-3-line-height: 160;
  --font-headline-3-paragraph-indent: 5;
  --font-headline-3-paragraph-spacing: 8;
  --font-headline-3-text-case: uppercase;

Naming

Styles don't have to follow a specific naming convention. Any style will be exported into a design token, as long as it does not match the ignore pattern.

This means you can name your styles Headline or Foundation/Colors/Primary/Red/100 and either one works fine.

Ignoring styles

Styles you don't want to be exported as design tokens can be prefixed with an _ underscore. For example a color style called _readlining/line-color will not be exported.

In the settings you can change the prefix for ignoring/including styles.

Custom design tokens

The plugin also supports custom tokens for borders, radii, sizes, spacing & motion.

• Every custom design token must be within a top-level Frame with a name starting with _tokens. This means you have a structure like this: page > _tokens/sizes > sizes/8.
• The token itself has to have a name starting with sizes, spacing, borders, radii or motion and has to be a Main Component or variant. This is so that the plugin can identify what is and what isn't a token.

Variants

Naming: The name for the design token will be created by combining the main name with the property value e.g. variant sizes with the property size with the values 8 and 16 will result in 2 tokens

• sizes/8
• sizes/16

Ignore properties: If you want a property to be ignored you can prefix it with an _, e.g. the property _hidden will be ignored.

Sizes

To create a sizes token, do the following:

1. Create a Frame and name it _tokens/sizes
2. Create another Main Component and set the width property to your 8.
3. Name it sizes/8. Note, it is important to use the sizes/ prefix.

The token will be exported, if you convert it to css the output would be something like this:

  --sizes-8: 8;

Open example figma file

Spacing

To create a spacing token, do the following:

1. Create a Frame and name it _tokens/spacing
2. Create another Main Component and set the padding properties to 10 in the auto layout.
3. Name it spacing/10. Note, it is important to use the spacing/ prefix.

The token will be exported, if you convert it to css the output would be something like this:

  --spacing-10-top: 10;
  --spacing-10-right: 10;
  --spacing-10-bottom: 10;
  --spacing-10-left: 10;

Open example figma file

Breakpoints

To create a breakpoint token, do the following:

1. Create a Frame and name it _tokens/breakpoints
2. Create another Main Component and set the width property to your desired values (example for lg -> 1280 ).
3. Name it breakpoints/lg. Note, it is important to use the breakpoints/ prefix.

The token will be exported, if you convert it to css the output would be something like this:

  --breakpoints-lg: 1280;

Borders

To create a border token, do the following:

1. Create a Frame and name it _tokens/borders
2. Create another Main Component and set the stroke property to your desired values.
3. Name it borders/dashed-outside. Note, it is important to use the borders/ prefix.

The token will be exported, if you convert it to css the output would be something like this:

  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke-align: outside;
  --borders-dashed-outside-dash-pattern: 5,5,3,3;
  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke-cap: none;
  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke-join: miter;
  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke-miter-limit: 4;
  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke-weight: 1;
  --borders-dashed-outside-stroke: rgba(64, 255, 186, 1);

Radii

To create a radius token, do the following:

1. Create a Frame and name it _tokens/radii
2. Create another Main Component and set the radius properties to your desired values.
3. Name it radii/same-with-smoothing. Note, it is important to use the radii/ prefix.

The token will be exported, if you convert it to css the output would be something like this:

  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radius: 5;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radius-type: single;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radii-top-left: 5;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radii-top-right: 5;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radii-bottom-right: 5;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-radii-bottom-left: 5;
  --radii-same-with-smoothing-smoothing: 0.65;

Motion

Motion tokens are a combination of an easing curve, a duration and an animation type. To create a motion token follow this flow:

1. Create a new Frame called _tokens/motion
2. Create a new Main Component
3. Name it motion/move-in. Note, it is important to use the motion/ prefix.
4. Enter prototyping mode and link the element motion/move-in to any other element.
5. Choose an animation type, easing curve and a duration

When exporting your tokens you will now get a set of properties for this motion set.

  --motion-move-in-type: move_in;
  --motion-move-in-duration: 0.5;
  --motion-move-in-easing: ease-in;
  --motion-move-in-easing-function-x-1: 0.41999998688697815;
  --motion-move-in-easing-function-x-2: 1;
  --motion-move-in-easing-function-y-1: 0;
  --motion-move-in-easing-function-y-2: 1;
  --motion-move-in-direction: left;

Opacity

To create opacity tokens, do the following:

1. Create a new Frame called _tokens/opacities
2. Create a new Main Component
3. Set the desired Pass through value (ie. 30%)
4. Give it a fitting name, e.g. opacity/input-disabled

After exporting it, if you convert it to CSS, the resulting token will look like this:

--opacity-input-disabled: 0.3;

Available properties

To allow for maximum customizability I decided to provide all values that Figma provides. Many are not applicable to for example css but may be usable in other languages.

Colors are provided in rgba but can be converted using Amazon style dictionary.

Settings

Add token type to name

When enabled, token names will be prefixed with the token type e.g. "color" or "font". This effectifly groups tokens by type.

Name Conversion

This option allows you to define how the token names will be converted when they are store in the json file, the available options are:

• Default – spaces from the beginning and end are removed and the name is converted to lowercase
• camelCase - spaces from the beginning and end are removed and the name is converted to camelCase
• kebab-case - spaces from the beginning and end are removed and the name is converted to kebab-case

Token format

This option defines the structure for the json output.

Standard (W3C draft)

This format is based on the current spec draft of the Design Tokens W3C Community Group. It is much simpler and makes it easier to define custom transformers for amazon style dictionary.

Every token follows this structure (learn more):

type StandardTokenInterface = {
  name: string,
  description?: string,
  value: StandardTokenValueType | StandardCompositeTokenValueType,
  type: StandardTokenTypes,
  extensions?: StandardTokenExtensionsInterface
}

Original (deprecated)

This is the original format of the plugin. It is mainly in here to allow teams to slowly migrate to the standard format. This works better with amazon style dictionary for basics. However if you want to create custom transformers the Standard format is better.

Exclusion Prefix

By default the plugin ignores any style that is prefixed with _ or .. You can define any additional prefix via this option, e.g *. This can be helpful when you want to have styles that are shared across files in figma, but that should not be exported to your design tokens.

Notes:

1. This setting only applies to Figma styles (colors, typography, grids & effects). It does not apply to custom tokens.
2. The prefix has to be in the beginning of the token name, e.g. .My Colors/Internal/Red will be ignored, while My Colors/.Internal/Red will be exported.

Aliases (Standard format only)

The standard token format allows you to define an alias/reference for a color tokens via the description field. For example if you want the color style danger-color to reference the color style core-colors/red you can add a ref: line to the description field of the danger-color:

Use this color for destructive actions only.
ref: core-colors.red

This will create an output in your json like this:

"danger-color": {
  "description": "Use this color for destructive actions only.",
  "type": "color",
  "value": "{core-colors.red}"
}

The alias line is removed from the description field during export. If you active prefixing token types or token prefixes they will automatically be added.

In the settings you can defined the valid alias indentifiers like ref. By default it is set to alias, ref, reference.

Token Prefixes

Include token prefixes in token name

When enabled this option keeps the token prefix in the name, e.g. for color/red the token prefix is color and the token name is red.

For styles: Styles do not have a prefix so when enabled the plugin will add the prefix to the token name.

• Color style: red -> color/red
• Gradient style: black to white -> gradient/black to white
• Font style: h1 -> font/h1
• Grid style: mobile -> grid/mobile
• Color style: shadow 4dp -> effect/shadow 4dp

For custom tokens: Custom tokens use the prefix to identify the token e.g. radius/5px, the prefix radius is used by the plugin to indetify the token type. This means the name already includes the prefix and nothing will be added. However it this option is disabled the prefix will be removed.

layer name	option enabled	option disabled
radius/5px	radius/5px	5px
size/8px	size/8px	8px
breakpoint/md	breakpoint/md	md

Token prefixes names

This option allows you to define custom prefixes for the tokens.

For styles: You can only define one prefix which will be added if the Include token prefixes in token name is enabled.

For custom tokens: You can add multiple prefixes in a comma separated list e.g. radii,radius. If Include token prefixes in token name is enabled whichever prefix is used in the name of a token will be kept if you have radius/5px and radii/sm you will also get radius/5px and radii/sm in the json output.

File Export Settings

Compression for json output file

This option allows you to toggle the json compression for file export. When enabled the json file will be minified meaning whitespace and linebreaks will be removed.

Filename

You can define the default filename that will be used when exporting the tokens to a json file.

Selective export

You can choose which types of tokens to export to a file. This can be helpful when debugging your tokens. By default all types are selected and thus all tokens will be exported.

If you which to ignore specific styles, use the exclude prefix.

Push to Server

Compression for json output to server

This option allows you to toggle the json compression for the export to a server. When enabled the json that is end to the server will be minified meaning whitespace and linebreaks will be removed.

When a server url is specified, the command Send Design Tokens to Url will send a POST request to the provided url. The body of the request will look like the following:

  "event_type": "update-tokens", // or any string you defined
  "client_payload": { 
    "tokens": "{...}", // the stringified json object holding all your desing tokens
    "filename": "Design Tokens" // the Figma file name from which the tokens were exported
  }

Event type

This is the event_type property that is send in the body of the request with the client_payload.

Server url

The url the post request is send to. This must be SSL secured (using https) as Figma is a secure environment and thus does not allow non-secure requests. A limitation that comes with Figma is that the server must allow access from any origin and send the following header: Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *

Content Type

Overrides the content type header for the final HTTP request. Defaults to "plain/text"

Pushing to Github

If you push to github the server url must be in the format

https://api.github.com/repos/:username/:repo/dispatches

For the repositiory lukasoppermann/design-token-transformer this would be:

https://api.github.com/repos/lukasoppermann/design-token-transformer/dispatches

Auth header

This defines the authentication method used with the access token. The current choices are:

• token (used for github)
• gitlab_token (used for Gitlab requests)
• bearer token
• basic auth

Access token

The token send using the authentication method defined above. Learn more about creating a personal access token for github.

Github repo or custom server

You can use this feature to integrate tokens into your build pipeline. The ideal is to send tokens from Figma to a repository and automatically transform them. Depending on your setup you could either trigger a webhook on your product repos, create a new semversion on the tokens repo or notify the dev teams in another way.

To learn how to set this up using github and actions check out the documentation and code examples in the design token transformer repositry.

Gitlab repo

This will set up the plugin to trigger a Gitlab pipeline passing in the variables directly as environment variables. This data flow is documented in the section Pass CI/CD variables in the API call in the Gitlab "Triggers" documentation.

Once the pipeline is triggered the following values will be available as environment variables:

• FIGMA_EVENT_TYPE: The provided event type string.
• FIGMA_CLIENT_PAYLOAD_TOKENS: The generated tokens JSON string.
• FIGMA_CLIENT_PAYLOAD_FILENAME: The filename for the original Figma file.

⚠️ NOTE: It has been found that Gitlab has limitations on how much data can be passed via the environmental variables due to the limit on the size of the ConfigMap at 1048576 bytes. Depending on the system you are running on and any configurations already in place you may find you are able to pass more or less data than others. Developers and Designers should be aware of this limitation and plan accordingly. The below warning is an indication you have exceeded the data limit:

ERROR: Error cleaning up configmap: resource name may not be empty
ERROR: Job failed (system failure): prepare environment: setting up scripts configMap: generating scripts config map: ConfigMap "[[redacted image name]]" is invalid: []: Too long: must have at most 1048576 bytes. Check https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/shells/index.html#shell-profile-loading for more information

Reference

This field is only used when the "gitlab_token" auth header has been selected. This field sets the reference for the Gitlab trigger. This can be a branch, or tag name.

Errors

No tokens get exported

There a different possible reasons for this to occur:

1. Tokens are not placed inside a frame named _tokens
2. Tokens are nested in groups or frames (they must be the first level children of the _tokens frame)
3. You may have changed the exclude prefix setting to false which means only styles that include the prefix e.g. _colors/blue are exported

Sending tokens to the server returns an error

401

You may be using a wrong access token or the access token is missing the correct permission (public_repo).

404

You may be using a wrong server url or auth type. Also assure your access token is valid.

General error (custom server)

The server may not have correct cors settings. If you send your tokens to github this probably means that you have a spelling mistake in the URL.

Contribution

Feature requests & help

If you would like to see a specific feature implemented, please create an issue including a description of the feature and a use case.

If you can build the feature yourself and send a PR, this is even better. Please still create an issue first and mention that you want to implement it. I will get back to you asap to discuss the details of how to implement it.

Help develop this plugin

If you are interested in helping please comment on any issue you would like to take on. I will get back to you to discuss how to implement it.