Read Figma via curl + jq. The user's OAuth bearer token is in
$FIGMA_TOKEN; every call needs Authorization: Bearer $FIGMA_TOKEN. Base URL:
https://api.figma.com/v1.
Failures are {"status":<code>,"err":"..."} — show err verbatim. 403 means
the token lacks the scope or the file isn't shared with the user. 404 = bad
file key.
The file key is the figma.com/file/<KEY>/... or figma.com/design/<KEY>/...
segment of a pasted URL. A node id is in ?node-id=1-23 (Figma shows 1:23;
the API also accepts 1:23).
F="https://api.figma.com/v1"; AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $FIGMA_TOKEN"
# Who am I (account card)
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/me" | jq '{handle, email}'
# File document tree (name + top-level frames). Big files: prefer /nodes below.
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/files/FILE_KEY?depth=2" \
| jq '{name, pages: [.document.children[] | {name, frames: [.children[]?.name]}]}'
Read specific nodes & render images
KEY="FILE_KEY"
# Just the nodes you care about (faster than the whole file)
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/files/$KEY/nodes?ids=1:23,1:45" \
| jq '.nodes | to_entries[] | {id: .key, name: .value.document.name, type: .value.document.type}'
# Render nodes to images — returns temporary CDN URLs (this is the "see it" tool)
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/images/$KEY?ids=1:23&format=png&scale=2" \
| jq '.images' # { "1:23": "https://...png" }
For design-to-code, render the frame to PNG (to view) and read its node JSON (layout/fills/typography) to extract exact colors, spacing and text.
Comments & projects
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/files/FILE_KEY/comments" \
| jq '.comments[] | {user: .user.handle, at: .created_at, message}'
# Team projects → files (needs a team id from the Figma URL /team/<id>/...)
curl -sS -H "$AUTH" "$F/teams/TEAM_ID/projects" | jq '.projects'
Gotchas
- Node ids: Figma URLs use
1-23(dash); the API wants1:23(colon). Convert. /imagesURLs are temporary — download/use them promptly, don't store.depth=limits tree traversal; omit it only for small files or you'll pull megabytes of node JSON.