Part 2 of 6 · Connect Claude to Figma
Requirements — Connect Claude to Figma
The accounts, access, rules, people and decisions you need before you connect Claude to Figma.
Free
This track builds on the design system. Check you have what’s below before you connect anything.
Before you start
- The design system checkpoint at a 2 or better: variables, a component library and your main page templates in Figma. If you’re not there yet, start with the design system track.
Accounts and tools
- A Claude plan that lets you connect MCP servers.
- A Figma account and plan that support the MCP connection you choose. There’s more than one way to connect Claude to Figma, and what each needs from your Figma plan differs and changes, so check before you commit.
- Any desktop app or local setup the connection you choose needs, on the computer you’ll work from.
Access
- Access to the Figma files that hold your design system and templates. Read access at the least.
- A separate place in Figma for AI drafts, away from the library, so a draft never lands in your source of truth by accident.
Rules and reference material
This is the material, not the finished rules. Turning it into rules Claude follows is part of the build.
- Your design system’s conventions, written down: which components to use for what, naming, spacing, and what’s off-limits (inventing new colours, detaching components).
- Brand voice notes, for any copy Claude writes into a design.
- A handful of pages you consider properly on-system, to point to as examples.
- Competitor and reference sites you’d want it to look at.
People and time
- One person who reviews every draft before it goes anywhere, with the authority to say no.
- Time for a few practice sessions on low-stakes pages before anything goes live.
Decisions to make first
- Read or write. Whether Claude can change your Figma files directly, or only reads them and drafts somewhere separate.
- Where drafts go, and who promotes a draft into the real file.
- What counts as on-system when you review a draft.
- Your first job. One low-risk page or asset type to start with.
- What you share. What’s fine to put in front of an AI tool and what isn’t, such as unreleased products or pricing.
Next: the Checklist, so you know what a 4 looks like before you start.