Field feedback from a raw-API agent build (join-the-world-flow): the catalog blurb's word 'animatics' encodes the PNG-slideshow architecture the skill body explicitly forbids — an agent routing by the blurb concludes the shipped behavior is frames-as-pictures. Reworded to 'reconstructed motion (frames read as states, not slides)' across all catalog surfaces (skill frontmatter, CLAUDE.md, README, skills.mdx, hyperframes router, figma guide). Also codifies the stronger doctrine that build demonstrated as storyboard rule 10: when every frame is the same product UI in successive states, rebuild the app as live DOM (Phase-3 for stateful parts, real pixels for static chrome — code what changes state, freeze what doesn't) and perform frame deltas as interactions instead of tweens. Spec §5.1 records the escalation + field origin. Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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name, description
| name | description |
|---|---|
| figma | Import Figma content into a HyperFrames composition — rendered assets, brand tokens, components, storyboard sections → reconstructed motion (frames read as states, not slides) (REST/CLI), and Figma Motion animations + shaders (MCP). Use when the user pastes a figma.com link or asks to bring a Figma design, frame, logo, brand, or animation into a video/composition. |
Figma → HyperFrames
Bring the user's Figma work into a composition. Split by capability (design spec §2):
| Phase | What | Transport | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Static assets | REST | hyperframes figma asset |
| 2 | Brand tokens/styles | REST | hyperframes figma tokens |
| 3 | Components → HTML | REST | hyperframes figma component |
| 4 | Motion → GSAP | MCP only | you, via get_motion_context |
| 5 | Shaders | MCP only / manual export | you |
REST is used wherever it can be (usable at volume, headless); MCP only where Figma exposes no REST equivalent (motion, shaders). Every path freezes assets locally so renders stay deterministic. Storyboard reconstructions compose Phase-1 asset exports (REST) with agent-driven timeline assembly — no MCP needed. Existing frozen assets, manifest records, and bindings are unaffected by routing changes — the split only changes which credential the next import uses.
Auth — two credentials, scoped
Preflight — before the first CLI call, check a token exists: shell env ([ -n "$FIGMA_TOKEN" ]) or the project .env (the CLI auto-loads it — a .env entry counts as configured). If neither, do NOT run the command to harvest the error — walk the user through the one-time setup first, then stop and wait:
- figma.com/settings → Security → Personal access tokens → Generate new token.
- Scopes — read-only is all this integration ever needs (it never writes to Figma): File content: Read-only + File metadata: Read-only. Optionally Variables: Read-only for brand variables — that scope only works on Figma Enterprise; without it
tokensdegrades to published styles automatically (expected behavior, not an error — say so). export FIGMA_TOKEN="figd_…"— and suggest persisting it (shell profile or project.env) so no future session repeats this.
While onboarding, also set expectations in one breath: every import lands as a local frozen file with recorded provenance — renders never call Figma, re-running a command re-imports only what changed in Figma, and one token works for assets, brand tokens, and components across every file their Figma account can view.
- Phases 4–5 (motion/shaders): the Figma MCP connector (one-click OAuth), a separate credential from the token. If MCP tools error unauthenticated, tell the user to connect the Figma connector and stop.
- Say exactly which credential a failing phase needs — never present the split as broken.
BAD_TOKEN(401) mid-flow → the token is expired/revoked; re-mint.FORBIDDEN(403) → missing read scope or no access to that file — check scopes + file visibility.REQUIRES_ENTERPRISE(403 on variables) → not a failure: styles fallback already ran.
Rate-limit awareness (spec §2.1): MCP on a Starter plan is 6 tool calls/month (figma plan matrix as of 2026-07 — re-verify if quotas look off) — batch with recursive:true on the parent node, skip verification screenshots unless asked, and cache raw MCP responses so re-derivation never spends a second call. REST is per-minute (10+/min, per-endpoint buckets) — fine at volume, back off on 429.
Routing
Parse the user's figma link with parseFigmaRef (URL, fileKey:nodeId, bare fileKey). Then by intent:
- "use this layer / logo / image" → Asset (CLI)
- "pull my brand / colors / tokens" → Tokens (CLI)
- "build a scene from this frame" → Component (CLI)
- "import this animation / motion" → Motion (MCP, below)
- a storyboard section / filmstrip of scene frames → Storyboard (below)
- shader fill/effect → Shaders (below)
Narrate every step for the user — before each command say what you're about to pull from Figma; after it, say where the artifact landed (the frozen path / sidecar / component dir), what changed in the composition, and the immediate next action (preview, add printed variables, re-import to link bindings). The user should never have to ask "did it work?" or "now what?".
Assets (Phase 1 — CLI)
hyperframes figma asset '<url-or-fileKey:nodeId>' [--format svg|png|jpg|pdf] [--scale 2] [--description "..."] [--entity "..."]
Renders over REST, sanitizes SVG, freezes under .media/images/, appends the manifest with provenance, regenerates .media/index.md (the shared media-use inventory), prints an <img> snippet. Idempotent per fileKey:nodeId:format:scale:version. Prefer SVG for vectors/logos (scalable, animatable), PNG --scale 2 for raster fidelity. Always pass --description "<what it is>" (it becomes the index row + <img alt>); add --entity "<name>" for named brand marks so media-use resolve --entity finds them later (entity hits match across image/icon).
Tokens (Phase 2 — CLI)
hyperframes figma tokens <fileKey>
Imports variables as composition brand-variable entries + figma-tokens.json sidecar + binding-index records (.media/figma-bindings.jsonl). Variables are Enterprise-gated upstream: on other plans the command degrades to published-style metadata (values resolve at component-import time). Add the printed entries to the composition's data-composition-variables.
Import tokens before components when both are wanted — that's what lets component colors link to brand variables instead of baking duplicates.
Components (Phase 3 — CLI)
hyperframes figma component '<url-or-fileKey:nodeId>'
Node tree → editable HTML at exact figma geometry, packaged as a registry item under compositions/components/<name>/. Vectors/boolean-ops auto-rasterize via Phase-1 export. Binding pass (spec §7.1, exact-ID only — never value matching):
- Fill bound to an imported token →
var(--slug, #literal)— brand refresh propagates. - Bound to an unknown token → literal +
data-figma-unresolvedflag. The command tells you; offer the user: runtokenson the source (or library) file, then re-import the component to link them. Ask once per unknown library which file it is — never guess, never match by hex.
Motion (Phase 4 — MCP, the headline)
Usage beacon: MCP phases have no CLI touchpoint, so fire the skill beacon at start and finish (anonymous, consent-gated, never fails): npx hyperframes events --skill=figma-motion when you begin, npx hyperframes events --skill=figma-motion --event=skill_completed --outcome=success|error when done. Same for shaders (figma-shaders) and storyboards (figma-storyboard).
No REST equivalent exists. You drive the MCP tools, then hand output to the pure helpers in @hyperframes/core/figma:
get_motion_context(fileKey, nodeId)— userecursive:trueon the parent frame (one call for the whole scene, not one per element). Save the raw JSON next to the project (.media/figma-cache/) so retranslation is free.- Normalize into a
MotionDoc: per animated property aMotionTrack{ property (motion.dev name), values, times (0..1), ease[] (named or[x1,y1,x2,y2]bezier), duration, repeat }. Selector = the element's stable id (#<id>from Phase-3 output or the authored scene). motionToGsap(doc)→emitTimelineScript(spec)→ inject as a<script>after the GSAP + CustomEase CDN tags. Paused, finite, registered onwindow.__timelineswith a literal key.- Untranslatable track (shader-driven, unsupported prop, complex masks) → bake:
export_video→ freeze MP4 → embed as<video class="clip">. Exception: shader-driven tracks — figma's export path flattens shaders to the base color (see Shaders below), so a bake there silently loses the shader; ask the user for a native figma export instead. Always say which path you used and why. Named eases outside the mapped set fall back to linear — the mapping table lives inmotionEase.ts; flag the fallback to the user when it fires. - Run
npx hyperframes lint && npx hyperframes validatebefore calling it done.
Shaders (Phase 5 — mostly manual)
Figma's MCP render path does not execute shaders (they flatten to the base color), and shader source is only reachable for library-published styles (paid Full seat). Default path: ask the user to export the shader frame natively in Figma (PNG or Motion MP4), then import it as a Phase-1 asset / clip. Don't attempt MCP pixel capture of a shader — it will silently produce the wrong thing.
Storyboards (a SECTION of scene frames → animation)
The cardinal rule: storyboard frames are KEYFRAMES, not slides. Two frames containing the same element describe that element's state through time — animate the ELEMENT between the states; never play the frames as a sequence of stills. A logo drawn in four consecutive frames at descending y is ONE element rising through four keyframes. Playing storyboard frames back-to-back is the failure mode; reconstructing the element timelines they imply is the job.
Storyboard files follow a grammar you can parse mechanically — don't eyeball, decode:
- Scene units: inside the SECTION, every frame-sized node is a scene — both named FRAMEs and loose full-frame RECTANGLEs (designers paste stills straight into the section). Filter by size (≈ composition aspect, e.g. >1400×900), not by node type or name.
- Order = x-position (row-major if the strip wraps). Sort scenes by
absoluteBoundingBox.x. - Diff adjacent frames into element chains — this is where the animation lives. Match children across consecutive frames: first by name (same name = same element → tween its relative x/y/w/h between states), then by geometry similarity (similar size + nearby center = same logical element whose pixels changed → crossfade the two exports in place while tweening geometry; covers typed-text progressions and morph states). Unmatched children enter/exit at their scene's beat. Frame background fills tween as a color track. Export ONE asset per chain (one per state only when pixels genuinely differ) — never one still per frame.
- Stills are the fallback, not the default — only for frames that don't decompose (flat full-frame screenshots with no shared elements); those get the animatic treatment below.
- Director notes: TEXT nodes below the strip are motion intent, paired to the scene whose x-range they overlap. They describe how to animate — they are not on-screen copy.
- Batch exports (elements or stills):
GET /v1/imagesaccepts comma-separated ids, but big scene frames hit "Render timeout" past ~12 ids — chunk to ~4 per call with a retry. (One call per scene wastes the rate budget; 26 scenes ≈ 52 calls via the single-asset path.) - Note verbs → transitions (starter vocabulary, extend as encountered):
| Note says | Do |
|---|---|
| EXPLOSION / BURST | incoming scale ~1.5→1 + fade, power3.out |
| SLIDES / SLIDE TO THE… / SCROLL | directional slide in from that edge |
| MORPH / REVEALS | crossfade — or Phase-3 import if the motion is inside one scene |
| CYCLE THROUGH / EACH ONE | longer hold — or Phase-3 import if items animate within the scene |
| (no note) | crossfade + slow Ken-Burns drift |
- Stills vs. components routing: a note describing motion between scenes → transition on the still (above). A note describing motion inside a scene ("TEXT LINES REVEAL ONE AFTER THE OTHER", "PILLS ANIMATE IN") → that frame deserves a Phase-3 component import (real elements) animated per the note, not a flat PNG. Do the animatic pass first with stills, then upgrade the scenes the notes single out.
- One
maintimeline sequences everything (opacity/x/y per scene at absolute times) — no per-scene sub-compositions needed for an animatic. - Escalation — frames depict ONE product UI → rebuild the app, not element chains. When every frame is the same application screen in successive states (a signup flow, a settings panel, a player), element chains undersell it. Rebuild the UI as live DOM — Phase-3 component import for the parts that change state, real exported pixels for static chrome (code what changes state, freeze what doesn't) — and treat each frame delta as an interaction to perform, not a tween to apply: the cursor enters, clicks the control, the state responds, screens push/slide as real navigation. The result reads as one continuous screen recording of a working app. This is the cardinal rule taken to its conclusion for UI flows; the stills/element-chain treatments are for storyboards that aren't one coherent application.
Determinism
Never leave a Figma URL in the composition — freeze first. Never emit repeat: -1. Timelines paused, finite, literal window.__timelines keys. All Figma I/O at import time; render sees local files only.