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Figma public plugin/document node model

Document status: reviewed. Canonical source.

Summary

Figma exposes document content through a versioned REST response and an in-editor plugin API. The public model includes document/canvas containment, frames, components, instances, vectors, text, auto layout, grid layout, paints, styles and variables. The public contract is an API model, not the .fig file encoding.

Evidence

  • GET /v1/files/:key returns a document node, component/style maps, schema version and file version. ids, depth, geometry=paths and plugin_data control projection. The endpoint requires file_content:read and is subject to plan-dependent rate limits. https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/file-endpoints/#get-file and https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/rate-limits/ (retrieved 2026-08-29).
  • The REST node catalogue distinguishes DOCUMENT, CANVAS, FRAME, COMPONENT, INSTANCE, basic shapes, vectors and text. Properties are conditional on node type. https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/file-node-types/ (retrieved 2026-08-29).
  • The official plugin typings define stable node IDs, ordered children, geometry, paints, auto-layout sizing/alignment/padding/gap, grid tracks and variable bindings. The plugin API is the writable document surface. https://github.com/figma/plugin-typings/blob/master/plugin-api-standalone.d.ts (BaseNodeMixin, ChildrenMixin, LayoutMixin, AutoLayoutMixin, GridLayoutMixin, GeometryMixin; retrieved 2026-08-29).
  • setPluginData stores plugin-private string data with a 100 kB limit per entry. REST retrieval includes only requested plugin IDs or shared data. https://developers.figma.com/docs/plugins/api/properties/nodes-setplugindata/ (retrieved 2026-08-29).
  • The Variables API represents boolean, float, string and color values by mode; local variable read/write scopes can be plan-restricted. https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/variables-endpoints/ (retrieved 2026-08-29).

NUIF relevance

Borrow stable foreign node IDs, explicit node kinds, ordered containment, component references, auto-layout fields, variable bindings and plugin data for correspondence metadata.

Adapt REST JSON as a bounded read fixture and use a plugin companion for writes. Every report must record file version, schema version, requested depth, geometry mode and omitted plugin-data namespaces. A first profile can map one page with frames, rectangles, ellipses and pinned text.

Reject undocumented .fig or multiplayer protocols as normative dependencies. REST access is authenticated, rate-limited and primarily a read surface; a credential-free bidirectional conformance gate requires checked-in API fixtures and a separately tested plugin bridge.