figma-use-motion

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: instruction override, no behavioural pass, no license.

**Bail out fast on that error.** Do not retry; tell the user motion isn't enabled for them and stop. Otherwise you'll burn calls and confuse the user with repeated identical failures.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 36122737d444 · 31 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisherfigma GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderfigma/mcp-server-guide/skills-figquery/figma-use-motionThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceNot declaredAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict36122737d444A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 2 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Motion / animation context for the `use_figma` MCP tool — animating Figma nodes via manual keyframes, animation styles, easing, and timeline duration. Load alongside figma-use whenever a task involves adding, editing,…

---
name: figma-use-motion
description: "Motion / animation context for the `use_figma` MCP tool — animating Figma nodes via manual keyframes, animation styles, easing, and timeline duration. Load alongside figma-use whenever a task involves adding, editing, or inspecting animation on a node."
disable-model-invocation: false
---

# use_figma — Figma Plugin API Skill for Motion

Motion context for the `use_figma` MCP tool. [figma-use](../figma-use/SKILL.md) covers the foundational Plugin API rules — load both together.

**Always pass `skillNames: "figma-use-motion"` (comma-separated alongside `figma-use`) when calling `use_figma` for motion work.** Logging only.

## Runtime Gating

Motion APIs are gated behind the `metronome` user feature flag. When the calling user doesn't have it, every motion property and helper referenced in this skill throws `"<name>" is not a supported API`.

**Bail out fast on that error.** Do not retry; tell the user motion isn't enabled for them and stop. Otherwise you'll burn calls and confuse the user with repeated identical failures.

## When to use this skill

Load this skill whenever a `use_figma` task involves:

- Adding, editing, or removing keyframes on a node (`manualKeyframeTracks`, `applyManualKeyframeTrack`, `removeManualKeyframeTrack`).
- Animating fill or stroke colors over time.
- Applying, editing, or removing animation styles (`applyAnimationStyle`, `removeAnimationStyle`, `animationStyles`).
- Reading or writing timeline duration via `node.timelines` / `node.setTimelineDuration(id, seconds)`.
- Choosing easing for any of the above.

Static design work (creating shapes, components, variables, layout) goes through [figma-use](../figma-use/SKILL.md) alone — this skill is only for the time dimension.

## Exposed motion API surface

- `node.manualKeyframeTracks` — read/write manual keyframes (including fill, stroke, and effect tracks).
- `node.applyManualKeyframeTrack(field, track)` / `node.removeManualKeyframeTrack(field)` — add, replace, or remove one manual keyframe track without rewriting the whole object.
- `node.animationStyles` — read/write animation-style metadata applied to a node.
- `node.applyAnimationStyle(styleId, presetData?)` / `node.removeAnimationStyle(id)` — apply a discovered style and remove an applied style instance by its returned/read-back `id`.
- `node.timelines` — read-only timeline list for the containing top-level frame, with durations in seconds.
- `node.setTimelineDuration(id, durationSeconds)` — write the containing top-level frame timeline duration.
- `node.animations` — read-only resolved keyframe data (currently manual tracks only — see [motion-patterns.md](references/motion-patterns.md)).
- `figma.motion.figmaAnimationStyles()` — read-only list of Figma's first-party animation styles.

Authoring custom `"figma:motion"` preset module source code is out of scope. If the user wants a brand-new animation style, say so and stop; don't fabricate one.

## Reference docs

Load these as needed based on what the task involves:

| Doc | When to load | What it covers |
|-----|-------------|----------------|
| [motion-patterns.md](references/motion-patterns.md) | Adding/editing motion animation | Manual keyframes, animated fills/strokes, applying animation styles, timeline duration |
| [motion-easing.md](references/motion-easing.md) | Setting animation easing | Keyframe easing objects, custom cubic/spring, `HOLD`, applying easing inside an animation style |

## Verifying the animation

`get_screenshot` shows only the timeline's **resting state**, never motion. To check motion, `export_video` and sample frames — but it renders server-side and is **slow and expensive (~10s to minutes)**, so make each render count.

**Plan before rendering — cost scales with pixels × frames, so keep both no larger than the frames need:**

1. **Pick the moments first.** You need one frame per *phase* (e.g. per stagger step, or start / mid / settle), not smooth playback — usually 4–6. This count sets your fps.
2. **Size to what you must read.** Start small — `constraint: { type: 'WIDTH', value: 320 }`, `quality: "low"` — but text and small elements blur there, so raise `WIDTH` (768+) when you need to judge fine detail. Omitting `constraint` = full size (1x; server clamps to 10x / 4096px).
3. **Set fps just high enough to land those frames:** `fps: 5` covers a handful; 10 is an upper bound. Higher just bloats the render.

**Mechanics:** `export_video` works only on a **top-level frame** whose children carry the animation (pass that frame, not the descendant you keyframed). It returns a `jobId` with `status: "processing"` — re-invoke with `{ fileKey, jobId }` to poll. Then extract frames locally with `ffmpeg -ss <t> -i anim.mp4 -frames:v 1 frame_<t>.png` — extraction is free, so once you've paid for the render, mine it for every frame that tells you something rather than re-exporting. Without a frame extractor like `ffmpeg`, skip the export and reason about the keyframes instead.

**Iterate until it's right.** The export is a diagnostic, not a sign-off: if the frames are wrong (bad order, off timing, a missing element, a mask blanking the composite), fix the keyframes/styles and re-export. Read *all* the frames and batch every fix into one pass before re-rendering — every render carries real overhead, so make each one count instead of re-exporting after each small change.

Skip the export entirely for trivial or self-evident changes.

## Pre-flight checklist

In addition to the [figma-use pre-flight checklist](../figma-use/SKILL.md#8-pre-flight-checklist), verify:

- [ ] Easing uses the public `{ type: 'EASE_OUT', easingFunctionCubicBezier?: ..., easingFunctionSpring?: ... }` shape — not internal scenegraph names like `OUT_CUBIC`.
- [ ] Ease-in-out uses the exact public enum `EASE_IN_AND_OUT` (or `EASE_IN_AND_OUT_BACK`); never emit the invalid alias `EASE_IN_OUT`.
- [ ] The node being animated is not a top-level frame (direct child of a page). Animate d

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/figma/mcp-server-guide
git -C mcp-server-guide checkout 36122737d444

Works in

1. 2026-10-31
   !CAUTION C 79 / 100

   first audit · source 36122737d444

Questions about figma-use-motion

• github.com/figma/mcp-server-guide/tree/main/skills-figquery/figm — the audited source at commit 36122737d444 and every finding aboveObserved · 31 Oct 2026

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