Prerequisites

In Figma, plugins are written in JavaScript and their UI is created with HTML.

We hope the Figma Plugin API will be easy to use. Where possible, we abstract away the complexities of design tools. However, at least some basic experience with JavaScript (and HTML if you want to create UI) will be necessary to build Figma plugins.

If you have no prior experience in programming or web development, there are many free education resources out there that can help you. Here are just a few of the popular ones:

• The Odin Project
• Udacity: Web Development
• Khan Academy: Intro to JS

In addition, many of the tools used in modern web development will be useful for building more complex plugins. You don't need to learn these tools before starting to write plugins, but they will come in handy eventually. We opted to build on top of the most popular open-source tools in the web development community rather than to roll out our own proprietary solutions. Here are some examples of things you might end up using:

• TypeScript, to make navigating the API easier and write robust plugins
• Webpack, to bundle large multi-file projects and import libraries
• React, Vue, etc. to create complex user interfaces