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Figma restricts MCP access to whitelisted clients, excluding Pi

187 points · 106 comments · thdr

  1. miguel-muniz · · focus · HN ↗
    For context: Figma has two MCPs. The local "dev" MCP that works through the Desktop app, and the remote MCP that requires a connection to Figma. Companies need to be whitelisted to use the remote MCP, which is the only one that allows agents edit access to Figma documents.

    I only found out about Figma's limitation when I was trying to add the remote MCP server to GitHub Copilot Desktop and kept running into errors. Turns out they whitelisted GitHub Copilot CLI but not the Desktop app and had put a pause on enabling any more vendors. Eventually someone (not sure which side) got it working.

    Kind of strange to limit edit access only to the Remote MCP when their competitors like Pen[1] and Paper[2] allow any local agent to edit.

    [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pen.dev&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pen.dev&#x2F;

    [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;paper.design&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;paper.design&#x2F;

    1. miguel-muniz · · focus · HN ↗
      To speak more broadly, Figma is in a really tough spot right now. I see more and more designers in my circle saying they are skipping design tools entirely to prototype in code or ship directly in their product&#x27;s code base. Honestly I find myself doing the same.

      Figma&#x27;s main value used to be in providing designers a canvas to iterate and explore ideas since the majority of designers did not code, but AI has completely changed that.

      I fear Figma&#x27;s reluctance to integrate with all the popular AI tools might actually accelerate their decline. AI provides so much value, that I would rather base my software purchasing decisions around what is compatible with my AI of choice rather than pick an AI that is compatible with Figma.

      1. oh_no · · focus · HN ↗
        yeah it&#x27;s 100% the wrong move for them to make, I think there is probably a lot of value in AI driving Figma, and if I can&#x27;t do that, Figma will fall out of the ecosystem.
        1. miguel-muniz · · focus · HN ↗
          They have their own agent built into Figma, which of course uses credits which you must pay Figma for.
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