u/RevolutionarySlip292

Tried a few of the free Figma MCPs out there to redesign part of my portfolio.

It was really nice being able to quickly explore different layouts, color palettes, and themes instead of getting stuck on the first idea. Ended up trying a bunch of variations before settling on the current direction.

I eventually switched to my own AI Connect MCP for one reason. Most of the existing Figma MCPs I tried generated lots of small tool calls, so I added a batch update operation that applies an entire design update in a single call. It cut down token usage quite a bit and made the whole workflow feel much smoother.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with how it's shaping up. I'll share the finished portfolio later, and I'll drop the MCP codebase in the comments as well.

Not trying to promote the MCP or anything—just sharing it in case it's useful to someone else. The source is open anyway.

Pic 1 & 2 are from Figma, while Pic 3 & 4 are the implemented website.

Also, I don't think an MCP replaces real designers. But for developers making quick UI iterations or personal projects, it's been surprisingly useful.

Tried the free Figma MCPs out there to redesign part of my portfolio

It was nice being able to quickly explore different layouts, colors, and themes instead of getting stuck on the first idea. Ended up testing a bunch of variations before settling on the current design.

The MCP I finally used was my own lol AI Connect MCP and i'll tell you the reason. One thing I noticed was that existing Figma MCPs generated a lot of small tool calls, so I added a batch update operation that sends an entire design update in a single call. It reduced token usage quite a bit and made the workflow feel much smoother.

Still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. I'll share the portfolio later. Will share MCP codebase in the comments.

To be clear, the aim is not to promote my mcp or something, sharing if it helps someone as it did for me. The source is open anyways.

Pic 1 & 2 are websites and Pic 3 & 4 are on figma.

The work for real designers cannot be replaced by an MCP but for casual development this helps.

I've been using AI agents (Claude Code / Cursor) to mock up UI in Figma.

Figma now ships a first-party MCP — but it's locked behind a paid Dev/Full seat, and the agent tooling I tried placed one layer at a time, so a single page took 100+ round-trips and felt like watching paint dry.

So I built AIConnect for Figma — a free, open-source MCP server + Figma plugin that lets any MCP client read and edit a live Figma file.

The part I'm actually proud of is batch_ops: the agent sends a whole layout in one round-trip, with child nodes referencing parents via u/ref placeholders.
A full landing page goes over the wire once instead of dozens of times.

Why it might be worth a look:

• Free & open-source (AGPL-3.0) — no paid Figma seat required, unlike the official MCP.
• Fully local — it only talks to a relay on localhost. No telemetry, nothing leaves your machine.
• Client-agnostic — Claude Code, Cursor, or anything that speaks MCP. Not locked to one editor.
• ~45 tools — frames, text, auto-layout, gradients, effects, SVG, image import, clone, export, etc.

Not trying to dunk on Figma's MCP — it's solid if you're already on a paid seat.

This is the free, local, scriptable option for everyone else. (Runs through the free Figma desktop app.)

Repo (screenshots + 2-min quickstart): https://github.com/guptaprakhariitr/aiconnect-figma-mcp

It's my project and it's free.

Genuinely after feedback — what would you want an agent to do in Figma that it can't yet?

And if you try it, tell me where it breaks.

EDIT: thank you all for the feedback. a bunch of it was fair and i've already shipped changes off the back of it:

• added a whole design-intelligence layer since a few of you asked what an agent should do that it can't yet: brand kits / presets, OKLCH color palettes + scales, WCAG contrast checks with auto-fix, font pairing, 200k icons (iconify), stock photos, and full design-token/variable generation — all keyless and local.
• free Dev Mode-style inspect (get_css) and proper variables/token export (DTCG/CSS/Tailwind), so you're not paying for a Dev seat just to get css/tokens out.
• it's grown from ~45 to ~69 tools.

And since it's all local (no cloud relay), the calls are basically instant — measured ~1ms median, ~4ms p90 per call over 120 calls, zero failures. no network hop on every action. numbers + how i measured are in the readme.

short version for the "how's it compare" questions: this one's local-first and built around actually building (whole pages in one call) + designing with taste, not just reading/debugging.

keep the feedback coming, especially where it breaks — that's the stuff that makes it better 🙏