Bringing your work in
Figma with Plnty for Figma
A plugin that moves frames between Figma and your boards in both directions, and keeps them linked so a second send updates the same frame.
A layout you already built in Figma is the obvious thing to try a hundred variations of, and exporting PNGs by hand to get it onto a board is the reason nobody does. **Plnty for Figma** moves frames across in both directions from inside Figma. A frame you send stays linked to its copy on the board, so sending it again updates that copy instead of adding another one, and what you make on the board can go back into the Figma frame it came from. The plugin is called **Plnty** inside Figma. It is in beta, and the trip back out to Figma is lossier than the trip in; both are covered below. ## Installing it [Download Plnty for Figma](https://plnty.app/downloads/plnty-figma-2.3.0.zip). The same download is in Plnty under **Settings**, **MCP and extensions**. It runs in the **Figma desktop app** rather than the browser. 1. Unzip it and leave the folder where you can keep it. Figma loads a plugin like this one from the folder on disk rather than copying it in, so moving or deleting that folder later breaks the plugin. 2. In the Figma desktop app, choose **Plugins**, **Development**, **Import plugin from manifest…** 3. Pick the `manifest.json` in the folder you unzipped. It now shows under **Plugins**, **Development** as **Plnty**. Choose **Open Plnty**, press **Sign in to Plnty**, and approve it in the browser tab that opens. The panel carries on by itself once you have. <!-- IMAGE STILL NEEDED: the Plnty panel open in Figma beside a selected frame, signed in, with the board picker at the top and something waiting under From Plnty. Caption names the board pill as the place you choose where a send goes. BLOCKED 2026-08-14 and still: this one cannot be captured by driving the web app. The plugin runs inside the Figma DESKTOP app, so the shot needs Figma open with the plugin loaded from its unzipped folder. A human with Figma takes this in about a minute. --> ## From Figma to a board The pill at the top of the panel is the board a send goes to. It lists the boards you can edit, most recent first, with the board open in your browser at the top. The choice is kept for each Figma file, so a file keeps sending where you last sent it. Select what you want to send and press **Send to Plnty**. A frame, a group, a component, an instance or a section arrives as a Plnty frame with its top-level layers as separate members you can move and feed to tools one by one. A lone picture, vector or text layer arrives as a frame holding just that layer. Several selected arrive as several frames, laid out the way they sat in Figma. Raster layers cross as PNG with their transparency, and clean vectors cross as SVG, so a logo stays sharp rather than arriving as a picture of itself. Layout guides cross too, the column and row grids you set with <kbd>Shift</kbd> <kbd>G</kbd>. When the send is done, Figma's own message says where it went, and **View** opens that board. :::tip[Send without opening the panel] **Plugins**, **Development**, **Plnty**, **Send selection to Plnty** sends whatever is selected to the file's board in one step. ::: ## Updating a frame you sent With the panel open, a frame you sent keeps its copy on the board up to date by itself. About two seconds after you stop editing it the board takes the change, and the panel's line under the frame reads **Live**. A picture you did not touch stays as it is on the board rather than loading again. A plugin runs only while it is open, so with the panel closed your edits wait in Figma. To send them, select the frame: the panel reads **Update in Plnty**, with **Send as new** beside it. The same button sits in Figma's own right-hand panel whenever that frame is selected, so you can update it without opening the plugin at all. An update replaces the layers that came from Figma and keeps everything you added on the board, in the same place, as one step you can undo. **Send as new** leaves the first copy alone and makes another frame. A frame duplicated in Figma counts as new until you send it. Delete the frame on the board and your edits stop landing there, until a press of **Update in Plnty** brings it back. ## Back to Figma On the board, select a frame and press **Send to Figma**, one of the pills under it. Pictures, vectors and text that are not in a frame go the same way from the right-click menu, and pictures and vectors from the selection row's **More** menu too. A frame that came from Figma goes back into the frame it came from by itself. With the panel open in that Figma file it lands within a few seconds, and Figma says so; otherwise it lands the next time you open the panel there. Your page, selection and view stay as they were, even when the frame is on another page. The frame takes the size it has on the board, with its colour, corners and border where you changed them there, and each of its layers takes its place on the board: where it sits, its size, its opacity and its place in the stack. A picture or gradient fill in Figma stays as it is. A picture you edited on the board replaces that layer's picture and keeps its crop, and anything you added on the board becomes a new layer where it sat. Nothing in the Figma frame is deleted, including layers you removed on the board. If the Figma frame uses auto layout and a layer moved on the board, the frame lets go of its auto layout so each layer can sit where you put it. Press <kbd>Cmd</kbd> <kbd>Z</kbd> (<kbd>Ctrl</kbd> <kbd>Z</kbd> on Windows) in Figma to bring it back. A frame made on the board is linked the first time you send it. It waits in **From Plnty** like anything else, and the Figma frame **Place** makes for it stays linked: select it and **Update in Plnty** sends your changes back into the same board frame, and the board's next **Send to Figma** lands back in it. Frames inside it go across as Figma frames holding their own layers, and come back as the same frames. A picture you left alone in Figma returns as the same picture on the board, moved or resized to match, while one you changed there replaces it. Anything else waits in the plugin's **From Plnty** list for seven days: open the panel in Figma and press **Place**. It lands as a new frame beside your selection, or in the middle of the view when nothing is selected. :::note[No plugin yet] If you are not signed in to the plugin anywhere, **Send to Figma** offers it first. **Send anyway** keeps the frame waiting for when you are. ::: ## What survives the round trip The chrome of a frame crosses cleanly in both directions. Its contents are flattened on the way in and partly left behind on the way out. | Property | Into Plnty | Back to Figma | | - | - | - | | Size, at true scale | yes | yes | | Corner radius, per corner | yes | yes | | Border stroke, colour and weight | yes | yes | | Layout guide grids | yes | yes | | Solid fill | yes | yes | | Clipping | yes | yes | | Pictures and vectors | yes | yes | | Text | as an outlined vector | as editable text, set in Inter | | Layer order | yes | yes | | Auto layout | flattened, each layer kept where it sat | kept, unless a layer moved on the board | | Frames inside a frame | as frames when they started on the board, else one picture each | as frames | | Video, audio, stickies, pencil | n/a | **no** | A picture set as the frame's own fill arrives as a full-size picture behind its layers, and a gradient fill arrives transparent. Only grids you set explicitly cross over, not the red 12-column guide Figma shows by default. A crop made on the board does not go back to Figma: the full picture fills the layer instead. Plnty keeps the frame's border and its clipping setting so both go back to Figma as they came, but on the board every frame draws the same outline and shows everything it holds in full. :::caution[Going out, video stays behind] A frame holding a video sends everything else and says what it left behind, in the message on the board. Sounds, sticky notes and pencil strokes do not go either. Nothing is lost on the Plnty side; it simply does not arrive in Figma. :::A layout you already built in Figma is the obvious thing to try a hundred variations of, and exporting PNGs by hand to get it onto a board is the reason nobody does. Plnty for Figma moves frames across in both directions from inside Figma. A frame you send stays linked to its copy on the board, so sending it again updates that copy instead of adding another one, and what you make on the board can go back into the Figma frame it came from.
The plugin is called Plnty inside Figma. It is in beta, and the trip back out to Figma is lossier than the trip in; both are covered below.
Installing it
Section titled “Installing it”Download Plnty for Figma. The same download is in Plnty under Settings, MCP and extensions. It runs in the Figma desktop app rather than the browser.
- Unzip it and leave the folder where you can keep it. Figma loads a plugin like this one from the folder on disk rather than copying it in, so moving or deleting that folder later breaks the plugin.
- In the Figma desktop app, choose Plugins, Development, Import plugin from manifest…
- Pick the
manifest.jsonin the folder you unzipped.
It now shows under Plugins, Development as Plnty. Choose Open Plnty, press Sign in to Plnty, and approve it in the browser tab that opens. The panel carries on by itself once you have.
From Figma to a board
Section titled “From Figma to a board”The pill at the top of the panel is the board a send goes to. It lists the boards you can edit, most recent first, with the board open in your browser at the top. The choice is kept for each Figma file, so a file keeps sending where you last sent it.
Select what you want to send and press Send to Plnty. A frame, a group, a component, an instance or a section arrives as a Plnty frame with its top-level layers as separate members you can move and feed to tools one by one. A lone picture, vector or text layer arrives as a frame holding just that layer. Several selected arrive as several frames, laid out the way they sat in Figma.
Raster layers cross as PNG with their transparency, and clean vectors cross as SVG, so a logo stays sharp rather than arriving as a picture of itself. Layout guides cross too, the column and row grids you set with Shift G. When the send is done, Figma’s own message says where it went, and View opens that board.
Updating a frame you sent
Section titled “Updating a frame you sent”With the panel open, a frame you sent keeps its copy on the board up to date by itself. About two seconds after you stop editing it the board takes the change, and the panel’s line under the frame reads Live. A picture you did not touch stays as it is on the board rather than loading again. A plugin runs only while it is open, so with the panel closed your edits wait in Figma.
To send them, select the frame: the panel reads Update in Plnty, with Send as new beside it. The same button sits in Figma’s own right-hand panel whenever that frame is selected, so you can update it without opening the plugin at all.
An update replaces the layers that came from Figma and keeps everything you added on the board, in the same place, as one step you can undo. Send as new leaves the first copy alone and makes another frame. A frame duplicated in Figma counts as new until you send it. Delete the frame on the board and your edits stop landing there, until a press of Update in Plnty brings it back.
Back to Figma
Section titled “Back to Figma”On the board, select a frame and press Send to Figma, one of the pills under it. Pictures, vectors and text that are not in a frame go the same way from the right-click menu, and pictures and vectors from the selection row’s More menu too.
A frame that came from Figma goes back into the frame it came from by itself. With the panel open in that Figma file it lands within a few seconds, and Figma says so; otherwise it lands the next time you open the panel there. Your page, selection and view stay as they were, even when the frame is on another page. The frame takes the size it has on the board, with its colour, corners and border where you changed them there, and each of its layers takes its place on the board: where it sits, its size, its opacity and its place in the stack. A picture or gradient fill in Figma stays as it is. A picture you edited on the board replaces that layer’s picture and keeps its crop, and anything you added on the board becomes a new layer where it sat. Nothing in the Figma frame is deleted, including layers you removed on the board.
If the Figma frame uses auto layout and a layer moved on the board, the frame lets go of its auto layout so each layer can sit where you put it. Press Cmd Z (Ctrl Z on Windows) in Figma to bring it back.
A frame made on the board is linked the first time you send it. It waits in From Plnty like anything else, and the Figma frame Place makes for it stays linked: select it and Update in Plnty sends your changes back into the same board frame, and the board’s next Send to Figma lands back in it. Frames inside it go across as Figma frames holding their own layers, and come back as the same frames. A picture you left alone in Figma returns as the same picture on the board, moved or resized to match, while one you changed there replaces it.
Anything else waits in the plugin’s From Plnty list for seven days: open the panel in Figma and press Place. It lands as a new frame beside your selection, or in the middle of the view when nothing is selected.
What survives the round trip
Section titled “What survives the round trip”The chrome of a frame crosses cleanly in both directions. Its contents are flattened on the way in and partly left behind on the way out.
| Property | Into Plnty | Back to Figma |
|---|---|---|
| Size, at true scale | yes | yes |
| Corner radius, per corner | yes | yes |
| Border stroke, colour and weight | yes | yes |
| Layout guide grids | yes | yes |
| Solid fill | yes | yes |
| Clipping | yes | yes |
| Pictures and vectors | yes | yes |
| Text | as an outlined vector | as editable text, set in Inter |
| Layer order | yes | yes |
| Auto layout | flattened, each layer kept where it sat | kept, unless a layer moved on the board |
| Frames inside a frame | as frames when they started on the board, else one picture each | as frames |
| Video, audio, stickies, pencil | n/a | no |
A picture set as the frame’s own fill arrives as a full-size picture behind its layers, and a gradient fill arrives transparent. Only grids you set explicitly cross over, not the red 12-column guide Figma shows by default. A crop made on the board does not go back to Figma: the full picture fills the layer instead. Plnty keeps the frame’s border and its clipping setting so both go back to Figma as they came, but on the board every frame draws the same outline and shows everything it holds in full.