Posted this on plugin devs discord previously, reposting here. It’s very convoluted.

1. 
   

   Fetch All Remote Collections: Use getAvailableLibraryVariableCollectionsAsync() to get the list of remote collections.

   
   


2. 
   

   Import Variables from Remote Collections: Use getVariablesInLibraryCollectionAsync() to fetch variables from each remote collection.

   
   


3. 
   

   Import a Single Variable by Key: Import a variable using importVariableByKeyAsync() to bring it into the local document context.

   
   


4. 
   

   Get the Local Variable’s variableCollectionId.

   
   


5. 
   

   Get the Variable Collection by ID: Use getVariableCollectionByIdAsync() to fetch the collection and its modes.

   
   

async function getRemoteCollectionsWithModes() {

    // Step 1: Get all available remote library variable collections

    const libraryCollections = await figma.teamLibrary.getAvailableLibraryVariableCollectionsAsync();

    

    const remoteCollections = s];



    for (const libraryCollection of libraryCollections) {

        try {

            // Step 2: Get variables from each library collection

            const variables = await figma.teamLibrary.getVariablesInLibraryCollectionAsync(libraryCollection.key);



            if (variables.length > 0) {

                // Step 3: Import a single variable from the collection

                const importedVariable = await figma.variables.importVariableByKeyAsync(variablesb0].key);



                const collectionId = importedVariable.variableCollectionId;



                // Step 4: Get the variable collection by its ID to access the modes

                const variableCollection = await figma.variables.getVariableCollectionByIdAsync(collectionId);



                // Add the collection and its modes to the result array

                remoteCollections.push(variableCollection);

            }

        } catch (err) {

            console.error(`Failed to process collection: ${libraryCollection.name}`, err);

        }

    }



    return remoteCollections;

}



// Example usage

getRemoteCollectionsWithModes().then(remoteCollections => {

    console.log(remoteCollections);

});

This is for getting the modes and collections, then you can use them to set modes just like with local collections.

Here is the plugin I built with this, it’s called Quick Mode and it allows you to switch modes on selected objects using the quick actions menu without having to dig through the props panel: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1405229225049855076/quick-mode

I previously described the logic in this thread:

I wish I saw this before 😆 Would’ve saved me a couple hours tinkering with this to get the code above.