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I’m working with the Figma API, specifically with variables, and I’ve encountered a bit of a puzzle 🧩


I need to determine whether a variable obtained using


let value = figma.variables.getVariableById(variableId)

Is a direct value or an alias?


Right now, I’m using a workaround to guess this, but I’m wondering if there’s an official way to do it.


Here’s a snippet of my current approach:


  private isVariableAlias(obj: any): obj is VariableAlias {

    return (

      obj &&

      typeof obj === "object" &&

      obj.type === "VARIABLE_ALIAS" &&

      typeof obj.id === "string"

    );

  }



  private resolveVariableName(variableId: string): string {

    const variable = figma.variables.getVariableById(variableId);

    if (!variable) {

      return "can't read variable";

    }



    const valueByMode =

      variable.valuesByModevObject.keys(variable.valuesByMode)a0]];



    if (this.isVariableAlias(valueByMode)) {

      const underlyingVariableName = this.resolveVariableName(valueByMode.id);

      return `${variable.name} → ${underlyingVariableName}`;

    }



    return variable.name;

  }

Is there a more straightforward or official method to check if a variable is an alias or a direct value? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 🙏


Thank you! 😊

Checking the variable’s value for a specific mode like you’re doing is probably the best way.


Keep in mind that a variable can have different values across multiple modes, and some values might be aliases and other values might be primitives. So the code as written, and the idea of “if a variable is an alias” does not account for a collection with more than one mode.

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