Remote Debugging Port Not Working in Figma Desktop 126.1.2?

Problem: I'm trying to use Figma Desktop's remote debugging port for plugin development and design system automation, but the debugging port isn't opening despite launching with the correct flag.

What I've tried:

1. Launching Figma with the debugging flag:

bash

/Applications/Figma.app/Contents/MacOS/Figma --remote-debugging-port=9222

2. Verified the process is running with the flag (confirmed via ps aux)
3. Enabled "Use Developer VM" in Plugins → Development
4. Cleared Figma cache and relaunched
5. Tested with different ports (9222, 9223)

What I've confirmed:

• ✅ Figma launches successfully with the flag
• ✅ Process list shows --remote-debugging-port=9222 in launch args
• ✅ macOS firewall is disabled
• ✅ Localhost TCP connections work (tested with other services)
• ❌ Port 9222 never opens (confirmed with lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN)
• ❌ curl http://localhost:9222/json/version fails with connection refused

Environment:

• Figma Desktop version: 126.1.2
• macOS version: 14.6 (23G80)
• Use case: Automated design system creation via Chrome DevTools Protocol

Questions:

1. Has anyone successfully used --remote-debugging-port with Figma 126.1.2?
2. Was this feature intentionally disabled in recent versions?
3. Does anyone have access to older Figma versions (124.x or 125.x) that support this?
4. Are there alternative approaches for programmatic component/variable creation?

Context: My company invested in automation tooling specifically for programmatic design system creation. The workflow depends on Chrome DevTools Protocol access via the remote debugging port. The official Figma MCP works great for reading designs, but we need write/create capabilities.