Slot updates from library components are not applied to instances

Hi ​@Fabrice Brzycki, thanks for reaching out!

I completely understand the frustration and how this must be slowing down your workflow. Thanks for also taking the time to share this in such detail. It's helpful to understand exactly how your design system is set up. To make sure we fully understand what you're running into, I have a couple of quick questions:

• Are the variable assignments (e.g., spacing, padding) that aren't applying located inside the slot content itself, or on the slot container?
• Have these components been customized/edited inside the slot instances, or are they still using the default slot content from the library?

The primary reason I ask… as of April 7th, there was a behavior update to slots. Edited slot content no longer links back to the main component, which means library updates won't automatically propagate to slot content that has been modified. This was an intentional change for experience consistency. If your slot content has been customized at all, it would explain why variable assignments from the library aren't coming through. A few things that should still work in the meantime:

• Variables are still fully supported inside slot content
• Keeping spacing/padding variable bindings outside the slot boundary where possible
• Using variable mode changes (e.g., switching a size mode from S → M) instead of direct variant swapping to achieve dynamic behavior. Here's a helpful guide.

With these details, we can troubleshoot further. I understand how critical this is for a design system built around slots, so I want to ensure I point you in the right direction. 

Hello ​@djv, where can I find the Slot changelog?  I went to the main Figma changelog page but didn’t see it there.  It would be helpful to follow changes to Slot feature.

Hi ​@Kerry_Johnson, thanks for chiming in here! 

I checked with our Slots team directly, and here's what they shared: The update on the 7th was during the open beta phase, where the team was iterating quickly. There was no separate log kept for that period specifically.

Going forward, while there isn't a dedicated Slots change log, any Slots updates will be folded into our main release notes, so that's the best place to keep an eye on things. 

Thank you!

Hello, we have the same problem.

Component changes in a library are not properly updated in slots using those components.
It looks like variables are pointing to a different version of the same file.

Its only visible when selecting the assigned color again and then it is not connected / means preselected. Only when choosing the same color again, it is connected again. But this is then treated as an override of the component which again prevents components from being updated in the future.

Before (after lib update)
 

After (after manually applying the same token again)
 

But now its an override :-(

 

So it looks like updates within slots do not work.

Are there any news on this topic?
At least some feedback from Figma if this is already reproduced as a bug?

Hi ​@hummh, thanks for chiming in here! 

I understand the frustration here, but did you miss my reply above? What you're describing (the variable showing as disconnected until you reselect it, which then registers as an override) lines up with the same April 7th slot behavior change I mentioned previously.

Again, once slot content is interacted with, even to reapply the same value, it's treated as an edit and stops inheriting library updates. So to directly answer your question, this isn't a bug, it's the expected result of the slots team’s intentional change. Though I understand that it doesn't feel intentional from your side given the workflow impact. Let me know if you're seeing this even on slot content that's never been touched; that would be a different case worth flagging separately.