Skip to main content
Solved

Ticket #1891557 I lost access to the use_figma tool - completely blocked from using Claude for design system variables write access.

  • May 11, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 212 views
Nasser Elsamadisy GH

use_figma` tool not appearing in Claude Code despite all MCP servers connected

I used it a total of 16 times before, but something changed in the past 10 days to 2 weeks.

I need to escalate this please. I am completely blocked.
I need both read and write access to all variables in my Figma files.

The MCP config in ~/.claude.json is correct — https://mcp.figma.com/mcp is registered as figma. And the tool has been used 16 times before from this machine (usageCount: 16), so it's not an account/eligibility issue.

use_figma is still not appearing. However, get_variable_defs did return live variable data from that node. I can see variable paths but not collection names directly.

use_figma is still not showing up. The standard MCP tools can read variable values for a selected node (which worked — I got data back) but they can't enumerate variable collection names.

What I got from get_variable_defs — variable paths visible from node 78:506:

Colors/Primary/*, Colors/Secondary/*, Colors/Fueled Additions/*
Button/Primary/*, Button/Secondary/*, Button/Tertiary/*, etc.
Fonts/Weight/*, Fonts/Family/*
Surface/*, Border/*, Text/*, Icon/*
Spacing/*
Display/*, Body/*, Tag/*
Drop Shadow/*
var(--sds-size-*), var(--sds-color-*)
These are variable path prefixes — not necessarily the collection names.

To get the actual collection names, we need one of:

use_figma running figma.variables.getLocalVariableCollectionsAsync() — blocked
Figma REST API (GET /v1/files/9iGLUOr8UKEwCkpQIqrU9g/variables/local) — requires your personal access token (I don’t have an enterprise subscription)

**What's confirmed working:**
- Figma desktop MCP server broadcasting on port 3845 (`lsof -i :3845` confirmed)
- Dev Mode enabled in Figma desktop with MCP Server toggle ON
- All three MCP servers show ✓ Connected in `claude mcp list`:
- `plugin:figma:figma` → `https://mcp.figma.com/mcp` (HTTP)
- `figma-desktop` → `http://127.0.0.1:3845/mcp` (HTTP)
- `figma-local` → `http://127.0.0.1:3845/sse` (SSE)
- Read-only tools work fine (`get_metadata`, `get_design_context`, etc.)

**What's not working:**
- `use_figma` (Plugin API executor) does not appear in Claude Code's tool list
- Tried HTTP and SSE transports — same result
- `ToolSearch query="select:use_figma"` returns "No matching deferred tools found"

**What we need:**
`use_figma` to be exposed by the desktop MCP server so Claude Code can execute Plugin API calls (create/edit variables, write to Figma files, etc.)

 

Best answer by Nasser Elsamadisy GH

Yes, thanks Clara!! And Jaycee!!

Thanks so much for following up, the fix worked and now use_figma is available and working as expected.

I wanted to share one thing that might be worth documenting for other users: the root cause turned out to be that the Figma desktop app automatically spins up a local MCP server on port 3845 when it's running. That local server had been silently registered in my Claude Code config and was conflicting with the remote MCP server preventing use_figma from loading.

This is non-obvious behavior — users wouldn't necessarily know the desktop app creates a local server automatically, or that it could conflict with the remote server. A note in the figma-use skill or MCP setup guide flagging this as a known conflict would likely save a lot of people significant troubleshooting time.

Thanks again for the help!

Best,

Nasser

2 replies

Jaycee Lewis
Figmate

Hi, ​@Nasser Elsamadisy GH 👋 Thanks for reaching out! I just checked on our support ticket and we see that Clara responded with a few next steps for your team to try. To keep things efficient, we’ll keep the conversation in the support ticket. — Jaycee

Nasser Elsamadisy GH

Yes, thanks Clara!! And Jaycee!!

Thanks so much for following up, the fix worked and now use_figma is available and working as expected.

I wanted to share one thing that might be worth documenting for other users: the root cause turned out to be that the Figma desktop app automatically spins up a local MCP server on port 3845 when it's running. That local server had been silently registered in my Claude Code config and was conflicting with the remote MCP server preventing use_figma from loading.

This is non-obvious behavior — users wouldn't necessarily know the desktop app creates a local server automatically, or that it could conflict with the remote server. A note in the figma-use skill or MCP setup guide flagging this as a known conflict would likely save a lot of people significant troubleshooting time.

Thanks again for the help!

Best,

Nasser

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement