Allow Developers to View Full List of Variables in a File

Yes please @figma, I’m screaming at this point.

As a developer being able to view your design tokens is imperative.
I don’t understand why a read-only view is not there by default.

Is there any way to view a list of used variables? I think this is a crucial feature.

Please add this feature! we need it!

I created the “Figma Variable Explorer” plugin to tackle this problem.
While I know that a plugin-based solution is always ideal in comparison to the native solution, I wanted to take this as a learning opportunity to build a Figma plugin which solves a real problem. So, if anyone is interested, please check the Plugin
and let me know feedback or improvement suggestions. Thank You!

The title says it all.
In my team, only the designers has access to the edit version of the file, while the devs only use the view mode, so they don’t move anything by accident. The problem is that they can’t see the detailed list of local variables, and can’t see how is the design system working.
If we are making a design based on local variables, the devs should be able to see all variables because everything is based in the same data. This also applies to the styles, as they can’t see wich font a style has for example, wich I don’t think is very useful when developing an approved design.

Its a shame Figma dont have this option yet. Sadly, local variables won’t be as useful as they should be until this is an actual feature in Figma.

Hi all, I read an interesting article on Medium related closely to this topic: The coming Figma Apocalypse nobody is talking about | by Jason Barrons | Nov, 2023 | Medium

Definitely possible we’ll only be able to have developers see all this functionality with paid seats in the future which is super disappointing.

Very much need this! now we are using the naming workaround. But surfacing value near hex code would be great as well as allowing access to variable collections.

Hey,

See if you find my plugin mentioned in this post useful for your use-case