Communicating between Prototype and Figma Plugin

Thanks for clarifying, ​@xiduzo! 

I’ll pass this onto our variables team for more input. I’ll follow up with an update, if this can be added to the future roadmap. 

hey ​@dvaliao, any update on this issue?

If you need any more input or clarification, do not hesitate to reach out to me!


Cheers

​@dvaliao has this landed in the variables team? Is there perhaps any expected timeline for this or is this a feature that will “never” be added to Figma?

Seeing the following post on the forum I can see there is a broader need for this, any update would be very helpful!

Hey ​@xiduzo, thanks for following up! 

Right now, this is a systemic limitation to how variables/plugins/prototyping currently only work in one direction: syncing of editor > preview. Because of this, no plugin running in the editor can truly listen to changes in the prototype. 

The variables team understands that you want to read (temporary) values of variables in the preview mode, but as it stands, there is no syncing of preview > editor; it is a one-way push. This capability would have to be built to function as you’d expect, so while it is now on their radar for the future, we cannot guarantee when/if it will be implemented, which is sadly why I wasn’t able to follow up that it was officially on the roadmap. 

Thank you for the update ​@dvaliao, it is unfortunate to hear that there is no possibility to have this for of synchronisation or any other way to read the (temporary) values from the preview.

As I am truly interested in this feature, I would be interested in any future updates. As I mentioned before, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! Perhaps my plugin could serve as an example case for such a feature :)

any progres on this? figma feels like an overpriced microsoft powerpoint at this point 

Hey ​@djv - similar to my post 

this is still a concern for people.

Is there any priority given to this at all or are we all too busy with the AI-hype-train and forget to bring actual value to the product?

Hey @xiduzo, thanks for following up here! 

I hear you, and I understand why this continues to be a point of frustration, especially for teams trying to push prototypes further.
 

Just to clarify my role: I’m part of the Community team, so my goal is to advocate for and share community feedback with the product teams, but I don’t directly influence prioritization or roadmap decisions.
 

From what I can share, this isn’t so much about one area being prioritized over another. The limitation comes down to how plugins, variables, and prototype playback are currently structured; specifically, the one-way flow from editor → preview. Because preview state isn’t exposed back to the editor, plugins can’t listen to or react to what’s happening in prototype mode.
 

Enabling that kind of interaction would require more foundational changes across multiple systems (including prototyping and the plugins API/extensibility layer), so it’s not something that’s actively being worked on right now, and there aren’t any near-term plans to support it.
 

I know that’s not the answer you’re hoping for, but I do want to emphasize that your feedback is heard and shared internally. Continued context like this is genuinely helpful in shaping how teams evaluate these kinds of gaps over time.