# Components, variants, styles and variables parity
> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-11-12 · **Change:** minor (pages take a variable mode: with nothing selected the Design panel's Page section shows a Variable modes section, Auto or a mode of each collection that has more than one, as the help center says ("Apply variable mode" in the Page section of the right sidebar) (#2215); a text style binds a number variable to its weight (#2174); an instance lists only the properties its variant's layers use and long property names are cut to one line (#2022); with several layers selected the Design panel header's component button offers Create multiple components (#2088); the Local variables window selects several variables (click, Shift+click for a range, Cmd/Ctrl+click to toggle, Escape to clear) and delete, move to a group and scope act on the selected local variables in one undo step (#2002); text styles carry paragraph spacing and indent, the list style and the OpenType features, as the Supported in text styles table of Create and apply text styles says (#1829); a layer's effect binding takes only a field its effect has; Go to main component on an instance of a library component opens the library file in a tab and selects the main there; glass effects take variables; Delete on a layer inside an instance hides it as an override instead of being refused, as the help center says: "Figma will only toggle the layer's visibility instead of removing it"; library analytics list how many layers and files use each style and variable; SwiftUI and Compose code names a bound variable by its iOS or Android code syntax; library analytics count insertions and show insertions and detachments over the past 30 days, 90 days or year; a collection of this file can be extended (Extend collection on its row, `variable.extendCollection`), its extension following its edits at once, and extended collections extend again in the file; a typed or stored variable, collection or mode id names only the object with that id (#1613); colour variables can be calculated from other colours per mode — `{alpha}` replaces a colour's alpha, `{mix}` blends two — and follow them (#1280); stored variable and collection references keep their identity when another object is named like their id (follow-up to #1542); a component set's property rows fit the 240 px right panel: variant values wrap two to a line there and every + and − stays in view; opening a file contacts no team library server it names until you check it (#1097); an explicit variables file path (`variable.import`, the `variables` of `file.open` and `file.import`) is refused past 256 MiB or when it isn't a regular file, as the sibling `variables.json` already was (part of #1114); component properties keep the order they were made in when one is renamed, and Make slot asks for the slot's name first (#1536, #1537); components can't contain their own instances, directly or through others (#1084); the instance-swap menus have a search field (#1338); an instance-swap property's default menu scrolls (#1338); variables on a text style's fields from the style editor; instance-swap properties in the component playground; duplicating or Alt-dragging a main component makes an instance of it (#892); a bound colour variable's alpha applies once (#802); variables import reads `variables` outside `meta` and warns when it imports none (#790); variant properties reorder by drag; library files saved right after a read are read again; Hide when publishing note corrected; size and resizing overrides of layers inside instances (#731); variables export in the browser as a download; core editor leftovers: component playground, variables inside styles; layers and assets panels behaviour suite and fixes; extended collections tail; styles and variables behaviour suite and fixes; components behaviour suite and fixes; team libraries on the server, library usage and swapping a library; extended collections, variables import/export, gradient stops and variant properties bound to variables) · **Target:** Figma Design (desktop app 126.10.7)
> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-11-12 · **Change:** minor (a group's context menu in the Local variables window has Duplicate group, a copy named after it plus " 2" holding a copy of every variable, in one undo step (#2084); pages take a variable mode: with nothing selected the Design panel's Page section shows a Variable modes section, Auto or a mode of each collection that has more than one, as the help center says ("Apply variable mode" in the Page section of the right sidebar) (#2215); a text style binds a number variable to its weight (#2174); an instance lists only the properties its variant's layers use and long property names are cut to one line (#2022); with several layers selected the Design panel header's component button offers Create multiple components (#2088); the Local variables window selects several variables (click, Shift+click for a range, Cmd/Ctrl+click to toggle, Escape to clear) and delete, move to a group and scope act on the selected local variables in one undo step (#2002); text styles carry paragraph spacing and indent, the list style and the OpenType features, as the Supported in text styles table of Create and apply text styles says (#1829); a layer's effect binding takes only a field its effect has; Go to main component on an instance of a library component opens the library file in a tab and selects the main there; glass effects take variables; Delete on a layer inside an instance hides it as an override instead of being refused, as the help center says: "Figma will only toggle the layer's visibility instead of removing it"; library analytics list how many layers and files use each style and variable; SwiftUI and Compose code names a bound variable by its iOS or Android code syntax; library analytics count insertions and show insertions and detachments over the past 30 days, 90 days or year; a collection of this file can be extended (Extend collection on its row, `variable.extendCollection`), its extension following its edits at once, and extended collections extend again in the file; a typed or stored variable, collection or mode id names only the object with that id (#1613); colour variables can be calculated from other colours per mode — `{alpha}` replaces a colour's alpha, `{mix}` blends two — and follow them (#1280); stored variable and collection references keep their identity when another object is named like their id (follow-up to #1542); a component set's property rows fit the 240 px right panel: variant values wrap two to a line there and every + and − stays in view; opening a file contacts no team library server it names until you check it (#1097); an explicit variables file path (`variable.import`, the `variables` of `file.open` and `file.import`) is refused past 256 MiB or when it isn't a regular file, as the sibling `variables.json` already was (part of #1114); component properties keep the order they were made in when one is renamed, and Make slot asks for the slot's name first (#1536, #1537); components can't contain their own instances, directly or through others (#1084); the instance-swap menus have a search field (#1338); an instance-swap property's default menu scrolls (#1338); variables on a text style's fields from the style editor; instance-swap properties in the component playground; duplicating or Alt-dragging a main component makes an instance of it (#892); a bound colour variable's alpha applies once (#802); variables import reads `variables` outside `meta` and warns when it imports none (#790); variant properties reorder by drag; library files saved right after a read are read again; Hide when publishing note corrected; size and resizing overrides of layers inside instances (#731); variables export in the browser as a download; core editor leftovers: component playground, variables inside styles; layers and assets panels behaviour suite and fixes; extended collections tail; styles and variables behaviour suite and fixes; components behaviour suite and fixes; team libraries on the server, library usage and swapping a library; extended collections, variables import/export, gradient stops and variant properties bound to variables) · **Target:** Figma Design (desktop app 126.10.7)
Design systems are why teams adopt Figma. **Components: breadth ~96%, ready ~72%. Styles and
variables: breadth ~95%, ready ~76% (estimated).** QA'd with a synthetic design system of ~300
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ updates with overrides kept: `library_tests.rs`, `components_scale_tests.rs`.
| Editing a style updates its layers; detach and delete keep values; editing a styled property unlinks that style | done | an edited fill/stroke/effect/grid list or text chars unlink; applying a style replaces variables bound to what it sets; text styles on text layers only |
| Organising styles: folders by `/` names, order, duplicate, rename folder, Local styles list | done | `style.move` (into a folder renames), `style.duplicate` (right below), `style.renameFolder`; the page's Local styles list by type and folder (drag to reorder, right-click) |
| Variables inside styles (paint, effect, grid and text styles; each user resolves them in its own modes) | done | `style.bind`, `style_vars_tests`; the editor binds paint colours, shadow colours, blur radii, grid sizes and a text style's font, font style (a face name from a string variable, or a numeric weight from a number variable, which picks the nearest face and a variable font's `wght` axis), size, line height and letter spacing, the rest through the command; a bound line height is applied in pixels, as the reference tool does (measured 2026-11-10) |
| Variables: colour, number, string, boolean; collections, modes, aliases, scopes, groups | done | behaviour suite: `variables_behaviour_tests.rs`; aliases same type, no loops (also on create); colour calculations per mode (`{alpha}`: a colour variable with its alpha replaced, `{mix}`: a per-channel blend of two colour variables or literals; they compose, can't loop, and bound layers, modes and undo follow them; REST, CSS, Penpot and `.fig` exports write the colour they show in each of their collection's modes, other collections in their default modes; read-only in the panel, which can swap one for an alias or detach it; `variables_colour_tests.rs`), beyond the incumbent, whose variables only alias; scopes filter pickers only; several variables can be selected in the editor (Shift and Cmd/Ctrl click) and deleted, moved to a group or rescoped at once |
| Variables: colour, number, string, boolean; collections, modes, aliases, scopes, groups | done | behaviour suite: `variables_behaviour_tests.rs`; aliases same type, no loops (also on create); colour calculations per mode (`{alpha}`: a colour variable with its alpha replaced, `{mix}`: a per-channel blend of two colour variables or literals; they compose, can't loop, and bound layers, modes and undo follow them; REST, CSS, Penpot and `.fig` exports write the colour they show in each of their collection's modes, other collections in their default modes; read-only in the panel, which can swap one for an alias or detach it; `variables_colour_tests.rs`), beyond the incumbent, whose variables only alias; scopes filter pickers only; several variables can be selected in the editor (Shift and Cmd/Ctrl click) and deleted, moved to a group or rescoped at once; a group can be duplicated from its row's menu (Duplicate group, one undo step) |
| Modes: add, duplicate, rename, delete, set as default / reorder | done | layers on Auto follow a new default; explicit modes stay |
| Deleting a bound variable or its collection | done | layers keep their last value and are unbound; aliases to it take its values and colour calculations reading it keep the colour they show |
| Code syntax per platform (Web, iOS, Android) | done | generated CSS uses the Web name, SwiftUI the iOS one and Compose the Android one (a variable without one keeps its value there); in the variables JSON; ArkUI and Flutter have no platform of their own and write values |
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ updates with overrides kept: `library_tests.rs`, `components_scale_tests.rs`.
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-07 | minor | M3, #2084: a group's context menu in the Local variables window has Duplicate group (after Rename group, before Delete group). It adds a group named after the original plus " 2" (the next free number when taken: " 3"), whose variables are copies of the originals with the same leaf names, values in every mode, description, scopes, hidden-from-publishing and code syntax, each sent as `variable.duplicate` plus a rename in one `command.batch` labelled Duplicate group, so one undo step. Measured in the incumbent with one mode; an alias to a variable of the same group keeps pointing at the original. Ungroup is not built. Tests: `variables_select_tests` (headless UI). Grade unchanged |
| 2026-11-07 | minor | M3, #2082: Edit variables in the context menu of a selection of several local variables opens the reference's compact editor with two tabs: Details holds only Hide from publishing, Scope the scopes every selected variable's type has (All supported properties and one box per scope; a selection that shares none says so). Each box is checked when all selected variables have it, empty when none, and shows a dash when they differ; a click sets it on all (or clears it when checked on all), each change one `command.batch`, so one undo step. Names, descriptions and code syntax stay single-variable, as in the reference. The Scope: menu entries stay. A tri-state `widgets::checkbox_tri` draws the dash. Tests: `variables_select_tests` (headless UI). Grade unchanged |
| 2026-11-12 | minor | M7, #2215: pages take a variable mode: with nothing selected the Design panel's Page section shows a Variable modes section, Auto or a mode of each collection that has more than one, as the help center says ("Apply variable mode" in the Page section of the right sidebar) (#2215). The same section the frames' Variable modes use (`variable.setMode` without layers sets the page's mode), one undo step per pick. Binding the page background to a variable is not in the reference and is not offered |
| 2026-11-10 | minor | M7, #2174: a text style binds a number variable to its weight (`style.bind {field: "fontWeight"}`): the style takes the face nearest the number and sets the `wght` axis, so static and variable fonts both follow; a face-name (string) binding and a weight binding replace each other, and the weight wins in a file carrying both. The style editor's weight menu offers number variables beside string ones. A number bound to a line height is applied in pixels, as the reference tool does, which a test now pins. Numbers unchanged. Tests: `style_vars_tests`, `style_picker::tests`. |
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