---
name: figma-use-motion
description: "Motion / animation context for the `use_figma` MCP tool — animating Figma nodes via manual keyframes, animation styles, easing, and timeline duration. Load alongside figma-use whenever a task involves adding, editing, or inspecting animation on a node. Also covers working with custom animation styles."
disable-model-invocation: false
---
# use_figma — Figma Plugin API Skill for Motion
Motion context for the `use_figma` MCP tool. [figma-use](../figma-use/SKILL.md) covers the foundational Plugin API rules — load both together.
**Always pass `skillNames: "figma-use-motion"` (comma-separated alongside `figma-use`) when calling `use_figma` for motion work.** Logging only.
## Runtime Gating
Motion APIs might not be enabled for the calling user. When unavailable, every motion property and helper referenced in this skill throws `"<name>" is not a supported API`.
**Bail out fast on that error.** Do not retry; tell the user motion isn't enabled for them and stop. Otherwise you'll burn calls and confuse the user with repeated identical failures.
Custom animation styles might not be enabled even when other motion APIs work. See [motion-custom-styles.md](references/motion-custom-styles.md) for availability checks and fallback guidance.
Discover `TextStagger` through `figma.motion.figmaAnimationStyles()` before applying it. If it is absent, explain that text motion is unavailable in this session; do not bypass discovery or silently substitute whole-layer motion.
## When to use this skill
Load this skill whenever a `use_figma` task involves:
- Adding, editing, or removing keyframes on a node (`manualKeyframeTracks`, `applyManualKeyframeTrack`, `removeManualKeyframeTrack`).
- Animating fill or stroke colors over time.
- Applying, editing, or removing animation styles (`applyAnimationStyle`, `removeAnimationStyle`, `animationStyles`).
- Discovering, creating, editing, organizing, applying, or removing **local custom animation styles** — reusable named motion styles saved in the file (`figma.getLocalCustomAnimationStylesAsync`, `figma.createCustomAnimationStyle`).
- Animating characters, words, lines, or paragraphs within editable text, including typewriter reveals and edits to the styles inside a text animation. Load [text-animation.md](references/text-animation.md) before writing.
- Reading or writing timeline duration via `node.timelines` / `node.setTimelineDuration(id, seconds)`.
- Choosing easing for any of the above.
Static design work (creating shapes, components, variables, layout) goes through [figma-use](../figma-use/SKILL.md) alone — this skill is only for the time dimension.
## Exposed motion API surface
- `node.manualKeyframeTracks` — read/write manual keyframes (including fill, stroke, and effect tracks).
- `node.applyManualKeyframeTrack(field, track)` / `node.removeManualKeyframeTrack(field)` — add, replace, or remove one manual keyframe track without rewriting the whole object.
- `node.animationStyles` — read/write animation-style metadata applied to a node.
- `node.applyAnimationStyle(styleId, presetData?)` / `node.removeAnimationStyle(id)` — apply a discovered style and remove an applied style instance by its returned/read-back `id`.
- `node.timelines` — read-only timeline list for the containing top-level frame, with durations in seconds.
- `node.setTimelineDuration(id, durationSeconds)` — write the containing top-level frame timeline duration.
- `node.animations` — read-only resolved keyframe data (currently manual tracks only — see [motion-patterns.md](references/motion-patterns.md)).
- `figma.motion.figmaAnimationStyles()` — read-only list of Figma's first-party animation style definitions.
- Various APIs available for working with custom animation styles, see [motion-custom-styles.md](references/motion-custom-styles.md)
Authoring custom `"figma:motion"` preset module source code is out of scope. Configuring the Position, Rotation, Scale, Opacity, and Blur styles inside a discovered `TextStagger` is supported; these are properties of one native preset, not new preset source code. If the request requires authoring a new preset module, explain that limitation; don't fabricate one.
## Reference docs
Load these as needed based on what the task involves:
| Doc | When to load | What it covers |
|-----|-------------|----------------|
| [motion-patterns.md](references/motion-patterns.md) | Adding/editing motion animation | Manual keyframes, animated fills/strokes, applying animation styles, timeline duration |
| [motion-custom-styles.md](references/motion-custom-styles.md) | Any work on reusable named motion styles | Discovering, creating, editing, organizing, applying, removing, and verifying local custom animation styles |
| [text-animation.md](references/text-animation.md) | Creating/editing text reveals, typewriter effects, or staggered text | Native `TextStagger`, grouping/order, combined text styles, timing, edits/removal, preserving editable text |
| [motion-easing.md](references/motion-easing.md) | Setting animation easing | Keyframe easing objects, custom cubic/spring, `HOLD`, applying easing inside an animation style |
## Verifying the animation
`get_screenshot` shows only the timeline's **resting state**, never motion. To check motion, `export_video` and sample frames — but it renders server-side and is **slow and expensive (~10s to minutes)**, so make each render count.
**Plan before rendering — cost scales with pixels × frames, so keep both no larger than the frames need:**
1. **Pick the moments first.** You need one frame per *phase* (e.g. per stagger step, or start / mid / settle), not smooth playback — usually 4–6. This count sets your fps.
2. **Size to what you must read.** Start small — `constraint: { type: 'WIDTH', value: 320 }`, `quality: "low"` — but text and small elements blur there, so raise `WIDTH` (768+) when you need to judge fine detail. Omitting `constraint` = full size (1x; server clamps to 10x / 4096px).
3. **Set fps just high enough to land those frames:** `fps: 5` covers a handful; 10 is an upper bound. Higher just bloats the render.
**Mechanics:** `export_video` works only on a **top-level frame** whose children carry the animation (pass that frame, not the descendant you keyframed). It returns a `jobId` with `status: "processing"` — re-invoke with `{ fileKey, jobId }` to poll. Then extract frames locally with `ffmpeg -ss <t> -i anim.mp4 -frames:v 1 frame_<t>.png` — extraction is free, so once you've paid for the render, mine it for every frame that tells you something rather than re-exporting. Without a frame extractor like `ffmpeg`, skip the export and reason about the keyframes instead.
**Iterate until it's right.** The export is a diagnostic, not a sign-off: if the frames are wrong (bad order, off timing, a missing element, a mask blanking the composite), fix the keyframes/styles and re-export. Read *all* the frames and batch every fix into one pass before re-rendering — every render carries real overhead, so make each one count instead of re-exporting after each small change.
Skip the export entirely for trivial or self-evident changes.
## Pre-flight checklist
In addition to the [figma-use pre-flight checklist](../figma-use/SKILL.md#8-pre-flight-checklist), verify:
- [ ] Easing uses the public `{ type: 'EASE_OUT', easingFunctionCubicBezier?: …, easingFunctionSpring?: … }` shape — not internal scenegraph names like `OUT_CUBIC`.
- [ ] Ease-in-out uses the exact public enum `EASE_IN_AND_OUT` (or `EASE_IN_AND_OUT_BACK`); never emit the invalid alias `EASE_IN_OUT`.
- [ ] The node being animated is not a top-level frame (direct child of a page). Animate descendants instead.
- [ ] Timeline values are seconds in the public Plugin API. Extend via `setTimelineDuration`; never shorten unless the user asked.
- [ ] Within-text motion uses discovered `TextStagger` on the existing text node. Preserve characters, formatting, wrapping, and unrelated animation; its `duration` is the total stagger span, not per-character time.
- [ ] Transform keyframe fields use public names (`TRANSLATION_X`, `TRANSLATION_Y`, `ROTATION`, `SCALE_X`, `SCALE_Y`, `SCALE_XY`), not internal `MOTION_*` scenegraph names.
- [ ] Manual keyframe fields come from the public allowlist in [motion-patterns.md](references/motion-patterns.md#animatable-fields); generated/internal scenegraph fields intentionally throw.
- [ ] Mutated node IDs are returned (per `figma-use` Rule 15).
- [ ] When motion correctness isn't self-evident and a frame extractor (`ffmpeg`) is available, verify via `export_video` + frame sampling — render small, low `fps`, iterate until right (see the Verifying the animation section above). `get_screenshot` shows only the resting state.