A quick note on Figma's Config announcements

Before we get into this week's updates, I want to highlight a few things about Figma's Config 2026 announcements. The framing for these releases was that "AI has lowered the floor, but it hasn't raised the ceiling yet." That lines up really nicely with our own effort to avoid AI slop, and the new features fully support that idea:

  • ‍Code Layers: Figma sees code as just another way to express design, so they're bringing live code directly onto the canvas.
  • ‍Generative plugins: designers shouldn't be limited by what the tool lets them build, so you can now ask the agent to generate any plugin you want.
  • ‍Shaders: this might look like a trendy way to slap effects onto everything, but shaders are what take a design from basic to an actual experience. Instead of picking from a few presets, you can generate anything you like.
  • ‍Motion: you can finally animate right inside Figma, lowering the barrier to add motion to any kind of project.
  • ‍Weave: now fully integrated. Good visual generation isn't writing one prompt and hoping for the best. You need art direction, the ability to replicate it, and multi-step generation, the same way you'd work without AI tools.

It does make the interface even more complex, but being able to express design in so many different ways inside one integrated canvas is great. It allows for exploration and iteration, and it gives you the tools to go beyond whatever AI generates. Nice to see them still heading in the right direction.

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Figma Config 2026

A lot was announced at Config, so here's the rundown of the new materials and tools coming to the canvas:

  • Code Layers: turn any design layer into an interactive code layer with a click or a prompt. You can duplicate them to explore directions side by side, riff and comment with your team, and extract design frames back into editable layers when needed. It can connected to your existing codebase, so you can import repos or push changes back. Rolling out in closed beta starting July.
  • Figma Motion: a full timeline with keyframes, presets, and easing controls, built right into Figma Design. Animate from scratch or let the agent generate a starting point, reuse motion across your design system, and export to MP4, WebM, animated SVG, or GIF. It's also MCP-compatible and inspectable in Dev Mode as CSS, JSON, or React. Available in beta now.
  • Shaders: prompt the agent to build shader fills and effects, or use an image as reference. They're parameterized by default so you can tweak everything on the canvas, stack effects, and convert to code. Interactive shaders are coming soon.
  • Generative plugins: describe the tool you need and the agent builds it, no dev environment or plugin API knowledge required. You can share it with anyone in your file, with publishing to teams and the community coming soon.
  • Weave tools: build node-based generative workflows and publish them as templates or tools for others to use and remix. A bunch are already available to get you started.
  • Agent skills, connectors, and attachments: the Figma agent now connects to tools like Notion, Slack, GitHub, and Atlassian, and you can package your workflows into reusable skills. A FigJam and Slides agent are also on the way.

Read everything from Config 2026

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Web search in the Figma design agent

Released last week before Config. You can now search the web directly from the Figma design agent. It pulls in live context so you can find best practices and populate designs with real content instead of placeholders, all without leaving your file. Just prompt "search the web" in the chat or turn it on in the plus menu.

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Sketch Edinburgh (2026.2)

Sketch's second 2026 update is here with a solid batch of improvements:

  • Multi-paste: Paste, Paste Over, and Paste and Replace now work across multiple selected frames, groups, or layers at once. Paste behavior is also more predictable, centering content in groups and placing it closer to where you're working.
  • Perceptual and Vibrant gradients: two new interpolation options based on human color perception, Oklab for smooth transitions and Oklch for punchier, more saturated work.
  • Copy more properties: Copy Properties now covers fills, borders, shadows, effects, size, position, and prototyping interactions, so you can paste exactly what you need.
  • Prototype Preview improvements: a new Follow Selection toggle, a Float on Top option, and instant prototype link sharing.
  • Performance is also up, with instances around twice as fast and Replace Library nearly 15x faster, plus new MCP tools for agents.

Read all the Sketch Edinburgh updates

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Paper Tokens

Paper now supports token variables through MCP and agents. You can create them with a prompt, then use them from any color input via the property panel on the right. To try it, ask your agent to make color scale tokens in Paper, just make sure you're on the latest version of the Mac app.

Read the Paper tokens docs

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Pencil HTML export

Pencil's latest version adds Copy and Export HTML, and it's fast. No LLM needed, so it takes one to two seconds, and you can choose between Tailwind or pure CSS along with options like embedding images or adding layer names for reference. There's also a new `export_html` MCP tool that returns clean HTML from the canvas straight to your agent.

Pencil's HTML export in action: on the left, the Export Settings panel shows asset embedding options, toggles for HTML scaffold and layer names, and an HTML + Tailwind format with Copy HTML and Export HTML buttons. On the right, a matcha cake ordering app design sits on the Pencil canvas next to its exported HTML rendered in a browser, showing the two match closely.

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Skills in MagicPath

MagicPath added Skills, which are instructions that help the agent perform certain operations better. They're starting with a set for improving typography, polishing designs, and animations. You can import your own skills or create new ones just by asking MagicPath.

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Figma's big bets with Loredana Crisan

This week's Dive Club goes behind the scenes of Config 2026 with Loredana Crisan, Figma's Chief Design Officer. They talk about Figma's vision for AI, why design is having "an identity crisis and a renaissance at the same time," and what it means to use AI to express what's already in your head rather than outsource creativity to it. It's a clarifying conversation about taste, tools, and where design is heading.

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Closer to the Material with Ryo Lu

Ryo Lu, designer at Cursor, gave a talk at Compile 26 about how AI changes the way we build and what it shouldn't erase. His main point is that the real value of AI isn't making more things faster, it's keeping people close to the material instead of turning them into passive approvers of black-box output. A great watch if you've been thinking about where craft and judgment move in an AI-first workflow.