Figma is moving more of the product-building workflow onto its collaborative canvas. The company showed an update on Wednesday that adds code layers, broader motion tools and new AI features intended to help designers, product managers and programmers explore ideas in one shared workspace.
The update builds on work Figma has already started around connecting design and code. Last year, it introduced Figma Make, an AI prompt-based prototyping tool, and it has since added integrations with Claude Code and Codex to improve the hand-off between coding and design.
Code layers move into the canvas
The central change is the arrival of code layers directly inside Figma's collaborative canvas. Instead of keeping code-related exploration outside the design environment, teams will be able to work with code as part of the same space where they review, test and reshape product ideas.
Figma says the feature can help teams clone repositories and pull flows from code into design layers for testing. That matters because the design canvas is already where many product conversations happen. Bringing code layers into that environment gives teams another way to examine how an idea behaves before treating it as production-ready software.
Yuhki Yamashita, Figma's chief product officer, framed the feature as a way to support fast iteration rather than polished engineering output. His point was that the collaborative canvas can become a place where designers, engineers and PMs try multiple directions without making code quality the first concern.
That distinction is important. Code layers are not presented as a replacement for the production code process. They are described as a way to make exploration more fluid, especially when the goal is to compare ideas, test flows and bring more roles into the same working surface.
Motion and shaders become native parts of design
Figma is also adding support for animations, transitions and 3D transforms. Previously, designers had to create animations in other software and then convert them into code that Figma could understand. With the update, those motion elements can be integrated directly in Figma.
This changes where animation decisions can happen. If a team is testing how a flow feels, motion is not just decoration; it can affect how users understand movement, state changes and interaction. Keeping animations and transitions inside the same tool as the rest of the design can make those decisions easier to inspect and revise.
The update also brings AI into asset creation for these areas. Users can now use AI to create some of these assets, and Figma is adding support for shader effects and fills using AI as well. The source article does not describe the full range of controls, but the direction is clear: Figma is giving designers more ways to generate visual and interactive elements without leaving the main workspace.
Weavy workflows are coming closer to Figma
Figma acquired Weavy last year, a node-based tool that helped designers run workflows through different models and compare outputs. The company is now working to integrate the two apps more closely.
An update rolling out later in the year will let users generate Weavy workflows directly within Figma. Based on the source, the value is not only generation itself, but comparison: Weavy helped designers use different models and evaluate the outputs. Bringing that closer to Figma could make AI-assisted exploration feel less like a separate step and more like part of the design process.
For teams already using Figma as a shared product canvas, this matters because AI output still needs judgment. Comparing alternatives inside the design environment can keep the review process tied to the actual interface, flow or asset being built.
AI skills and connected context expand the assistant
Figma is also adding new skills to its AI assistant. Users can write text prompts that create repeatable skills for AI agents to use. That turns one-off prompting into something closer to a reusable workflow, at least for tasks that teams need to perform more than once.
The assistant can also receive more context. Users can connect tools such as Notion, Granola, Excel and GitHub, or attach files, so the AI bot has more information about what the user wants it to do. The source does not describe specific workflows for each connected tool, so the main point is the broader pattern: Figma wants the assistant to work with more of the material that product teams already use.
The company is also adding a prompt-based feature for creating custom plugins. Examples include layout generators and vector path tracers. That could make plugin creation more accessible to people who know what they want the tool to do, even if they are not starting from a traditional plugin-building workflow.
What the update signals
Taken together, the update shows Figma continuing to blur the line between design exploration, code-informed testing and AI-assisted creation. The company is not only adding isolated features; it is trying to make the canvas a shared environment for more of the early product process.
The practical effect is a wider role for Figma. Code layers bring engineering material into the design space. Motion and 3D transform support reduce the need to leave Figma for animation work. AI skills, connected tools and prompt-created plugins give teams more ways to automate or generate repeatable pieces of the workflow.
The source article is careful to position these tools around exploration, iteration and hand-off rather than finished production code. That framing is likely to matter for teams adopting them. The update is less about replacing specialist tools outright and more about giving designers, product managers and programmers a common place to test directions before decisions harden.