TechCrunch: Figma adds code layers, animations, and more AI features

On June 24, 2026, Figma shipped an update that pulls engineering work directly into the collaborative canvas. The centerpiece is code layers: teams can now clone repositories and extract code flows into design layers, letting engineers and designers review and annotate the same artifact without a separate handoff step.

The update also adds native support for animations, transitions, and 3D transforms. Previously, teams had to convert these in external tools before sharing with stakeholders. They now live in the same file as the static designs, which reduces the risk of drift between a prototype and its eventual implementation.

On the AI side, the update includes shader effects and fills generated through text prompts, custom plugins built from natural-language descriptions, and deeper integration with external tools — Notion, GitHub, Excel, Granola — to give the AI assistant richer context when answering questions. Users can also define repeatable skills that agents can invoke across files.

For product managers, the practical relevance is structural. Code layers and native animation in one canvas mean fewer translation steps between discovery and delivery, and fewer places for scope to drift or intent to be misread. The AI-generated plugins lower the technical barrier for non-engineers to automate layout and naming tasks, which can speed up rounds of feedback and review.

Figma’s CPO described the canvas as optimized for “rapid exploration without focusing on production-ready code quality.” That framing signals where the company sees the collaboration boundary moving — toward a shared workspace rather than a one-way handoff format.