Teach Figma's agent your design system | Add guidelines to your Figma library
Summary
Figma's new Guidelines feature lets design systems teams encode their unwritten conventions into AI agents, eliminating the need to re-teach design rules with every prompt. Set it up once in your library, and your entire team gets on-system outputs automatically without extra instruction.
Key Takeaways
- Guidelines act as a three-layer system: Library defines components, documentation explains usage, and guidelines teach AI agents your team's conventions, dos/don'ts, and taste preferences without explicit prompting.
- You can bootstrap guidelines by using an LLM tool to generate a first draft from existing documentation, then iteratively refine based on observing where the agent needs more direction.
- Update guidelines by selecting the ellipsis menu next to your filename, clicking Replace to upload a new version, then Apply Changes—enabling rapid iteration as you discover agent blind spots.
- Include anti-patterns and unwritten conventions in guidelines (e.g., 'always use app header component for navigation, no exceptions') to prevent agents from inventing alternative solutions.
- Guidelines are set up in Figma's file menu under Library > Manage Guidelines, allowing design systems teams to reduce prompt overhead and ensure standardized, efficient outputs across their organization.
Related topics
Transcript Excerpt
[upbeat music] As a design systems team, you create resources to help your team use your system effectively. But what about their agents? Every time they prompt, they have to reteach, spelling out rules and unwritten conventions each time. That gets old and leaves room for things to get lost in translation. Guidelines teach the Figma agent what your team already knows and is built right into your library. You set it up once, and your entire team benefits from on-system outputs and fewer prompts. [upbeat music] To create and manage guidelines, navigate to the file menu of any Figma file that's published as a library. Select Library and then Manage Guidelines. Here, you'll be able to upload files that contain context for your library. Click Apply Changes, and they'll be referenced anytime so…