Last updated: July 3, 2025
Converting Figma designs to code has always been a compelling goal. Developers can spend days translating a single Figma file into working React components, and that time adds up fast. Hours that could be spent on application logic, performance optimization, or building new features get burned on pixel-pushing instead.
With AI getting better at understanding both design intent and code structure, the Figma-to-React problem is finally solvable. At Builder.io, we built Visual Copilot to do exactly that. This post walks through how it works, why it's different from generic LLM approaches, and how you can use it to ship faster without sacrificing code quality.
Tip: Check out Fusion: the fastest and easiest way to convert Figma to React code
Visual Copilot is an AI-powered Figma plugin that converts designs to clean, responsive React code in one click. Unlike generic AI tools, it uses your existing components, matches your coding style, and integrates with your tech stack.
Key capabilities:
- One-click conversion: Transform any Figma design into React components instantly
- Component mapping: Use your actual code components, not generic divs
- Automatic responsiveness: Generated code adapts to all screen sizes
- Real data integration: Connect to your APIs and data models
- Multi-framework support: Works with React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, and more
With one click, Visual Copilot helps you convert a Figma design to high-quality React components. This significantly speeds up the development process, making it much faster to get from design to a working webpage in a React app.
Visual Copilot automatically adjusts components to fit all screen sizes, eliminating manual tweaks for mobile responsiveness. As you resize your screen, the design seamlessly adapts.
Visual Copilot maps Figma components directly to your actual code components. When it sees a button in your design, it uses your component, not a generic div.
This keeps your codebase consistent and makes updates easier across multiple screens.
Unlike other AI tools, Visual Copilot isn't generating static code or isolated components. It understands your entire tech stack. From creating complete data tables to adding advanced features like sorting and pagination – all while working with your real data sources.
Visual Copilot supports React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, Qwik, Solid, and HTML and seamlessly integrates with various styling libraries like plain CSS, Tailwind, Emotion, Styled Components, and Styled JSX. It outputs clean, functional code that works across frameworks so you can feel confident that the code will be easy to read, and integrate seamlessly into your codebase out-of-the-box today.
After code generation, you can iterate with custom prompts and structure the code to your preferences, ensuring consistency across the codebase – be it using specific components or iterating hard-coded content to use props.
Visual Copilot isn't just about converting designs to clean code; it's about making the code feel like it's yours. By training the system with your code samples, Visual Copilot ensures the generated code aligns with your unique style and standards, promoting uniformity across your entire codebase.
Getting started is as easy as copying the code directly from Visual Copilot - no integration is required. To sync components without the back-and-forth copying and pasting, you can automatically sync the generated code to your codebase, making it a seamless part of your development workflow. It's about reducing the friction of integrating generated code and ensuring a smooth transition from design to a live, production-ready codebase.
Visual Copilot uses a three-stage pipeline to convert Figma designs to production code:
- AI model analysis: A model trained on 2+ million data points transforms flat design structures into code hierarchies (even without auto layout)
- Compilation: Our open-source compiler Mitosis converts the hierarchy into framework-agnostic code
- LLM refinement: A fine-tuned Large Language Model adapts the output to match your specific framework, styling library, and code standards
This multi-stage approach ensures cleaner, more maintainable code than pure LLM generation.
Unlike other AI tools that generate isolated components or demos, Visual Copilot is deeply integrated with your entire product:
- Your design context: It understands your Figma components, design tokens, and documentation
- Your code context: It knows your code components, coding standards, and development patterns
- Your business context: It connects to your APIs, data models, and business logic
This means describing complex features in just a few words gets you exactly what your team would build – using your design system, following your standards, connected to your services.
he Visual Copilot plugin includes a powerful CLI workflow. You can use it to export Figma to React code directly inside your code editor. One command downloads your design, converts it to React code, and inserts it into your project.
If you're the type of developer who lives in the terminal, and especially if you're using AI-powered editors like Cursor and Windsurf, then the CLI is for you. It transforms the Figma-to-code process into a natural part of your development workflow.
MCP servers use pure LLMs to convert designs. Visual Copilot uses specialized models plus LLMs for production-ready output.
| Feature | Figma MCP Server | Visual Copilot CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Quick prototypes, simple components | Production code, complex applications |
| Precision | Rough approximation | Pixel-perfect output |
| Component mapping | No | Yes - uses your actual components |
| Design system integration | Limited | Full integration |
| Customization | Limited control | Extensive customization options |
| Workflow | 3-step (Design → LLM → Output) | 5-step (Design → AI Pipeline → Analysis → Mapping → Output) |
When you need code that integrates with your codebase, component library, and coding patterns, a specialized approach beats pure LLM conversion.
Getting started with Visual Copilot is straightforward.
- Launch the Visual Copilot Figma plugin.
- Select a layer in your Figma file.
- Hit the "Generate code" button to start converting.
- Copy the generated code into your codebase.
- Customize the code to support animations, custom fonts, and other required functionality.
Here are two short videos that will guide you on how to convert design to clean code for a React (Next.js) web app:
No, LLMs can't parse Figma files directly and only produce rough approximations from screenshots. Purpose-built tools like Visual Copilot use specialized models to generate production-ready code that integrates with your design system and components.
Production-ready code uses your existing components, matches your coding style, is responsive, and integrates with your data sources. Visual Copilot gets you 80-90% there with clean, readable code that developers can easily modify.
Structured Figma files with auto layout, defined components, and organized layers produce the best results. Visual Copilot can handle messy designs, but organized files always generate cleaner code.
Yes, Visual Copilot maps Figma components directly to your code components. When it sees your button design, it uses your component, not a generic
.
Both options work. The plugin suits designers and PMs, while the CLI lets developers pull designs, convert them, and insert code directly from the terminal.
The gap between design and development has always been a source of friction. Hours are lost in translation, and the final product rarely matches the original vision.
AI-powered tools are closing that gap by giving developers superpowers. Instead of tedious manual translation, you can focus on hard engineering problems while the UI gets implemented exactly as designed.
Ready to ship faster? Try Builder.io now.
Builder.io visually edits code, uses your design system, and sends pull requests.
Builder.io visually edits code, uses your design system, and sends pull requests.
Connect a Repo
