So, you are a frontend developer and you receive some Figma designs from a client, along with a clear plan for building the UI. Then, a few minutes into turning these designs into code, the complexity begins to surface, as handling variations of components, styling, and other interactivity of the design becomes apparent. In addition to the time and effort, this can be a big challenge for developers.
However, turning complex Figma designs into clean and responsive code without worrying about these challenges is becoming a thing of the past. Figma to code with Kombai gives you a frontend AI agent that can convert Figma designs into responsive live features. This frontend AI agent is built as a plugin/extension that developers can use to automate the process of turning Figma designs into code.
Common Challenges of Complex Figma Designs For Developers
Complex Figma designs come with several complications, from prototyping features to other interactive features. This can be overwhelming and time-consuming for developers to handle, leading to many mistakes in handling interactions, feature implementations, and complex user flows.
Some major pain points developers face when trying to turn Figma designs into functional code include;
- Complex layouts in Figma designs can be complicated and time-consuming for developers.
- Exporting important assets like images, icons, and GIFs, with their right resolutions, can sometimes be overwhelming with large Figma designs.
- Some Figma designs can be challenging when trying to maintain consistency with layouts, components, and variations across different devices.
Bridging this gap between design and development-ready code highlights the capabilities of Kombai and other design-to-code plugins.
Kombai comes with various unique features and capabilities. It is one of the best Frontend tools for developers to implement Figma design features without any hassle. Developers who find it difficult with complex frontend tasks and designs can find a solution with Kombai. It also adds task-specific details, such as schema and endpoint for apps, or colors and fonts for a landing page.
How Kombai Simplifies the Design-to-Code Process
Developers can simplify their Figma-to-code process within a few minutes using these Kombai features. We’ll discuss a simple step-by-step guide on how you can get started with this tool.
Integrating Kombai with your favourite codebase
The first step in this process is to sign up with Kombai. You can use this tool as an extension in your code base, import Figma designs, and generate clean code.
Step 1: Install the Kombai extension in your favourite code editor
Kombai allows seamless integration of its extension with various codebases, including VSC, Cursor, and Windsurf.
Select your preferred code editor and begin integrating it with your Figma designs. This will open your VS Code and prompt you to install the extension.
For this tutorial, we are going to be installing the Kombai extension in VS Code.
Now you can open a new folder to build your UI on Kombai using Figma designs or other alternatives.
An important part of Kombai is how it generates codes from Figma designs without hassle. The next steps will go through a few steps of this process.
Step 2: Importing Figma Designs into Kombai
You can connect Figma to your setup and implement Kombai’s Figma-to-code feature. To do this, open a new folder where you want to build your project. Ensure that the Kombai extension is active on VS Code, and then locate the Figma icon below the Kombai search bar.
Click on the Figma icon to continue the process.
Next, go ahead to click on the ‘Connect Figma’ option to connect your Figma account with Kombai. This will redirect you to your browser, where you’ll need to link the accounts via email or through your Google account.
PS: Ensure that the email used to open the Kombai account is the same as the Figma.
As you can see in the image above, Kombai will ask for some permissions to access your Figma account. Once this is done, your Figma is successfully connected to Kombai.
Step 3: Generating developer-friendly and production-ready code (With React)
You can now generate production-ready code with the Figma link using the Kombai extension. So, here is a brief walk-through guide on generating clean code with any tech stack of your choice.
After connecting Figma to Kombai, you can enter the Figma file URL to proceed.
After entering the URL, click on confirm, and Kombai will start its setup to generate your code.
As shown in the image above, the Figma file is displayed side-by-side with the tech stack. You can make changes to this; It allows users to set the Framework, router, component library, styles, and even icon pack by clicking on the ‘configure stack’ button.
Once you are satisfied with the tech stack, click on ‘proceed’, and Kombai will start generating the code.
In a few seconds, Kombai has successfully generated the code for this Figma file with React and Tailwind.
Once the code file and assets are ready, you can go ahead to run a few commands to continue.
Voila! It is now live, and you can view it on your localhost. This shows a simple implementation of Kombai’s Figma to React capability.
Functionality and Feature Implementation
Kombai also allows you to build on an existing UI, and this means developers can add more features and functionalities to the code generated by Kombai.
This added functionality can be either done by prompting it with text or writing code manually.
Why Use Kombai For Complex Figma Designs?
Kombai solves a lot of problems that come with complex Figma designs. There are several benefits of using Kombai to streamline your Figma-to-code process, and these include;
Responsive Code
Kombai is trained with the best practices for code generation in different tech stacks. That means developers can generate code that separates data logic from UI and ensure that you have clean code that compiles and doesn’t break in production.
Configure Tech Stack
Kombai is robust enough to generate code with different tech stacks. It allows you to choose a stack you are more comfortable with, making it a tool for every Frontend developer with varying skill sets and technologies.
AI-Driven
Writing code from scratch can be tedious and time-consuming. But with Kombai, developers can use images, text prompts, and even a Figma file URL to generate clean code in a few minutes.
Kombai: Use Case With Existing Project
There are several ways to use Kombai, and one smart way of leveraging this Frontend AI agent involves adding a UI or functionality to your existing repository. Here, we’ll illustrate how you can build new UI and features on top of an existing project.
Step 1: Open an Existing Project in VS Code
In this case, we are going to be working with an E-commerce shopping platform to show how Kombai can add features and functionalities to developers' workflow.
The GIF below shows the website without a cart or product page.
Step 2: Use Kombai’s prompt to add Features
We want to create an ‘Add to Cart’ functionality to ensure that when you click on the button, it is added to the cart and displayed at the top of the screen. The shopping cart then displays a product description and checkout when you click on it.
I used the prompt: “*Add a shopping cart and link a product description page to the ‘add to cart’ button on the Featured section.”*
The results came out great. Kombai first scanned the code to see the tech stack already in use before adding the features it was prompted to add. Here is an illustration of how the e-commerce shopping website looked after the Kombai generated code from the prompt.
Tips and Best Practices When Converting Complex Designs
Testing Components: Kombai generates clean and maintainable code, but best practices also require checking certain functions of each component, such as hover states, modals, and responsive layouts.
Layout and Styles: Another essential part of this code to review is the styling and layout. Although Kombai handles this for the most part, it’s always good to review the generated CSS or Tailwind classes for consistency.
Review Generated Code: Every Developer must understand how their code works, regardless of whether it was generated by AI or not. Details like naming conventions, reusable patterns, and file structures that match your team’s standards. Small tweaks here can make long-term maintenance easier and ensure the codebase stays clean as your project grows.
Wrapping Up
Bringing Figma designs to life is changing fast, and tools like Kombai help Developers to experience one of the best Figma-to-code extensions. Before now, developers had to handle complex layouts, interactions, and styles. But with Figma to code solutions like this, generating code from designs becomes simple and fast.
Whether you’re building from scratch or enhancing existing projects, Kombai ensures your designs translate seamlessly into functional, high-quality code. Although reviewing the code for details like naming consistency and other little tweaks is still vital, Kombai’s Figma to code can give developers production-ready code from simple designs or prompts.
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