Capturing and uploading Figma designs to AWS S3: A beginner's question

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1

Hey everyone! I’m new to making Figma plugins and I’m stuck on something. I’m trying to build a plugin with HTML and JavaScript that can take a snapshot of the current Figma design and save it as a PNG or JPG in an AWS S3 bucket. I’ve been playing around with the viewport.snapshotAsync() method, but I keep getting a ‘not a function’ error. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

const takeScreenshot = async () => {
  try {
    const designArea = figma.currentPage.selection[0];
    const pic = await figma.createImage(designArea).exportAsync();
    console.log('Screenshot taken:', pic);
    // Next step: send to S3
  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Oops! Something went wrong:', err);
  }
}

Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong or how I can fix this? I’m using the Figma desktop app on Windows for development if that helps. Thanks a bunch for any tips!

2

hey tom, i’ve dealt with similar issues. try using figma.viewport.screenshot() instead of snapshotAsync(). it returns a promise with the image data. for s3 upload, you’ll need to set up aws sdk in your plugin and use the s3.putObject() method. good luck with your project!

3

hey tom, i’ve been there. for capturing designs, try figma.currentPage.exportAsync() with specific settings. it’s more reliable. for s3 upload, you’ll need a server-side component - plugins can’t directly upload due to security. set up a simple api endpoint to handle the s3 part. good luck, mate!

4

I’ve worked on a similar project recently, and I can share some insights. First, make sure you’re using the latest Figma API version, as some methods might have changed. For capturing the design, try using figma.viewport.exportAsync() instead. It’s more reliable and gives you more control over the export settings.

For the AWS S3 upload part, you’ll need to set up a server-side component. Figma plugins can’t directly upload to S3 due to security restrictions. What worked for me was creating a simple Express.js server that handles the S3 upload. The plugin would then send the image data to this server via a POST request.

Here’s a rough outline of how your plugin code might look:

const captureAndUpload = async () => {
  const bytes = await figma.viewport.exportAsync();
  const response = await fetch('your-server-url/upload', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: bytes
  });
  if (response.ok) {
    figma.notify('Design uploaded successfully!');
  }
}

Hope this helps point you in the right direction. Let me know if you need more details!

5

I’ve actually implemented something similar recently. One thing to keep in mind is that Figma plugins run in a sandboxed environment, which limits direct access to external services like AWS S3.

For capturing the design, I found success using figma.currentPage.exportAsync(). It’s flexible and allows you to specify export settings. Here’s a snippet that worked for me:

const exportSettings = { format: 'PNG', constraint: { type: 'SCALE', value: 2 } };
const imageBytes = await figma.currentPage.exportAsync(exportSettings);

For the S3 upload, you’ll need to set up a server-side component. I used a simple Node.js server with Express and the AWS SDK. The plugin sends the image data to this server, which then handles the S3 upload.

In your plugin, you’d make a POST request to your server:

await fetch('your-server-url/upload', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: imageBytes
});

This approach worked well for me. Let me know if you need more details on the server-side setup.

6

I’ve encountered similar challenges when working with Figma plugins. One approach that worked for me was using the figma.currentPage.exportAsync() method. It allows you to export the entire current page or specific nodes.

Here’s a snippet that might help:

async function captureDesign() {
  const nodes = figma.currentPage.selection;
  if (nodes.length === 0) {
    figma.notify('Please select at least one node');
    return;
  }
  const bytes = await figma.currentPage.exportAsync({
    format: 'PNG',
    constraint: { type: 'SCALE', value: 2 }
  });
  // Now you have the image data in 'bytes'
  // Next step: send this to your server for S3 upload
}

Remember, direct S3 uploads from a plugin aren’t possible due to security constraints. You’ll need a server-side component to handle the actual upload to S3. Consider setting up a simple API endpoint that your plugin can send the image data to, which then handles the S3 upload process.