Large Figma file retrieval causing timeout error with REST API

Other Questions Figma
1

I’m building a script to scan through Figma files in a workspace and locate specific node types. I’m using the figma-api npm library which wraps the official Figma REST API.

The API docs show that the GET files endpoint should return the complete document as JSON. This JSON contains a node tree structure representing the whole Figma file.

However, when I try to fetch one of my larger files, I keep getting this error:

const figmaClient = new FigmaAPI({
  personalAccessToken: 'your-token-here'
});

async function fetchDesignFile(documentId) {
  try {
    const response = await figmaClient.getFile(documentId);
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to retrieve file:', error.message);
    // Error: Request failed with status code 400
    // Response data: { status: 400, err: 'Render timeout, try requesting fewer or smaller images' }
  }
}

The weird part is the error message mentions images and rendering timeouts, but I’m just trying to get the document structure as JSON. There’s a separate endpoint for images.

Is there any way to successfully retrieve large Figma files through the API? Maybe I need to fetch the data in smaller pieces somehow?

2

for sure! try adding ?geometry=paths to your request. if that doesn’t work, split it into smaller chunks. figma can be really sensitive with big files, smaller requests should help you out!