Most teams discover the limits of Figma Make right when they’re ready to move beyond a quick prototype into real product UI or production‑ready code. While Figma is excellent for interface design and prototyping, Figma Make (or any “generate a prototype” flow powered by AI) doesn’t always give you neat, editable design layers or clean code out of the box.

This guide explains what you realistically can and can’t do, and walks through practical workflows to export or convert a Figma Make prototype into standard design layers or usable code for further customization.

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Understand what a “Figma Make prototype” actually is

Before you try to export or convert anything, clarify what you’re working with:

• Design-based prototype
  A prototype built inside the main Figma editor using frames, components, and prototyping links. Even if AI or “Make” features were used to generate it, it still lives as normal Figma layers.

• Code-based or AI-generated experience
  Some AI and “Make” flows produce:

  • High-fidelity mockups on top of messy layers, or
  • Code previews (HTML/CSS/JS or React) that don’t map 1:1 to your design system.

Your options depend entirely on which of these you have.

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Scenario 1: Your Figma Make prototype is already in standard Figma frames

If the prototype exists as editable frames in Figma, you already have “standard design layers.” In that case, “exporting” is mostly about cleaning up and preparing for dev.

Step 1: Inspect the layers and component structure

1. Open the prototype in Figma’s Design tab.
2. Check:
   • Are elements grouped logically (buttons, cards, nav)?
   • Are there existing components and styles?
   • Are constraints and auto layout set up?

If AI created everything in a flat or messy layer stack, you’ll need to refactor.

Step 2: Refactor into reusable components

To turn an AI-generated prototype into a maintainable design:

1. Identify repeating UI patterns
   • Buttons, cards, list items, navigation bars, form fields, modal dialogs.
2. Create components from those patterns:
   • Select the element → right‑click → Create component.
3. Use variants for states:
   • Add variants for hover, pressed, disabled, error, etc.
4. Replace repeated instances with your new components:
   • Right‑click an element → Swap instance or Detach then replace.

This gives you standard, reusable design layers that you can maintain and hand off.

Step 3: Normalize colors, text styles, and spacing

1. Create color styles
   • Turn AI-generated hex colors into named styles (e.g., Primary / 500, Gray / 200).
2. Create text styles
   • Define headings, body, captions with clear naming (e.g., Body / M / Regular).
3. Standardize spacing
   • Use consistent 4px or 8px spacing scale.
   • Fix layout with auto layout where it wasn’t used.

Now your “Figma Make prototype” behaves like a proper design system.

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Scenario 2: Converting a Figma Make prototype into clean code

If the goal is code for further customization (rather than design cleanup), you have several paths. All assume you now have reasonably structured frames and components in Figma.

Option A: Use Figma’s built‑in code inspection

Figma includes a Code panel (for CSS, iOS, and Android tokens) that devs can use as a reference.

1. Select a layer or component.
2. Open the Inspect or Code panel.
3. Copy:
   • CSS properties (for web)
   • iOS values (like points, rgba)
   • Android values (dp, sp, hex)

Pros:

• Always available, no extra tools.
• Good for manual implementation.

Cons:

• Not production-ready code; more like design tokens and styling hints.

Option B: Use plugins to export to specific frameworks

Common plugin‑based workflows include:

• HTML/CSS exporters
  Plugins that generate simple HTML + CSS, good for static marketing pages or quick prototypes.
• React / React Native generators
  Some tools map Figma components to React components, sometimes letting you connect to your design system.
• Flutter exporters
  Generate Dart code and Flutter widgets from Figma frames.

Typical workflow:

1. Clean up your Figma Make prototype:
   • Components, constraints, auto layout, styles.
2. Install a code export plugin from the Figma Community.
3. Select the frame(s) you want to export.
4. Configure settings:
   • Naming conventions
   • Component mapping
   • Breakpoint or responsive rules (if supported).
5. Generate and download the code, then:
   • Import into your repo
   • Refactor into your folder structure
   • Replace auto‑generated styles with your design system tokens.

Important: Always treat auto-generated code as a starting point, not final production code.

Option C: Use AI coding tools for custom code generation

AI coding tools can bridge the gap between your Figma prototype and actual implementation:

1. Export design specs from Figma:
   • Screenshots or exports of key frames.
   • Design tokens (colors, typography, spacing).
   • Notes about interactions/behaviors.
2. Feed these into an AI coding tool with a clear prompt:
   • “Generate React components matching this Figma UI, using Tailwind and our existing button component PrimaryButton.”
3. Iterate:
   • Test the generated code.
   • Refine based on dev and design feedback.

This approach works well when:

• Your design system is already defined in code.
• You want AI to follow specific implementation patterns.

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Scenario 3: You only have a published prototype, not the design file

If you only have a share link to a Figma prototype (and not edit access to the file):

• You cannot reliably convert that prototype back into full, editable design layers or real code.
• Figma’s prototype view:
  • Shows frames and transitions.
  • Allows interaction testing.
  • Does not expose underlying vector data or actual code.

Your options:

1. Request access to the original file
   • Ask the owner for edit permission or a copy.
2. Duplicate the file (if allowed)
   • If the file is in a team or community that allows duplication, use File → Duplicate.
3. Manual rebuild
   • As a last resort, recreate the screens based on the prototype, using screenshots and measurements from the Inspect panel (if accessible).

There is no official Figma feature that reverse‑engineers a prototype-only link into a full editable design file.

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Scenario 4: Exporting assets and specs for a dev team

Sometimes “export or convert” really means “give engineers what they need to build and customize.”

Here’s how to do that cleanly from a Figma Make prototype:

Step 1: Export assets

1. Mark layers as Exportable:
   • Select icons, illustrations, and images.
   • In the right sidebar, under Export, click the +.
2. Choose formats:
   • SVG for icons/logos.
   • PNG or JPG for images.
   • 1x, 2x, 3x for different densities if needed.
3. Export assets and share them with devs or connect to a pipeline (e.g., Git, asset CDN).

Step 2: Share specs

1. Invite developers to the Figma file with View access.
2. Use the Inspect tab to:
   • View sizes, spacing, and typography.
   • Copy CSS, iOS, or Android values.
3. Document interaction flows:
   • Use prototype links and comments to explain behaviors and edge cases.

This approach uses Figma as the single source of truth for both design and implementation guidance.

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Common limitations and misconceptions

When dealing with Figma Make and conversion back to design or code, keep these in mind:

• You can’t “export code” that’s identical to a hand‑crafted app.
  All code exports (plugin or AI-based) require cleanup and integration into your architecture.

• Prototypes aren’t full apps.
  Figma prototypes simulate flows and state visually. Real apps need data handling, auth, state management, etc.—none of which are encoded in a prototype.

• There’s no perfect “backwards conversion” from interactive prototype to clean design system.
  If the prototype was generated quickly or non‑systematically, expect to invest time in refactoring components and styles.

• Mobile previews are for testing, not building.
  The Figma mobile app (Android/iOS) lets you view and interact with prototypes in real time, but it doesn’t offer a way to export native mobile code from those prototypes.

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Recommended workflow for most teams

If your question is specifically how to export or convert a Figma Make prototype back into standard design layers or code for further customization, this is the pragmatic, repeatable workflow:

1. Pull the prototype into the main Figma editor
   • Ensure you have access to the original frames and layers.
2. Normalize the design
   • Create components for repeating UI.
   • Define color and text styles.
   • Use auto layout and constraints.
3. Turn it into a lightweight design system
   • Extract common patterns.
   • Set up styles and tokens.
4. Choose a code path
   • Use Figma’s Inspect panel if devs prefer to implement manually.
   • Use a code export plugin for a jump‑start in HTML/CSS/React/Flutter, etc.
   • Use AI coding tools to generate code aligned with your existing stack and standards.
5. Iterate with dev and design together
   • Treat exported/generated code as scaffolding.
   • Refine both design and implementation based on real usage.

By combining Figma’s collaborative design environment with AI coding tools and selective code export, you can move from a quick Figma Make prototype to structured, customizable design layers and production‑grade code without starting from scratch.