Import from Figma

Two ways to bring Figma designs into Brilliant:

• Paste a Figma URL into Brilliant's right toolbar to pull a whole file (or specific pages, or just a selected subtree) into your document. Each Figma page becomes a Brilliant canvas. Needs a one-time browser sign-in to Figma.

• Use the Copy to Brilliant plugin to push a selection from inside Figma onto the canvas you're currently on. No sign-in; the selection rides over your system clipboard.

Both paths route through the same import pipeline, so the fidelity is identical. Pick based on where you're starting the action.

Import a whole file by URL

Brilliant's right toolbar has an Import section that accepts a Figma URL or bare file key.

The Import section in Brilliant's right toolbar with a Figma URL pasted (screenshot coming soon)

1. Sign in once

Paste a URL (figma.com/design/…, the older /file/… form, or a bare 10–30 character file key) and click the slider button that appears next to the field. Brilliant opens Figma's consent screen in your browser; once you approve, you're set. Tokens persist and refresh silently, and the section shows a Connected indicator at the bottom (hover it to reveal Disconnect).

2. Pick what to import

Three modes, same field:

• Whole file: click Import from Figma with everything as-is. This is the default.

• Specific pages: click the slider button to expand the page picker and uncheck the pages you don't want.

• Selection only: if your URL contains ?node-id=… (Figma generates this when you right-click an element → Copy link), an extra checkbox appears next to the slider button. Toggle it and only that subtree is fetched.

The Import section expanded with per-page checkboxes for selective import (screenshot coming soon)

While the import runs, the section reports its stage: Fetching, Downloading images (m/n), Converting. It also surfaces Figma rate limits inline (Rate limited by Figma, retrying in 4s…). Cancellable any time.

3. Where it lands

How Brilliant places the imported pages depends on how many came back:

• More than one page: Brilliant creates a folder named after the Figma file and drops one canvas per page into it.

• Exactly one page, and your current canvas is empty: the import lands on the current canvas. No folder, no new canvas.

• Exactly one page, and your current canvas has content: a single new canvas at the document root.

Selection-only imports always produce a single page, so they follow the one-page rule above: an empty current canvas keeps its name and receives the import; otherwise a new canvas named <File name> Selection lands at the document root. Canvas names elsewhere come from the Figma page names, with dots replaced by spaces to avoid colliding with the .bl extension. Name collisions get a (2), (3), … suffix.

Files you don't own

Brilliant calls Figma's REST API as you, so Figma's per-user rate limits apply to your account. The catch worth knowing about: your limit depends on your seat type on the plan that owns the file, not on the file itself.

If you're a Full or Dev seat (the file owner, or a paid editor on the team), you're fine. The endpoints Brilliant uses (GET file, GET file nodes, GET image fills) start at 10 calls per minute on the Free / Starter plan and climb from there.

If you're a View or Collab seat on someone else's plan (for example, someone shared a file with you and you don't have edit access), Figma caps file fetches at 6 per month. One Brilliant import burns one of those six. After that, every import returns HTTP 429 and Brilliant reports Rate limited by Figma, retrying in {n}s… until the bucket refills (which won't be soon, since the reset is monthly).

Two ways out:

• Duplicate the file into your drafts. From Figma, open the file menu and choose Duplicate to your drafts. The copy is yours: you become the owner, your seat type for that file is now Full, and the limit jumps from 6 a month to ten or more per minute. (File owners can disable duplication; if the option is greyed out, that's why.)

• Use the plugin instead. The Copy to Brilliant plugin ships data over your clipboard: no API call, no quota, no auth. It's the safest path when you only need a frame or two, or when you're stuck behind the monthly cap.

Import a selection via the plugin

If you're already in Figma and just want a frame or two on the canvas you have open, the Copy to Brilliant plugin is the faster path. No Brilliant sign-in, no API access required: the selection travels over your system clipboard.

1. Install the plugin

Grab Copy to Brilliant from the Figma Community and click Open In Figma to add it to your account.

2. Run it on a selection

In Figma, select what you want to copy. Open Plugins → Copy to Brilliant (or right-click → Plugins). A small panel appears with one button.

The label adapts to the selection: Copy "Hero" for a single layer, Copy 5 elements for a multi-selection. Click it, or press Enter or ⌘C. The panel flashes Copied! when the JSON is on your clipboard.

3. Paste into Brilliant

Switch to Brilliant, click anywhere on the canvas, and press ⌘V. Brilliant recognizes the Figma payload and runs it through the full import pipeline.

Imported elements land at your paste location and arrive as real Brilliant primitives. Nudge them, restyle them, drop them into a frame.

What carries over

• Layout: auto layout (direction, sizing, padding, gap, wrap, alignment), absolute-positioned children, layout grids, frames, and groups.

• Geometry: vector paths, boolean operations, ellipse arcs and rings, corner radii (uniform or per-corner), aspect-ratio locks.

• Fills and strokes: solid colors; linear, radial, and angular gradients (diamond gradients flatten to their first stop's color); image fills (bytes come along with the import, so no broken references on the Brilliant side). Stroke weight, alignment, joins, and caps.

• Effects: drop shadow, inner shadow, layer blur, background blur.

• Text: font family, weight, size, line height, letter spacing, alignment, fills, plus per-character overrides for mixed-style text.

• Components and instances: if you include both the master component and its instances in your selection, the master / instance link is preserved and overrides are detected automatically. Instances copied without their master come over as standalone elements with their final appearance, but no link back.

• Element-level: opacity, blend mode, visibility, and masks.

What doesn't

• Non-variant component properties. Variant axes come through as real, editable component sets, one variant per combination. Figma's boolean, text, and instance-swap properties don't: each variant keeps its resolved look, but those editable knobs are dropped.

• Interactive prototypes. Connections, transitions, and prototype flows aren't part of the canvas model.

• Variables and shared styles. Resolved values (colors, sizes, type) come through, but the bindings back to Figma Variables or shared color / text / effect styles don't.

• FigJam, Figma Slides, Dev Mode. The plugin runs in the Figma design editor only.

Next

• Tour the editor: Quick Tour.

• See how the two tools compare: Brilliant vs Figma.