How is GitFig different from Tokens Studio?

GitFig works directly on Figma's native Variables and Styles and gives them a Git workflow from inside Figma: staged commits, branches, and pull requests, written to your repository as standard W3C token JSON. Tokens Studio is a token editor with its own store and format that you apply to Figma through an export step. GitFig also reads Tokens Studio files, so switching is one pull and one push.

How is GitFig different from the Figma Variables REST API?

The Figma Variables REST API requires a Figma Enterprise plan and custom sync scripts you build and maintain. GitFig is a plugin that works on any Figma plan and puts the whole workflow, pull, staged commits, branches, and pull requests, inside the Figma file.

How GitFig Compares

Q: Does GitFig manage component variants, states, and visibility?

Component structure lives in Figma components, and design token tools, GitFig included, version tokens rather than components. With GitFig, components consume Variables natively, binding a variable to a fill, a mode to a theme or state, or a boolean variable to a visibility property. GitFig versions the variables and styles underneath, so component behavior stays a pure Figma concern. Tokens can be edited in Figma or directly in the repo's token files, and GitFig syncs both directions.

Last updated: September 1, 2026

GitFig connects a Figma file directly to a GitHub repository and gives Figma's native Variables and Styles a real Git workflow: change detection, staged commits, branches, and pull requests, all from inside Figma. Tokens land in your repository as standard W3C Design Tokens JSON that any DTCG-capable tool (Style Dictionary, your build pipeline, other design tools) can consume.

This page compares GitFig to the other ways teams put design tokens under version control.

GitFig vs Tokens Studio

Both tools put tokens in Git, but they start from opposite ends.

Tokens Studio is a token editor that lives in a plugin. You author tokens in its own store and format (token sets, themes, math and composite tokens), then apply them to Figma variables and styles through an export step. That model is powerful for token-first teams, but it means your design system has two representations, the plugin's and Figma's, and you manage the mapping between them.

GitFig treats Figma's native Variables and Styles as the source of truth inside Figma, the same Variables panel your components already consume, and adds the Git layer around them. It detects your edits like a working tree. Select the changes you want to commit, write a commit message, and push. Engineers can also edit the token files directly in the repo, and those commits flow back into Figma through Pull.

	GitFig	Tokens Studio
Where tokens are edited	Figma's native Variables and Styles UI, or the token files in your repo (both sync)	The plugin's own token editor
Source of truth in Figma	Native Variables plus Color, Text, and Effect Styles	The plugin's token store, applied to Figma via export
File format in Git	Writes W3C Design Tokens; reads W3C, Style Dictionary, Tokens Studio, and custom JSON	Tokens Studio JSON, with a W3C DTCG option
Commit workflow	Per-change staging with checkboxes, commit messages, one-click push, undoable pulls	Push and pull of token files
Branches and pull requests	Create branches and open PRs from inside Figma, free	Branch switching on the paid plan; PRs on your Git host
Variable modes and themes	Every mode of a collection syncs as one mode-keyed file, free during the v1.3 preview	Themes on the paid plan, applied via export
Git hosts	GitHub (github.com)	GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps
What you learn	Git basics: commit, push, branch, PR	Its own token model: sets, themes, and export options

Tokens Studio remains a good fit if you author math-driven or composite tokens that Figma variables cannot yet express, or if your repositories live on GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps. If your tokens are (or should be) native Figma Variables and Styles, GitFig removes the parallel model and the export step.

Already on Tokens Studio, or looking for a Tokens Studio alternative? GitFig reads its format directly, so migration is one pull and one push: see the migration guide.

What about component variants, states, and visibility?

Component structure (variants, component properties, visibility bindings, interactive states) lives in Figma components. Design token tools, GitFig included, version tokens, not components. In future releases, GitFig may support component versioning and integrations.

With GitFig, your components consume Variables natively, binding a variable to a fill, a mode to a theme or state, or a boolean variable to a visibility property. GitFig versions the variables and styles underneath, so component behavior stays a pure Figma concern and keeps working with every Figma feature, current and future. Tokens can be edited on either side. Changes made in Figma (renaming a variable, adding a mode, changing a value) appear in GitFig's change list, ready to commit. Changes engineers make directly to the token files in the repo surface on the Pull button as new commits, and one undoable pull applies them to your Figma Variables and Styles.

If versioning component structure itself would help your team, tell us in the GitFig Community: requests there directly shape the roadmap.

GitFig vs the Figma Variables REST API

Figma's Variables REST API can read and write variables, but it requires a Figma Enterprise plan, and you build and maintain the sync scripts, hosting, and conflict handling yourself. There is no in-Figma workflow: designers cannot see, stage, or commit changes from the canvas.

GitFig is a plugin, so it works on any Figma plan (the number of modes per collection follows your Figma plan's limit) and puts the whole workflow inside the file where the design work happens.

GitFig vs manual export

Copying values by hand or maintaining JSON files manually works at very small scale, but there is no change detection, no history of who changed what and why, and drift between Figma and code is invisible until something ships wrong. GitFig gives every token change a commit, an author, and a reviewable diff.

Is GitFig part of GitHub?

GitFig is an independent Figma plugin, separate from GitHub the company. GitHub is where your token files live; GitFig is the plugin that connects Figma to those GitHub repositories and syncs variables and styles between them.

Try GitFig

Everything in GitFig v1.3 is free during the preview. Install GitFig from Figma Community, or start with the quick start guide and the example token files.