Project
A Figma plugin and a local connector that link an AI assistant to the open file. No quota, and nothing leaves your machine.
AI assistants can already work in Figma, but through two imperfect paths.
The official connector goes through the cloud and caps the number of calls: 200 a day on a Pro seat, reads and screenshots included. Free bridges require starting a server by hand and copying an ID at every session.
Patchbay keeps the best of both. Everything runs locally, with no quota, and setup is a single line copied from the plugin.
I designed the product end to end: brief, name, art direction, mockups, testing. The code was written by Claude Code, under my direction.
Unlimited quota
versus 200 calls a day for the official connector on Pro
100% local
nothing leaves your machine
1 line
to install it
The problem, the promise, a new user's journey in six steps and the limits to state honestly: everything was written before the first mockup.
A patchbay is the patch panel of a recording studio: the name says what the tool does. The art direction relies on gradient cards, with one color per state and a cable that is plugged in, unplugged or cut.
Connection, activity log, Read only, Ask or Free modes, confirmation, pause: every screen was designed before being coded.
Claude Code wrote the plugin and the connector by following the mockups screen by screen. Everything was tested in real Figma: connection, busy port, screenshot, export, confirmation, pause.
The connector is published on npm, the code is open source under the MIT license and the plugin has been submitted to the Figma Community.
Patchbay 0.1.0 was released on October 13, 2026. One line to copy, and the assistant sees the file, takes screenshots up to 4x, edits layers and exports an animation frame by frame. Every action is recorded in a clear log and can be undone with Ctrl+Z.
Étude de cas
Les assistants IA savent travailler dans Figma, mais le MCP officiel plafonne les appels et les ponts gratuits demandent des manipulations techniques. Patchbay permet de connecter Claude à Figma en local, sans limite d'appels, avec une seule ligne d'installation. Le connecteur est publié depuis le 13 octobre 2026.
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