Dev Mode statuses and notifications
Before you Start
Who can use this feature
Notifications and the Ready for dev status are available on all paid plans
The Completed status is available on the Organization and Enterprise plans
Requires a full Design seat or a Dev Mode seat
Statuses and notifications in Dev Mode help to manage developer handoff. Statuses are used to track when sections, frames, or components are ready for development. Notifications are based on status changes so developers can react to the state of designs.
Statuses
Dev Mode statuses show the current stage of a design for handoff. Designers can add notes to statuses about updates or changes.
There are two statuses available in Dev Mode for managing handoff:
- Ready for dev: Indicates that sections, frames, and components that are ready for a developer to review and implement.
- Completed (Organization and Enterprise plans): Indicates that development work for the design is complete.
Both the Ready for dev status and the Completed status also have a Changed state. The Changed state is set when a design that’s been marked ready for dev or completed is modified. It cannot be set manually.
When a designer updates a design previously marked ready for dev or completed, they should follow the steps to update the status for the changed design to clear the Changed state.
When a developer encounters a design that’s changed, they can compare changes to see why the state has changed and the differences from the previous version. The developer should also reach out to their designers to update the status of the changed design.
A design won't be marked as changed in the following instances:
- If a component instance is updated from a shared library
- If there’s a change in value of a variable (local or shared) that’s already attached to a layer in the design
- If there’s a change in value of a style (local or shared) that’s already attached to a layer in the design
- If the change is temporary, such as when hovering an object over a design that uses auto layout
Statuses, including updating a status that’s changed, can be set while editing designs or in Dev Mode. You can also change and update statuses in Dev Mode ready for dev view and focus view.
Mark a design as ready for dev
To mark a design as ready for dev:
- In Figma Design or Dev Mode, select a section, frame, or component.
- For sections and frames, next to the label, click Mark as ready for dev. For components, the button is above the upper-right corner. Any users that previously opened the file in Dev Mode are notified that the design is marked Ready for dev.
Remove the Ready for dev status
To remove the Ready for dev status:
- For the section, frame, or component where you want to clear the status, click Ready for dev.
- In the drop-down menu, click Remove status.
Mark a design as completed (Organization and Enterprise plans)
To mark a design as completed:
- For the section, frame, or component that you want to mark completed, Click Ready for dev.
- In the drop-down menu, click Mark as completed. Any users that previously opened the file are notified that the design has been completed.
Update the status for a changed design (Organization and Enterprise plans)
To update the status for a design that’s changed:
- For the section, frame, or component that was updated, click Ready for dev.
- Optionally, in the text box that appears, type a reason for the change. The reason is included in the version history for the design and notifications triggered by the change.
- Click Done with changes. The status is set to Ready for dev. Any users that previously opened the file are notified that the design has been updated. If you wrote a reason for the change, that reason is included in the notification.
Notifications
Dev Mode notifications keep you informed when statuses change in a file. Figma supports email, desktop, and mobile push notifications by default. You can also set up:
- Slack notifications with the Slack integration for Figma
- Teams notifications with the Figma app for Microsoft Teams
If you’ve viewed a file in Dev Mode and have either a full or dev seat, you’ll receive notifications when designs are first marked as Ready for dev.
If you have an Organization or Enterprise plan, additional notifications are triggered:
- For designs that were previously Ready for dev or Completed, when the status is updated following a change to the design.
- When a design is marked Completed
If multiple designs change status within an hour, the notifications are grouped by type. For instance, several Ready for dev updates will be combined into a single notification.
Dev Mode notifications include links to the relevant designs:
- The Inspect in Dev Mode link goes to the ready for dev view for the corresponding Figma file
- The individual cards for designs open the corresponding design in focus view
Manage Dev Mode notifications
To modify your Dev Mode notification settings for a file:
- Open a Figma Design file.
- Click the Dev Mode toggle or use the keyboard shortcut ShiftD.
- Click Comment or press C to enter comment mode.
- Click Settings at the top of the right sidebar.
- From the dropdown, select one of the following:
- Status changes: This setting notifies you any time a design in the file is marked Ready for dev.
- Nothing: You are sent no Dev Mode notifications.
The settings for Dev Mode notifications can be changed in the Dev Mode interface and when focused on a design.