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Design-to-Code at Scale with Figma, React, Storybook

Speed to value is not a luxury for product-centric teams. It is the operating model. The right design-to-code pipeline removes ambiguity, reduces rework, and helps you ship high-quality interfaces across every surface. When the pipeline is token-first and automated, the gains compound. According to Figma’s commissioned Forrester TEI, teams using Dev Mode reported a 20 to 30 percent increase in developer output and an average of 98 minutes saved per developer per week, driven by clearer specs and a single source of truth in design files (Figma’s Dev Mode ROI analysis).

This playbook lays out how to build a tokenized design system that starts in Figma, compiles into React via Style Dictionary, documents and tests in Storybook, and ships with CI/CD checks for visual integrity, accessibility, and version control. It reflects how SearchBoxed executes end-to-end delivery through Extract, Explore, and Execute, bridging strategy and creative with robust engineering. If you are scaling a multi-brand or multi-surface product, this approach will help you scale consistency and speed without sacrificing craft.

Why tokens are the backbone of design-to-code

Design tokens are named design decisions stored in a format that machines and humans can both understand. They become the single vocabulary for color, typography, spacing, motion, and more. The Design Tokens Community Group’s specification defines an interoperable JSON format for cross-tool exchange so teams can move tokens seamlessly between design and development tools. The current editors’ draft describes types, referencing, and processing rules in detail and is explicit about JSON as the interchange format (Design Tokens Format Module).

A standard matters because it decouples your system from any one tool. Style Dictionary, for example, is forward compatible with the DTCG spec and exports tokens to iOS, Android, CSS, JS, and more, which makes it ideal for cross-platform systems (Style Dictionary homepage and their DTCG guidance). When you adopt the spec and tooling that honors it, you reduce bespoke glue code and increase portability.

Make Figma Variables your single source of truth

Figma Variables let designers define reusable values for color, number, string, and boolean, with collections and modes to handle themes, platforms, or states. The feature is designed to implement design tokens inside your design system workflow, including Dev Mode visibility for developers (Figma’s guide to variables).

  • Dev Mode exposes variable details and alias chains so developers can follow a semantic token to its raw value, see the collection and mode, and copy a code snippet for usage. It also suggests variables when raw values are found, closing gaps when tokens were detached by mistake (Variables in Dev Mode).
  • You can sync variables with your codebase through workflows. The official example repo shows bi-directional syncing between Figma Variables and token JSON in your repository using Figma’s Variables REST API and GitHub Actions (Figma variables GitHub Action example).

If your team prefers to manage tokens inside Figma with robust Git flows, Tokens Studio provides two-way GitHub sync so you can push or pull JSON token files and maintain the code repository as the source of truth. The plugin supports multi-file storage for theme-based token sets and integrates with Style Dictionary transforms (Tokens Studio GitHub sync guide).

Decision point for your team:

  • If design leads token authoring, set Figma Variables as authoritative and export to code on change.
  • If engineering leads token governance, store DTCG JSON in Git as the source of truth and import into Figma on a schedule or per release.

Either way, the handshake is standards-based and reversible.

Translate tokens into React with Style Dictionary

Once tokens live in Git in DTCG format, generate platform-ready artifacts per target:

  • CSS Custom Properties for runtime theming on the web.
  • TypeScript modules for type-safe token access in component libraries.
  • Platform files for mobile if you are supporting native apps.

Style Dictionary reads your DTCG JSON and outputs the formats you specify. Its docs describe forward compatibility with the DTCG format and provide live demos of DTCG inputs compiling to CSS variable outputs (Style Dictionary). In React projects, CSS variables are a powerful target because they cascade, can be overridden by scope, and are well supported across browsers as explained by MDN’s reference on custom properties and the var() function (MDN on CSS custom properties).

A practical setup looks like this:

  1. Store tokens under tokens/ as DTCG JSON grouped by collections and modes.
  2. Configure Style Dictionary to output:
    • src/tokens.css with :root and theme classes that define variables.
    • src/tokens.ts exporting a typed map for occasional JS consumption.
  3. In your React entry point, import tokens.css and toggle theme classes on a provider component or the html element to switch modes.
  4. Consume tokens using var(--color-text-primary) in CSS or CSS-in-JS, and use the TS map in logic that needs numeric durations or sizes.

This approach keeps theming at the CSS layer, which is fast, inspectable, and easy to override per brand or route. It also avoids unnecessary component rerenders when themes change.

Build, document, and test components with Storybook

Storybook is where your tokens meet your components. Every atomic and composite component should render in isolation and demonstrate its token-driven states, variants, and interactions.

  • Visual tests catch regressions by snapshotting stories across browsers and comparing pixels to a baseline. Storybook integrates visual testing natively via Chromatic, run locally through the addon panel and in CI across device viewports (Storybook visual tests docs and Chromatic).
  • The test runner turns your stories into executable tests backed by Jest and Playwright. It smoke-tests renderability and validates play functions, and it runs locally or in CI against local or deployed Storybooks (test runner docs).
  • Accessibility checks are essential. Storybook’s official a11y addon uses Deque’s axe-core and can automatically catch up to 57 percent of WCAG issues. You can run checks during development and wire them to fail PRs in CI when violations are found (Storybook a11y testing).

If you want token documentation inside Storybook’s UI, consider community addons that parse CSS variables or DTCG JSON to produce design token tables. Treat this as complementary to your primary docs.

A CI/CD pipeline that enforces quality and accelerates shipping

A reliable pipeline bakes in tests and publishing. GitHub Actions provide a clear path for Node-based projects. The official docs show how to set up node-version matrices, cache dependencies, and run builds and tests with npm ci for speed (GitHub Actions Node guide and the setup-node action).

A practical pipeline blueprint:

  1. Tokens sync

    • Trigger: manual or scheduled.
    • Action: run Figma’s example workflow to export variables to tokens/ and open a PR when differences are detected (Figma variables Action example).
    • Review: design and engineering review token changes together.

  2. Build and test

    • Install: actions/setup-node with cache set to npm or yarn for speed.
    • Lint and unit tests: run your test suite.
    • Storybook: build storybook-static.
    • Test runner: run test-storybook against local or deployed Storybook to smoke-test stories and execute play functions (test runner CLI).
    • Accessibility: enable the a11y addon during development and optionally run axe checks via test runner and axe-playwright in CI (a11y automation).

  3. Visual regression

    • Chromatic GitHub Action publishes your Storybook, runs cross-browser snapshots for every story, and posts a PR check so you review diffs before merging (Chromatic with GitHub Actions).

  4. Versioning and release

    • Use Changesets to collect changes, bump versions across a monorepo, update changelogs, and publish packages. It is designed for multi-package repositories and integrates with GitHub Actions for automated release PRs and publishing (Changesets project).

  5. Deploy and consume

    • Publish your component library to your registry.
    • Publish Storybook to your hosting of choice and set its PR status as required to prevent merges on visual or a11y failures.

This checks the boxes for quality without slowing you down. Developers keep building while the pipeline guards the user experience.

Governance and naming that scale

Token naming is not paint. It is an API. A pattern that works:

  • Establish a token taxonomy that differentiates decisions from references. Use primitives for raw values like gray.900 or spacing.16 and semantic tokens for usage like color.text.brand or space.card.padding. Keep names readable and tool-agnostic.
  • Use modes for themes and platforms inside Figma Variables so designers can preview changes contextually. The Variables modal allows you to inspect collections and switch modes, and Dev Mode shows normalized variable names to maintain valid CSS syntax in code snippets (Variables in Dev Mode).
  • Follow the DTCG rules for types, aliasing, and references so tools can safely process and translate your tokens. The editors’ draft documents types such as color, dimension, duration, typography, and composite types like shadow and border, including how references resolve and how groups organize tokens without implying type (DTCG spec overview).
  • Treat tokens like code. Code review changes, test theming deltas in Storybook, and tag releases. Your tokens deserve the same rigor as your components.

Performance and accessibility by design

CSS variables are lightweight, cascade-friendly, and change at runtime without rerendering components. MDN’s documentation confirms they are widely supported and designed for composability through var() and inheritance, which makes them ideal for theme switching and contextual overrides (MDN custom properties reference).

Use your token taxonomy to encode accessibility constraints. For example, define color pairs that meet target contrast ratios and enforce those pairs in components. Then automate validation with Storybook’s a11y addon using axe-core. As the docs explain, automated checks can catch a large percentage of issues and can be promoted to PR blockers using Storybook’s integration with test runner and CI (Storybook a11y testing).

Multi-brand and multi-surface, including commerce

Tokenized systems excel at scale. A multi-brand portfolio can share primitives and diverge semantically. A multi-surface roadmap can use the same token source to compile output for web, native, or even embedded displays.

If your stack includes commerce, tokenized theming helps unify a storefront experience across platforms. Whether you are building a custom React storefront or working with Shopify’s ecosystem, a token-first strategy ensures brand consistency and rapid iteration. Teams standardize brand palettes, spacing, and motion and then apply them consistently across promotions, PDPs, and checkout. If you are establishing or upgrading a storefront, you can evaluate the platform with a growth lens using Shopify’s ecosystem while keeping your design system portable across channels (Shopify).

Putting it together: an execution blueprint

Here is how this can look when SearchBoxed runs the play for a product-led client:

  • Extract: We co-create a token taxonomy with your brand and product teams, audit design assets, and define collections, modes, and token governance. We set up Figma Variables and Dev Mode conventions and align on semantic naming that developers will consume.
  • Explore: We prototype key flows in Figma using Variables, then validate tokens and components in Storybook. We wire visual tests and a11y checks so every stakeholder sees how changes manifest in code, not just in design files. This is where we create a blueprint that everyone can rally around.
  • Execute: We implement Style Dictionary transforms, wire the GitHub Action flows for variable-token sync, run the Node pipeline, and set Chromatic and test runner gates. We publish your component library, host Storybook, and set PR checks as required to maintain quality at speed.

This integrated approach is how we bridge strategy and creative with engineering to ship faster without risking UX or brand drift. If that resonates with how you want to work, let’s talk.

  • Explore our integrated services across Strategy, Creative, Audience Engagement, and Engineering on the SearchBoxed services page.
  • Ready to scope a tokenized design-system program or modernize your existing pipeline? Contact us.
  • Building your own team alongside this transformation? See open roles like Frontend Developer and UI UX Designer, or browse all careers. We collaborate well with in-house teams.

Implementation checklist you can copy

If you want a partner to stand up this pipeline quickly and align stakeholders around visual blueprints before code, the SearchBoxed model is designed for that. We operate globally with an integrated, product-led approach so you can go from market insight to go-to-market, then scale.