Support tsconfig `paths` in Template API imports (.figma.ts)

[seongminn]

Please provide:

• Code Connect CLI version: 2.0.0
• Operating system: MacOS
• Code Connect file, Figma design and/or relevant code snippet that could help us get more context
  • If you prefer not to share those publicly please reach out via the Figma support

Problem

Alias imports in .figma.ts fail during publish, even with paths set per docs.

And looking at the source, in raw_template_bundler.ts the bundleTemplateWithHelpers function passes an empty value for the tsconfig.json settings during the esbuild build, and it doesn't seem to specifically consume the paths field added in figma.config.json. I'm not sure if I've pinpointed this correctly, but is there a specific reason this decision was made?

Infos

figma.config.json:

{
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/figma/code-connect/main/schemas/figma.config.schema.json",
    "codeConnect": {
        "parser": "react",
        "label": "TEST",
        "language": "typescript",
        "include": ["src/**/*.figma.ts"],
        "paths": {
            "~/*": ["./src/*"]
        }
    },
    "fileKey": "he4tiAGOKGPl0Fm56ZpJsy",
    "packageImportPath": "@vapor-ui/composites"
}

.figma.ts:

import { getProperties } from '~/utils/figma-utils';

export default {
    example: figma.code` ... `
}

error log:

npx figma connect publish

Config file found, parsing /Users/goorm/01_works/my-works/packages/composites using specified include globs
❌ /Users/goorm/01_works/my-works/packages/composites/src/components/dialog/dialog.figma.ts
TypeScript template files only support importing from 'figma' and relative helper files.
Found in /Users/goorm/01_works/my-works/packages/composites/src/components/dialog/dialog.figma.ts:
  import { getProperties } from '~/utils/figma-utils';

Use "const figma = require('figma')" or "import figma from 'figma'" for the Figma API.
Helper imports must use relative paths (for example: "./helpers").
Using label "TEST"
Using language "typescript"
No Code Connect files found in /Users/goorm/01_works/my-works/packages/composites - Make sure you have configured `include` and `exclude` in your figma.config.json file correctly, or that you are running in a directory that contains Code Connect files.

[islobodiuk-figma]

hi @seongminn
The failure is in this line

import { getProperties } from '~/utils/figma-utils';

We only recently added support for helper functions in v1.5.0, and the support is currently limited in scope: helper functions can only be imported from relative paths (importing from ~/.. won't work)

[seongminn]

@islobodiuk-figma

Understood, thanks for the response! I have a follow-up question: are there any plans to support aliases for Helper Functions going forward?

[islobodiuk-figma]

@seongminn Not at the moment. We can consider supporting this in the future if we see broader adoption of helper functions (they’re still relatively new) and this becomes a significant pain point.

One thing to keep in mind is that Code Connect templates are a somewhat special kind of code: they run in Figma, outside of your local environment, so they require some form of packaging. That’s also why, for example, third-party libraries aren’t supported either.