R
Rishtaara
Figma Fundamentals
Lesson 11 of 12Article14 min

Developer Handoff & Inspect

Developers open the file (or Dev Mode) to inspect spacing, fonts, colors, and CSS/iOS/Android snippets. Clean Auto Layout and styles make inspect output useful; messy absolute positioning does not.

01Inspect mode

Developers open the file (or Dev Mode) to inspect spacing, fonts, colors, and CSS/iOS/Android snippets. Clean Auto Layout and styles make inspect output useful; messy absolute positioning does not.

02What to include in handoff

  • All interaction states: default, hover, focus, error, empty, loading
  • Responsive frames: mobile, tablet, desktop when layout changes
  • Export assets: icons SVG, photos @1x/@2x as needed
  • Redlines or notes for animation timing and accessibility (contrast, focus order)
  • Link to the prototype for flow context

03Talk like an engineer

Name components to match code (Button / Primary, Input / Error). Document tokens that map to CSS variables or Tailwind theme keys.

Real-life example: Handoff is the recipe card for the kitchen. Missing states force developers to invent behavior — and inventing creates bugs.