linux-figma — Figma Font Helper for Linux

Use your locally installed Linux fonts in Figma (web) — no official installers, no manual uploads.

Figma ships a "Font Installer" / "Font Helper" for macOS and Windows, but not for Linux. This project fills that gap: a small local server that speaks the same protocol Figma expects, so fonts installed on your machine show up in the Figma web app.

This is an independent, community-built tool. See CREDITS.md.

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The problem

In Figma (browser) on Linux you may see:

Want to use local fonts? To see them here, you'll need to download Figma's font installer or desktop app.

There is no Linux font installer, so local fonts never appear.

The fix

Figma probes http://127.0.0.1:<port> for a local font server. We implement that server. Key detail discovered: modern Figma first calls GET /figma/version as a handshake — if that returns 404, Figma reports "Couldn't connect" and never proceeds. Implementing that one endpoint makes everything work.

Endpoints implemented

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	/figma/version	Handshake → {"version":4}
GET	/figma/font-files	List all local fonts (Figma format)
GET	/figma/font-file?file=/abs/path.ttf	Serve a font file
GET	/ , /health	Status (our addition)

Listens on 127.0.0.1: 44950, 44951, 44952, 18412, 44900, 44910 (Figma probes several ports).

Fonts are read from: ~/.fonts, ~/.local/share/fonts, /usr/share/fonts (recursive). Metadata is parsed with fontkit.

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Install

Option A — Debian package (recommended, simplest)

sudo dpkg -i figma-font-bridge_4.0.0_all.deb

Self-contained (dependencies bundled). Sets up a systemd user service that auto-starts on login. Requires nodejs (>= 16).

Uninstall:

sudo dpkg -r figma-font-bridge

Option B — From source

git clone https://github.com/siinmedia/linux-figma.git
cd linux-figma/companion
npm install
node index.js

Option C — systemd user service (manual)

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp systemd/figma-font-bridge.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now figma-font-bridge

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Installing fonts (important!)

The bridge only serves fonts that are already installed on your system. It does not download fonts for you. So install your fonts first, then restart the service.

Where to put font files

Pick either location (.ttf, .otf, .ttc, .woff, .woff2 all work):

# Per-user (recommended — no sudo needed)
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cp /path/to/YourFont*.ttf ~/.local/share/fonts/

# System-wide (all users)
sudo cp /path/to/YourFont*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/

Refresh the font cache

After copying fonts, rebuild the fontconfig cache so other apps see them:

fc-cache -f -v

Verify your font is now known to the system:

fc-list | grep -i "Your Font"

Make the bridge pick it up

The bridge watches your font directories and rescans automatically — just install the font and it appears within a few seconds. No restart needed.

Check it was found:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:44950/figma/font-files | grep -o "Your Font" | head -1

Auto-rescan watches ~/.fonts, ~/.local/share/fonts and /usr/share/fonts. It also re-checks every 60s as a fallback. To force a manual restart anyway: systemctl --user restart figma-font-bridge

Installing a font collection (.zip of many fonts)

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
unzip font-pack.zip -d ~/.local/share/fonts/
fc-cache -f
# bridge picks them up automatically (auto-rescan)

Removing a font

rm ~/.local/share/fonts/YourFont.ttf
fc-cache -f
# bridge drops it automatically (auto-rescan)

Note: Auto-rescan means you normally never need to restart the service after adding or removing fonts. If a font still does not appear, check journalctl --user -u figma-font-bridge | grep rescan.

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Usage

1. Make sure the server is running:

   systemctl --user status figma-font-bridge
   curl http://127.0.0.1:44950/figma/version    # → {"version":4}

2. Open figma.com in a Chromium-based browser and reload the page.
3. Select a text layer → open the font dropdown → your local fonts appear.

After installing new fonts

Nothing to do — the bridge auto-rescans. If you want to force it anyway:

systemctl --user restart figma-font-bridge

Logs

journalctl --user -u figma-font-bridge -f

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Building the .deb

See packaging/ and the helper script:

./packaging/build-deb.sh

Output: figma-font-bridge_<version>_all.deb.

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How it works (short)

1. Figma web app → GET http://127.0.0.1:44950/figma/version
2. We reply {"version":4} → Figma continues.
3. Figma → GET /figma/font-files → we return every parsed font face.
4. Figma → GET /figma/font-file?file=... for each font it wants to render.

CORS is set to Access-Control-Allow-Origin: https://www.figma.com plus Access-Control-Allow-Private-Network: true (required for localhost access from a public site).

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Project layout

linux-figma/
├── companion/            # The font server (Node.js)
│   ├── index.js
│   └── package.json
├── systemd/              # systemd user unit
│   └── figma-font-bridge.service
├── packaging/            # Debian packaging
│   ├── control           # Package metadata
│   ├── postinst          # Install script (enables service, no npm needed)
│   ├── prerm             # Uninstall script (disables + removes unit)
│   └── build-deb.sh      # Build reproducible .deb (self-contained)
├── CREDITS.md            # Attribution for reused protocol knowledge/code
├── LICENSE               # MIT
├── RELEASE.md            # Release notes & upload instructions
└── README.md

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Security notes

• The server binds to 127.0.0.1 only (not reachable from the network).
• /figma/font-file only serves files inside the configured font directories.
• No telemetry, no network calls except serving local font bytes.

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Credits

Protocol knowledge and prior art come from the community project Figma-Linux/figma-linux-font-helper by Roman Chugunov. See CREDITS.md for full attribution.

Figma is a trademark of Figma, Inc. This project is not affiliated with Figma.

License

MIT