How to Create and Publish a Library in Figma

• A paid plan. Publishing is available on all paid plans. Starter can't publish.
• A Full seat with edit access to the library's source file.
• At least one component, style or variable in the file.
• A project folder. Files in drafts must move to a folder before they can be published.

Keep the source file tidy before the first publish, because everything in it becomes what your team searches for. A layout that works for most teams:

1. Foundations first. Set up colour, spacing and type as variables or styles. Components should use them, not raw values.
2. One page per group. Buttons, inputs, navigation and so on, so the file is easy to maintain.
3. Components with properties. Use variants for states and sizes, and component properties for optional icons and labels, so nobody needs to detach.
4. Clear names. Consistent names like Button/Primary make components easy to find when other people search Assets.

If you're new to building components, start with how to create a component in Figma.

Publishing makes the library available. It doesn't switch it on anywhere. Each file that needs it has to add it: Assets → Libraries icon → find the library → Add to file. People need at least can view access to the library file to use its components, styles and variables. Anyone with can edit access to a file can add or remove libraries for it, and the change applies to everyone who opens that file.

If someone later removes the library from their file, the assets they already placed stay on the canvas. They just can't pull new ones from Assets until they add it back.

Not everything in a library file should reach the team. Working drafts, internal building blocks and test components can stay local. Right-click the asset in the library modal and choose Hide when publishing, or untick it in the Publish dialog. Variables have their own Hide from publishing option in the Edit variable dialog.

Updates use the same flow: Assets → Libraries icon → This file → Publish. Write a short summary of what changed, since that's what your team reads before accepting. After you publish, people using the library see a blue badge on their Libraries icon, and the tooltip reads Review library updates. Their instances change only when they accept.

Figma's help center doesn't list a shortcut for the Publish button. The fastest route is to open the panels from the keyboard and click from there.

A design kit works like any other library. If it's already published in your team or organization, open Assets → Libraries icon, find it and click Add to file. If you have the kit as a file of your own, move it into a project folder and publish it with the steps above, then add it to the files that need it.

A published component without documentation gets misused. Before a big publish, put a spec next to each key component: anatomy, spacing and a table of its properties. Autospec, our plugin (free to start), generates those frames from a selected component, and resolves bound variables so the legend shows token names. The method is in how to make Figma design specs.