Figma launches SmartLayers: generative layer management and cleanup

Design · 4 min read

Figma's SmartLayers uses a context-aware model to infer component semantics, rename layers, flatten redundant groups, and suggest a restructured hierarchy that aligns with design system tokens. The feature runs both in cloud and on-device modes, giving studios a choice between speed and privacy.

SmartLayers integrates with version history, allowing designers to preview suggested restructures as reversible patches. The company emphasized controls for maintainers to accept, reject, or tweak suggestions, and added an audit mode to explain why the system recommended a particular rename or flattening.

Early testers noted major time savings when modernizing large files created over years. Some concerns remain about overzealous auto-renaming, so Figma is rolling SmartLayers to teams with invite-only access and collecting feedback to tune conservatism and explainability.