docs: reconcile Figma Motion (Config 2026) with the motion contract#53
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docs: reconcile Figma Motion (Config 2026) with the motion contract#53isaacsight wants to merge 3 commits into
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Figma shipped a product named "Figma Motion" at Config 2026 (announced 2026-06-24) — a native canvas timeline that exports to CSS / JSON / React / video. The name collides with `motion.dev` / Framer Motion, the JS runtime library banned by design-language rule 3. Add docs/figma-motion.md to draw the line before the collision erodes the motion contract: - Figma Motion is allowed as an authoring/spec surface only. - Of its exports, only the CSS path may reach the repo, and only after a hand-finish checklist (re-clamp to <=8% opacity / <=4px translate, guard via prefers-reduced-motion, opacity+transform only, strip any JS rider, run the third-accent audit). - React / Lottie / dotLottie / runtime-player outputs are off-policy. The standing rule is unchanged: stillness with two quiet accents, CSS-only, reduced-motion-respected. A slicker authoring tool is not a license to loosen it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01TJZDBwNnZjANtKFogEQHwu
Working record behind docs/figma-motion.md: the question that started it, the deep-research findings on Figma Motion (Config 2026), the name collision with Framer Motion, the decisions shipped, the practical "Figma as drafting table" map for kernel.chat, and the remote-vs-local MCP note. Lets a future session inherit this context. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01TJZDBwNnZjANtKFogEQHwu
Follow-up to figma-motion.md. Maps the static design tokens (colors, paper stocks, type ramp, spacing/radii) to Figma variables one-to-one by name, and draws the line at the accents.ts OKLCH 5-tone derivation — which is CSS-runtime-only and must not be hand-faked in Figma. Figma is a drafting table; the repo stays the source of truth. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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…issues renumbered - 391 'On the House Style' kept (live, this branch's committed/deployed issue) - 392 'Never Sell the Fixtures' (essay) — landed from PR #53, free slot, as-is - 393 'Own the Stack: Seven Stakes on Editorial Tech' (forecast) — landed as-is - 395 'The Week the Assistant Became an Actor' (dispatch) — PR #53's colliding 391 renumbered to 395 (next free after 394); all 9 self-refs + back-cover asset (391-teletype.jpg -> 395-teletype.jpg) rewritten - Also lands the 3 design role agents (designer, japanese-editor, magazine-editor) Catalog now: 390 391 392 393 394 395. tsc clean, 395 render-verified. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_013F9NBu9hroaszcBZfMgmAY
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What
Figma shipped a product literally named "Figma Motion" at Config 2026 (announced 2026-06-24) — a native canvas timeline that keyframes position/scale/rotation/opacity and exports to CSS / JSON / React / video. The name collides with
motion.dev/ Framer Motion, the JS runtime library already banned bydesign-language.mdambient-motion rule 3.This PR adds
docs/figma-motion.mdto draw the line before the collision quietly erodes the motion contract.The decision
prefers-reduced-motion,opacity+transformonly, strip any JS rider, run the third-accent audit).motion.dev, Lottie / dotLottie, and any runtime-player output — they ship JS and break the CSS-only rule.The standing rule is unchanged: stillness with two quiet accents (tomato-rule breath, dateline marquee), CSS-only, reduced-motion-respected. A slicker authoring tool is not a license to loosen it.
Why a doc and not code
There's no code change to make — the value is preventing one. The new Figma Motion product makes JS-runtime motion cheap to author and paste, which is exactly the pressure the design language was written to resist. This note makes the boundary explicit and gives a concrete checklist for anyone tempted to paste a Figma export.
Provenance
Sourced from a deep-research pass over Figma's own blog/release notes, TechCrunch, motion.dev, LottieFiles, and 2026 tool comparisons. Key claims (Figma Motion = native timeline w/ CSS export, open beta, design-system features paywalled; Framer Motion = the banned JS lib) verified against primary Figma docs.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
https://claude.ai/code/session_01TJZDBwNnZjANtKFogEQHwu
Generated by Claude Code