Generate Figma to React and Flutter App: A Simple Guide to Code Conversion

Development teams often face a significant bottleneck: translating beautiful Figma designs into functional code, a process that can take weeks. This guide provides a simple path forward, showing you how to leverage modern AI-powered tools to convert your designs into high-quality, scalable React and Flutter applications almost instantly.

Moving designs from Figma to a functional React or Flutter application can be lengthy. Designers create visual layouts, and then developers rewrite those visuals into code. This often involves manual translation, which can introduce inconsistencies and take time.

This blog post discusses how tools can help bridge that gap, automating parts of the process to get your designs into working applications faster.

What are the Challenge of Design to Code Conversion?

What if a designer meticulously places elements, chooses fonts, and defines interactions in Figma. Then, a developer looks at that design and writes lines of code to replicate it. This back-and-forth can lead to:

• Time consumption: Manually writing UI code takes time.
• Inconsistencies: Small details might be missed during manual translation.
• Developer fatigue: Repetitive UI coding can be tedious.

Tools designed to convert Figma designs to code aim to reduce these issues. They analyze your Figma file and generate corresponding code, helping developers get a head start.

How Figma to Code Tools Work?

Generally, these tools operate by:

1. Parsing Figma files: They read your Figma design's structure, layers, and properties.
2. Mapping components: They try to match Figma elements (like rectangles, text, buttons) to corresponding UI components in React (e.g., <div>, <p>, <button>) or Flutter (e.g., Container, Text, ElevatedButton).
3. Generating code: Based on the mapping and properties (colors, sizes, positions), they generate the actual React or Flutter code.

Figma to React: A Closer Look

For React applications, these tools often generate JSX code and associated CSS or styled-components.

Let’s say you have a simple card design in Figma. A Figma to React tool might generate something like this:

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// src/components/Card.js
import React from 'react';
import './Card.css'; // Or using styled-components

const Card = ({ title, description }) => {
  return (
    <div className="card-container">
      <h3 className="card-title">{title}</h3>
      <p className="card-description">{description}</p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default Card;

And the corresponding CSS:

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/* src/components/Card.css */
.card-container {
  background-color: #ffffff;
  border-radius: 8px;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
  padding: 16px;
  margin: 10px;
}

.card-title {
  font-size: 18px;
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #333333;
}

.card-description {
  font-size: 14px;
  color: #666666;
}

This provides a starting point, saving the developer from writing all the basic structure and styling by hand.

Figma to Flutter: A Closer Look

For Flutter, the generated code uses Dart and Flutter widgets.

Using the same card example, a Figma to Flutter tool might produce something like this:

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// lib/widgets/card_widget.dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

class CardWidget extends StatelessWidget {
  final String title;
  final String description;

  const CardWidget({
    Key? key,
    required this.title,
    required this.description,
  }) : super(key: key);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Container(
      margin: const EdgeInsets.all(10),
      padding: const EdgeInsets.all(16),
      decoration: BoxDecoration(
        color: Colors.white,
        borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
        boxShadow: [
          BoxShadow(
            color: Colors.grey.withOpacity(0.1),
            spreadRadius: 2,
            blurRadius: 4,
            offset: const Offset(0, 2),
          ),
        ],
      ),
      child: Column(
        crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
        children: [
          Text(
            title,
            style: const TextStyle(
              fontSize: 18,
              fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
              color: Color(0xFF333333),
            ),
          ),
          const SizedBox(height: 8),
          Text(
            description,
            style: const TextStyle(
              fontSize: 14,
              color: Color(0xFF666666),
            ),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

This gives a functional Flutter widget that replicates the design, reducing manual layout and styling work.

Flutter enables developers to build natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase, making it highly efficient for cross-platform development.

The figma design to flutter process, also known as flutter conversion, aims to generate production ready flutter code that can be deployed across multiple platforms.

Advantages of Using Figma to Code Tools

• Faster Development: Getting a basic UI from Figma quickly means developers can focus on application logic and features sooner.
• Time Saving: These tools generate boilerplate code, reducing manual effort and speeding up the initial setup process.
• Reduced Errors: Automation generates clean code, minimizing manual mistakes and improving code quality.
• Design-Dev Alignment: It helps keep the development closer to the original design intent, and the generated code is scalable and maintainable.
• Seamless User Experience: By maintaining design fidelity throughout the process, these tools help ensure a seamless user experience with smooth interactions and consistent design implementation.

The Workflow with a Figma to Code Tool

Here’s a step by step guide to converting Figma designs to code, commonly used with such tools:

Code snippet

How DhiWise Simplify Flutter and React App Development?

DhiWise is a platform that speeds up app development for Flutter and React. It helps teams by automating repetitive tasks, going beyond just converting Figma designs into code. This allows developers to focus on core application logic and designers to quickly see their designs as functional apps.

DhiWise offers a user-friendly interface and supports real-time collaboration. It also includes version control for managing design and code changes. After initial code generation, DhiWise helps teams extend and refine their applications.

Here’s how DhiWise assists with Flutter and React app development:

Convert Figma to Code→

1. Figma to Code Conversion (UI Generation)

This is a core feature and often where DhiWise’s capabilities become most apparent.

• For Figma to Flutter : DhiWise takes your Figma app design file and interprets its design elements (containers, text fields, buttons, images, etc.), including any interactive prototypes present. It then generates corresponding Flutter widgets and their properties (like Container, Text, ElevatedButton, SizedBox, Padding, Decoration, TextStyle, etc.). The generated code follows a modular code structure for maintainability, giving you a ready-to-use UI in Dart code that closely mirrors your Figma design.
• For Figma to React : Similarly, for React applications, DhiWise converts Figma app designs into React components (JSX) and often generates associated styling (CSS modules or styled-components). It identifies design elements and components, translates their visual properties into React props and styles, and produces modular code for a functional UI.

The process typically involves:

1. Uploading your Figma URL: You provide the link to your Figma app design file, which may include interactive prototypes.
2. Design Interpretation: DhiWise’s system analyzes the Figma file to understand its structure, layers, design elements, and design properties (colors, fonts, spacing, etc.).
3. Component Recognition: It attempts to identify common UI patterns and group them into reusable components (e.g., a “Login Form” component or a “Product Card” component).
4. Code Generation: Based on the interpretation, it generates structured, modular, and readable Flutter or React code for the user interface.

Benefits for UI Generation:

• Rapid Prototyping: Get a visual design into a functional app prototype very quickly.
• Time Saving: Reduces the manual effort of writing boilerplate UI code.
• Design Consistency: Helps in maintaining fidelity between the design and the implemented UI, reducing discrepancies.
• Production Ready Code Effortlessly: DhiWise allows users to generate production ready code effortlessly from Figma designs, ensuring clean and optimized output with minimal manual intervention.
• Focus on Logic: Developers can spend less time on pixel-perfect UI coding and more time on business logic, API integration, and complex functionalities. They can also fine tune the generated code as needed to match quality standards and design intentions.

2. Beyond UI: Adding Logic and Functionality

DhiWise isn’t just a UI generator. It simplify integrating backend services and adding application logic for mobile app development.

• API Integration: It provides features to connect your generated UI with backend APIs. You can define your API endpoints, and DhiWise can help generate the code for making API calls, handling responses, and integrating data into your UI components.
• State Management: For both Flutter and React, DhiWise supports integration with various state management libraries (e.g., Provider or GetX for Flutter; Redux or Context API for React). This helps structure how data flows and changes within your application and enhances maintainability across different frameworks.
• Authentication Flow: It can assist in setting up common authentication flows (login, signup) by generating the necessary UI components and connecting them to backend authentication services.
• CRUD Operations: For applications requiring Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) operations, DhiWise can generate code to manage data interactions with your database or API.
• Subapse Integration: It supports integration with Supabase, a popular backend-as-a-service, allowing developers to quickly connect their apps to Supabase services, Authentication, and Storage.

3. Rocket.new : The Quick Start Initiative

Rocket.new is a specific feature within DhiWise designed for extreme speed in getting a functional app from a Figma design.

• Purpose: Its primary goal is to minimize the time between having a design and seeing it run as a basic application. It’s ideal for quick validations, proof-of-concepts, or getting an initial working prototype without significant development overhead.
• How it Works: You typically upload your Figma design files by providing the Figma URL to Rocket. It then rapidly processes the design files and generates the necessary Flutter or React code for the UI.
• Use Cases:
  • Client Demos: Quickly show a client how their design looks and feels as a real application.
  • Internal Reviews: Get immediate feedback from stakeholders on the UI and basic navigation.
  • Developer Kickstart: Provides developers with a ready-made UI codebase to start building on, saving hours or even days of initial setup.
  • Experimentation: Test different design layouts or UI patterns quickly.
  • Cross-Device Testing: The generated app can be tested on different devices to ensure compatibility and proper functioning across various platforms.
• What you get: With Rocket you receive the foundational UI code. While it won’t include complex business logic or full API integrations immediately, it provides the visual structure and basic navigation as defined in your Figma file. This means you get a runnable application shell that looks like your design very quickly.

4. Project Structure and Code Quality

DhiWise aims to generate structured and readable code, following common best practices for both Flutter and React.

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html_app/
├── css/
│   ├── tailwind.css   # Tailwind source file with custom utilities
│   └── main.css       # Compiled CSS (generated)
├── pages/             # HTML pages
├── index.html         # Main entry point
├── package.json       # Project dependencies and scripts
└── tailwind.config.js # Tailwind CSS configuration

• Component-Based Architecture: The generated code is modular code, broken down into reusable components (React) or widgets (Flutter), which promotes maintainability and scalability.
• Clean Code: While no automated tool can replace human review, DhiWise strives to produce code that is understandable and follows common coding conventions. This makes it easier for developers to work with and extend the generated codebase.
• Customization Flexibility: The generated code is not a black box. Developers can download it, modify it, and integrate it into their existing projects or build upon it further.

The Overall Impact of DhiWise

By combining automated UI generation from Figma with features for backend integration, state management, and pre-built components, DhiWise offers seamless integration with other tools and supports multiple frameworks. DhiWise aims to:

• Reduce Development Cycles: Shorten the time it takes to go from an idea to a deployable application.
• Improve Collaboration: Bridge the gap between designers and developers by providing a shared, code-based artifact directly from designs.
• Lower Development Costs: By automating repetitive tasks, it can potentially reduce the person-hours required for development.
• Empower Developers: Free up developers from mundane UI coding so they can focus on solving more complex technical challenges and building unique features.

Overall, DhiWise acts as a productivity tool that automates significant portions of Flutter and React app development, supporting multiple frameworks and making the process faster and more efficient, particularly for the initial stages of application building.

Considerations When Using Figma to Code Tools

While these tools offer benefits, consider these points:

• Customization: The generated code provides a foundation. You will likely need to customize it to fit your application architecture, add complex logic, or integrate with APIs. In many cases, further development is required to tailor the code to your specific needs.
• Code Quality: While many tools generate clean code, it is a good practice to review and refactor the generated output.
• Design System Integration: Tools that integrate well with design systems can offer more consistent and maintainable code.

Summing Up:

Using tools that convert Figma designs to React or Flutter code can streamline the initial development phase of your application. They help save time by automating repetitive UI coding tasks, allowing developers to allocate more effort to building features and logic. This approach makes getting from a visual design to a working application a more direct process.