TJ
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tpitre.bsky.social
TJ
@tpitre.bsky.social
Makin' my way in the world today takes everything I got. Takin' a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away?
Part 4 of the Figma Console MCP series is live: Unlocking Full Variable Access (No Enterprise Plan Required).

This one shows how the local MCP, powered by the Desktop Bridge plugin, can access all Figma variables and modes, even outside Enterprise!

More here: www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
Figma Console MCP: Part 4 – Unlocking Full Variable Access (No Enterprise Plan Required) In this demo, I show how Figma Console MCP can access all variables and variable modes, whether your Figma… | ...
Figma Console MCP: Part 4 – Unlocking Full Variable Access (No Enterprise Plan Required) In this demo, I show how Figma Console MCP can access all variables and variable modes, whether your Figma pro...
www.linkedin.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Not every AI-assisted code workflow is vibe coding.

Vibe coding is the creative spark. Context engineering is the structure that turns it into something real.

Read the full breakdown: southleft.com/insights/ai/...
Vibe Coding vs. Context Engineering
Not everything AI-assisted should be called vibe coding — context engineering is the discipline that transforms creative sparks into sustainable systems, with or without a vibe in sight.
southleft.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Everyone’s hyped about @figma.com Dev Mode MCP.
But here’s what it can’t do:
⚠️ No token architecture analysis
⚠️ No project-wide diagnostics
⚠️ No plugin console logs

That’s why I built Figma Console MCP → the missing diagnostic + audit layer for Figma.

www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#mcp
There's a lot of excitement around Figma Dev Mode MCP, and rightfully so. It's a big leap forward for connecting designs to code, and we've been loving it! But here's where some misco...
There's a lot of excitement around Figma Dev Mode MCP, and rightfully so. It's a big leap forward for connecting designs to code, and we've been loving it! But here's where some misconceptions creep ...
www.linkedin.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Just posted a quick demo showing how to debug component libraries using the new Chrome DevTools MCP.

No more screenshots. No more copy/pasting console logs into Cursor (or whatever AI code client)

Watch here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#ai #designsystems #mcp
www.linkedin.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
We’ve been shortlisted for the Award for Innovation in the
@zeroheight.com Design System Awards! 🙌

Thanks to everyone who’s supported the work we’re doing to make design systems more thoughtful, useful, and fulfilling! 💙

Vote here! awards.zeroheight.com
September 23, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by TJ
🏆🏆 THE SHORTLIST IS NOW LIVE! 🏆🏆

We've finally announced the finalists and opened up public voting for the Design System Awards. Check it out here: zeroheight.com/blog/design-...
Design System Awards 2025 - It's time to vote!
The shortlist is now live for the design system awards 2025, and it's your chance to vote!
zeroheight.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Turn your docs into an AI-powered assistant!

Just launched Company Docs MCP – free & open source.

✅ Instantly searchable
✅ Enrich your AI workflows
✅ No duplicate sources needed

More here: www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#opensource #AI #documentation #designsystems
#documentation #ai #designsystems #mcp | TJ Pitre
Most teams don't have a documentation problem. They have a documentation access problem. Docs are written, but they're scattered. They're updated, but no one can find them. They exist, but they don’t...
www.linkedin.com
September 8, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by TJ
📙 📗 📘 📕 The History of Themeable User Interfaces: bradfrost.com/blog/post/th...

It was an incredible experience to write this piece. It blurs together the history of computers, video games, the web, design systems, and my own existence on this planet.
The History of Themeable User Interfaces
A full-ish history of user interfaces that can be themed to meet the opportunities and constraints of the time
bradfrost.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by TJ
Thursday: @tpitre.bsky.social (CEO, Southleft) shows what happens when you give AI your design system:

⚡ On-brand UI from the first prompt
🧩 Storybook + MCP + Claude workflows
🚀 Faster prototyping, fewer re-prompts

Don’t miss it! (link in comments)
August 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
New feature demo for Story UI: Visual Builder.

AI can generate components fast, but the last 5% is where trust breaks - spacing, variants, small details. Visual Builder lets you edit, tweak, and export directly from the generated story.

Demo & details:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
#designsystems #ai | TJ Pitre
AI can get you 95% of the way there. But it's that last 5% that makes or breaks trust. That's why I built Visual Builder into Story UI. Story UI is great at generating complex components from prompt...
www.linkedin.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by TJ
AI-generated UI ≠ production UI.

AI UI is off-brand without your design system, and falls apart in production.

Join us live with @tpitre.bsky.social, CEO of Southleft & AI-powered DS expert, to see how Storybook + MCP + Claude generate UI from your real components.

Registration in comments 👇
August 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Join me for tomorrow at 11 am ET for 3 hours of guided silence, light Reiki, and mindful meditation as we explore the mystical path of context-based design systems. You’ll leave feeling grounded, centered, and more context-aware.
Two days until we have the awesome @tpitre.bsky.social on DS Live. I can't wait to hear all about context-based design systems. The work that TJ and the team at Southleft have been doing combining AI and DS is pretty mind blowing.

Still time to sign up! webinars.zeroheight.com/register/zer...
DS Live: TJ Pitre - Context-Based Design Systems: Preparing for an AI-Driven Future
DS Live is a new webinar series from zeroheight where we invite the best speakers from around the world to deliver talks on design systems, and everything ...
webinars.zeroheight.com
August 19, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Excited (and a little nervous) to be speaking on Aug 20 for @zeroheight.com’s DS Live.

I’ll be talking about Context-Based Design Systems, why they matter now, and how AI is changing the game. Would love to see you there!

🔗 webinars.zeroheight.com/register/zer...

#ai #designsystems
DS Live: TJ Pitre - Context-Based Design Systems: Preparing for an AI-Driven Future
DS Live is a new webinar series from zeroheight where we invite the best speakers from around the world to deliver talks on design systems, and everything ...
webinars.zeroheight.com
August 4, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Just shared a demo showing what happens when AI actually understands your design system.

Layering Claude Desktop with project-specific context (Figma MCP) + domain knowledge (Design Systems Assistant MCP) changes everything.

Check it out:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
Good answers come from good questions. | TJ Pitre
Good answers come from good questions. Great answers come from great context. A few weeks ago, I shared the Design Systems Assistant MCP (https://lnkd.in/g2Ugkqp8). The response was overwhelming, in ...
www.linkedin.com
July 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Built a CLI tool that audits design systems like Lighthouse audits sites.

Checks tokens, components, infra, docs, and gives high-level insights plus Claude-powered AI chat.

Demo + details:
🔗 www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#designsystems #ai
Design systems codebases need audits, too. | TJ Pitre
Design systems codebases need audits, too. Here's a sneak peek at a new tool I've been working on. It's called DSAudit, and it's like Lighthouse, but for your design system's cod...
www.linkedin.com
July 16, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Co-hosted a live demo with the SuperFriendly crew on how AI is transforming product workflows.

Open source tools. No fluff. Real potential.

Watch the recording and see what’s possible:
🔗 www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
For a while, it felt like design systems had settled. | TJ Pitre
For a while, it felt like design systems had settled. We basically defined the global component set for all design systems, we've all settled on semantic token naming structures, we've pipel...
www.linkedin.com
July 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Context-Based Design Systems

A more intentional model for how AI, design, and development can work together when every step inherits meaning from the last.

southleft.com/insights/des...

#designsystems #aiworkflow #frontend
Context-Based Design Systems: A New Model for the AI-Driven Product Lifecycle
What happens when every step in the product lifecycle inherits context from the one before it? You get a smarter, faster, more accurate way to build and the start of a new design systems era.
southleft.com
July 4, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Just shipped a Figma plugin called FigmaLint - designed to help designers build more implementation-ready components with smart audits, AI-powered suggestions, and zero file mutations.

If your team’s working with design systems + MCP, check it out:

www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
Designers and developers want the same thing: clean, scalable, production-ready UI. | TJ Pitre
Designers and developers want the same thing: clean, scalable, production-ready UI. But we don’t always speak the same language. Introducing FigmaLint. We’ve come a long way. Design systems create...
www.linkedin.com
July 2, 2025 at 1:25 PM
FigmaLint has been submitted to the plugin directory 🙌

It’s grown from a quick audit tool into something smarter:

✅ Hard-coded token detection
💬 Context-aware AI chat
🔍 MCP readiness scoring

Quick preview + update here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#ai #designsystems #figma
Designers don't always know what developers need. | TJ Pitre
Designers don't always know what developers need. This was my attempt at fixing that. I just submitted FigmaLint for review in the Figma plugin directory. While I wait on approval, I wanted to sh...
www.linkedin.com
June 30, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Just launched a design systems MCP server, because none existed that I could trust.

✅ 1,762 content chunks
✅ 110+ curated sources
✅ Open source, AI-friendly

It’s live, it’s free, and it’s yours to use.

Here’s why I built it:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#designsystems #ai #mcp
There wasn't a trusted MCP server for design systems. | TJ Pitre
There wasn't a trusted MCP server for design systems. So I built one. When I announced FigmaLint (https://lnkd.in/gXuE27A6), I ran into a frustrating problem: I couldn't get consistent scores...
www.linkedin.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Building a Figma tool for designers who want to better align with developer intent.

It’s called FigmaLint - a lightweight audit tool that checks if your components are MCP-ready.

Quick demo + thoughts: www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

Would love your feedback.
Most designers aren't trained to think like developers, and they shouldn't have to be. | TJ Pitre
Most designers aren't trained to think like developers, and they shouldn't have to be. But if your team is using tools like the official Figma MCP, then developer intent does need to be repre...
www.linkedin.com
June 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Been working on a tool called Story UI, which lets you generate Storybook layouts using prompts.

Real components, natural language, and a local MCP server to tie it together.

Demo + breakdown here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...

#DesignSystems #AI
Layout requests shouldn't always have to wait for a developer. | TJ Pitre
Layout requests shouldn't always have to wait for a developer. For years, I've seen PMs, designers, and non-dev contributors hit walls trying to test new page ideas, experiment with flows, or...
www.linkedin.com
June 19, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This isn’t just faster dev. It’s faster everything.

New post on how Figma MCP + design systems + generative UI are accelerating both design-to-dev and dev-to-product workflows.

Two breakthroughs. One streamlined path to real UI.

Read it here:
southleft.com/insights/des...

#designsystems #ai
Rethinking Design-to-Product Workflows with MCP, Design Systems, and Generative UI | Southleft, LLC
By combining Figma’s MCP server, a structured design system, and natural language UI generation, we’re not just speeding up design-to-dev, we’re rethinking the entire path from idea to product.
southleft.com
June 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Part 2 of my AI + Design Systems demo is up.

Figma MCP → Web Component → React → Storybook UI Generator.

Designers build. Devs wrap. PMs customize—no code required.

This flow closes the loop between design, dev, and product.

www.linkedin.com/posts/tpitre...
Part 2: More from “TJ Plays with AI + Design Systems.” This time: Figma… | TJ Pitre
Part 2: More from “TJ Plays with AI + Design Systems.” This time: Figma MCP → Web Components → React Storybook → Custom UI Generator. I took the same banner component from yesterday’s demo (https://...
www.linkedin.com
June 11, 2025 at 2:31 AM