UI/UX Design with AI Agents

Overview

AI is transforming the design workflow — from generating design systems and prototypes to converting Figma designs into production code and auditing accessibility compliance. This cookbook covers the full design-to-code pipeline using the best tools available in 2026. Key tools covered: Figma Make, Figma MCP Server, v0.dev, Flowstep, UX Pilot, Stitch by Google Audience: Designers wanting to prototype faster and frontend developers who need to implement designs accurately.

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AI Design Tool Ecosystem (2026)

Tool	Price	Best For	Key Feature
Figma Make	$16/user/mo	Teams in Figma	Design system-aware prototypes
Figma MCP Server	Free	Devs using Cursor/Claude	Design tokens + Code Connect
Flowstep	$15/mo	Multi-screen user flows	Describe to 5-15 connected screens
UX Pilot	$29/mo	UI patterns + wireframes	Specialized UI knowledge
Uizard	$12/mo	Rapid wireframing	Screenshot-to-wireframe
Stitch by Google	Free (beta)	Material Design apps	Google's design AI
Attention Insight	$29/mo	Pre-launch attention testing	AI eye-tracking heatmaps
Khroma	Free	Color palette generation	Learns your preferences

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Figma Make: Prompt-to-Prototype

Figma Make generates UI designs directly inside Figma using your existing design system — components, colors, and typography are all respected automatically.

Key Capabilities

• Multi-screen flows: Generates connected screens with navigation, not just isolated artboards
• Design system awareness: Uses your actual components from your Figma library
• Dev Mode integration: Generated designs have production-ready specs for handoff
• Iteration: "Make the hero section more spacious" gets an instant update

Example Prompt

Create a 5-screen onboarding flow for a fitness tracking app:
Screen 1: Welcome with value props
Screen 2: Goal selection (lose weight / build muscle / improve endurance)
Screen 3: Activity level assessment
Screen 4: Notification preferences
Screen 5: Success + get started CTA

Use our existing design system. Mobile-first, iOS dimensions.
Include progress indicator at top.

Best For

Teams already invested in Figma who want AI-generated designs that stay within their established design system.

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Figma MCP Server: Design-to-Code in Your IDE

The Figma MCP Server connects your IDE directly to your Figma files. Instead of exporting specs manually, the AI agent reads design intent directly.

Setup: Cursor + Figma MCP

1. Open Cursor Settings → Features → MCP Servers
2. Click Add New MCP Server
3. Name: figma, Type: SSE
4. URL: https://mcp.figma.com/sse?token=YOUR_FIGMA_TOKEN
5. Get your token: Figma → Account Settings → Personal Access Tokens
6. Click Save and restart Cursor

What the Agent Receives

Once connected, when you reference a Figma frame in your prompt, the agent receives:

• Component names and their hierarchy
• Style tokens: colors, typography, spacing, border radius
• Variables and themes: light/dark mode, brand variants
• Code Connect mappings: which Figma component maps to which React/Vue/Svelte component

Three Use Cases

1. Component Codegen Aligned to Company Standards

Implement the 'Checkout Card' component from Figma frame [URL].
Use our existing Button, Input, and Badge components from @company/ui.
Match the spacing tokens exactly. TypeScript + Tailwind CSS.

2. Design Token Automation

Extract all color, typography, and spacing tokens from our Figma file [URL]
and generate a tokens.ts file that maps them to Tailwind CSS config values.

3. Design-Code Alignment Audit

Compare the current implementation of ProductCard.tsx against the Figma design [URL].
Identify any discrepancies in spacing, typography, colors, or component usage.
Prioritize by visual impact.

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Design-to-Code Workflows

Option 1: Figma MCP + Cursor (Most Precise)

Best for: Production code that needs to match designs exactly and reuse existing component libraries. Requirements: Figma MCP Server configured in Cursor, Code Connect set up (docs), existing component library with mappings. Result: <ProductCard variant="featured" price={29.99} /> instead of generic HTML.

Option 2: Builder.io Plugin (Component Mapping)

Best for: Teams with an existing component library who want to map Figma components to code without full Code Connect setup.

npx @builder.io/figma --map-components

Maps Figma components to React/Vue/Angular components. Builder.io plugin recognizes your components during export and generates code using your actual imports.

Option 3: Locofy / Anima (Direct Export)

Best for: Marketing sites, landing pages, and prototypes.

• Locofy: Figma plugin → React, Next.js, Gatsby, React Native
• Anima: Figma plugin → React, Vue, HTML Best practices before exporting:
• Use Auto Layout on all frames
• Name layers meaningfully (hero-section, not Frame 23)
• Use component instances, not raw shapes

Option 4: Flowstep → Figma → Code (Full Flows)

Best for: Early-stage products where you need to go from idea to working prototype quickly.

1. Describe your product to Flowstep
2. Flowstep generates 5-15 connected screens with realistic navigation
3. Copy-paste frames into your Figma file
4. Export to code via Locofy, Anima, or Figma MCP Typical result: a clickable 10-screen prototype in 20-30 minutes.

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AI Accessibility Audits

Accessibility is non-negotiable. In 2024, 4,605 ADA Title III lawsuits were filed against companies for inaccessible websites, and the European Accessibility Act became enforceable in June 2025.

AI Accuracy on Accessibility

Current AI tools achieve 70-85% accuracy on common WCAG 2.2 patterns — good for catching obvious issues but not a replacement for manual review of complex interactions.

WCAG 2.2 AA Standard

Criterion	What AI Checks
Color contrast (1.4.3)	Text contrast ratio ≥ 4.5:1
Text alternatives (1.1.1)	Images have descriptive alt text
Keyboard navigation (2.1.1)	All interactions accessible via keyboard
Focus visible (2.4.11)	Focus indicators visible
Error identification (3.3.1)	Form errors clearly described

Automated Audit Workflow

# Install axe DevTools CLI
npm install -g @axe-core/cli

# Run audit
axe http://localhost:3000 --reporter=json > a11y-report.json

Review this accessibility audit report and:
1. Prioritize findings by severity (Critical to Minor)
2. For each Critical/High finding: provide the exact code fix
3. Identify any patterns that appear across multiple pages
4. Estimate total remediation effort

Audit report: [PASTE JSON]
Component code: [PASTE RELEVANT COMPONENTS]

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Color Theory & Typography with AI

Khroma: AI-Powered Palette Generation

Khroma trains on your aesthetic preferences and generates infinite color palettes with accessibility ratings and export to CSS custom properties, Figma, or Tailwind config. Workflow: Rate 50 colors → Khroma learns your preferences → Generate unlimited palettes with WCAG accessibility scores

AI Prompt Templates for Color Systems

Create a complete color system for a [healthcare/fintech/consumer] brand.
Primary brand color: [HEX]
Requirements:
- Full scale from 50-900 for primary, neutral, success, warning, error
- All text-on-background combinations must pass WCAG AA
- Dark mode variants for each color
- Export as CSS custom properties and Tailwind theme config

Typography Pairing Recommendations

Recommend 3 typography pairings for a [brand personality].
For each pairing:
- Heading font (with Google Fonts link)
- Body font (with Google Fonts link)
- Why they work together
- Optimal sizes for: display, h1-h4, body, caption
- CSS font-face declarations

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Multi-Agent Design Workflows

Sequential Pipeline

Ideal for established design processes with clear handoffs:

Design Agent → Review Agent → Implement Agent → Test Agent

1. Design Agent creates UI from requirements
2. Review Agent critiques against brand guidelines and UX best practices
3. Implement Agent converts approved design to code
4. Test Agent runs accessibility and visual regression tests

Parallel Generation

Ideal for exploring design directions quickly:

Requirements → [Variant A Agent | Variant B Agent | Variant C Agent] → Human Selection

Generate 3 different design directions simultaneously, then compare against criteria.

Producer-Reviewer Loop

Ideal for iterative refinement:

Producer: "Create a hero section for a B2B SaaS landing page"
Reviewer: "This lacks social proof and the CTA is below the fold"
Producer: [Revises based on feedback]
[Loop 3-5 times until Reviewer approves]

MCP-Mediated Design-Dev

Figma MCP bridges the traditionally manual handoff:

[Designer in Figma Make] → [Figma MCP Server] → [Developer in Cursor]

No Zeplin exports, no manual spec-reading — the developer's AI agent reads design intent directly from Figma.

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Prompt Templates for Design

1. Generating Design System Guidelines

Create a comprehensive design system for [COMPANY/PRODUCT TYPE].
Brand values: [LIST 3-5 VALUES]
Target audience: [DESCRIBE]
Existing brand colors: [HEX CODES]

Deliver:
- Color palette with semantic names and accessibility ratings
- Typography scale (5 levels) with font recommendations
- Spacing system (4px or 8px base grid)
- Border radius tokens (none / small / medium / large / full)
- Shadow elevation system (3 levels)
- Component naming conventions

2. Creating Responsive Layouts

Design a responsive layout for [PAGE TYPE] using these breakpoints:
- Mobile: 375px
- Tablet: 768px
- Desktop: 1280px
- Wide: 1536px

Content: [DESCRIBE CONTENT SECTIONS]
Priority: Mobile-first.
Provide Tailwind CSS classes for each breakpoint.

3. Accessibility Audit

Audit this UI component for WCAG 2.2 AA compliance:
[PASTE COMPONENT CODE OR DESCRIBE UI]

Check: color contrast ratios, keyboard navigation order, ARIA labels,
focus management, error state communication.

For each issue: severity, WCAG criterion violated, specific fix.

4. Component Variation Generation

Generate all variants of the [COMPONENT NAME] component:
Base props: [LIST CURRENT PROPS]

Generate variants for:
- Size: sm / md / lg
- State: default / hover / active / disabled / loading
- Intent: primary / secondary / destructive / ghost
- With/without icon

Output as a Storybook stories file and a TypeScript props interface.

5. UX Copy Generation

Write UX copy for [FEATURE/FLOW] in the voice of [BRAND VOICE].

Deliver:
- Headline options (3 variations)
- Subheadline
- CTA button text (3 options)
- Empty state message
- Error message (friendly, non-technical)
- Success message
- Tooltip for [FEATURE]

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Common Pitfalls

Not establishing a design system before generating UI — AI-generated UI without a design system produces inconsistent designs. Define your tokens first, then generate. Using AI-generated designs without responsive testing — AI prototypes often look great at one breakpoint. Always test at mobile, tablet, and desktop. Ignoring accessibility until the end — Retrofitting accessibility onto an inaccessible design is 10x harder than designing accessibly from the start. Not mapping Figma components to code components — Without Code Connect or Builder.io mapping, AI generates generic HTML instead of your actual design system components.

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Further Reading

• Figma Make Announcement
• Figma MCP Server Docs
• Figma Code Connect
• WCAG 2.2 Quick Reference
• axe DevTools
• Khroma Color AI
• European Accessibility Act
• ADA Title III Lawsuit Data