Skip to main content
The ish plugin for Figma sends simulated people through a prototype straight from the canvas. You select a flow, pick people, and run. Each person moves through the prototype in a cloud browser and reports back, and the full journey opens in the ish web app. The plugin works in Figma design files. It uses the same ish account as the web app, the CLI, and the MCP server.

​
Before you start

  • An ish account. You can also sign up from inside the plugin.
  • A Figma design file with the frames you want to test, ideally a prototype flow with a starting point.
  • An interactive study with at least one assignment. You can create both the study and its assignments from the plugin.
The plugin’s labels differ slightly from these docs: it calls a workspace a “product”, and writes the name as “Ish”.

​
Run a prototype

1

Install and open the plugin

Install ish from Figma Community, then run it from the plugins menu in a design file.
2

Sign in

Choose Continue with Google (sign-in finishes in your browser) or use your email and password. Your session stays signed in on this machine.
3

Pick the workspace and study

Choose a workspace (“product”) and a study at the top of the panel, or create them there. Only interactive studies run from the plugin; any other kind shows “This study type runs from the web app”.
4

Share the prototype, once per file

The first time you run from a file, the plugin asks for a public prototype link. In Figma’s Share menu, set Anyone with the link to can view, choose Copy link, and paste it into the plugin. Each person who runs the plugin on the file pastes the link once.
5

Select what to test

Select the starting frame of a prototype flow and the plugin takes in every frame reachable from it. You can also select a single frame, or up to three flows to run side by side. Several frames with no flow starting point cannot run.
6

Pick people

Set a sample size and let the plugin choose from your workspace’s simulated people, filter by gender or country, or pick people by hand. Optionally set the response language and a maximum number of steps.
7

Run

Tick the assignments to include and choose Run simulation. The plugin shows progress as it checks frames, uploads them, and starts each person. You can cancel while it runs.
8

Read the results

When the run finishes, the plugin shows a short summary: who completed, how much of each assignment was done, average steps and time, and answers to the study’s questions. Choose View results in Ish to open the full journeys in the web app. See reactions and results.
The screen size comes from the start frame: a frame taller than it is wide runs as mobile portrait, any other as desktop.

​
What the plugin uploads

Before each run, the plugin exports the selected frames and stores new or changed ones in your workspace’s frame library, along with the structure of the frames and their prototype links. If a frame changed since its last upload, the plugin asks whether to upload a new version. Because the plugin sends this structure itself, a run from the plugin needs no Figma access token. The frames become the frames you read results by.

​
Compare versions of a flow

Each flow you run becomes an iteration of the study, matched by the file and its starting frame. When a flow has already been run, the plugin shows which iteration it belongs to (“This flow has simulations in iteration B”). Run into that iteration again, or start a new iteration after you change the design, and compare the two in the web app. If the frames you select have no prototype connections, choose between running them as they are or Generate connections. Generation takes up to 15 selected frames and writes prototype interactions and a “Main Flow” starting point into your Figma file, so people can move between screens. Each generation costs 1 credit. The plugin offers it on Starter and above.
Generating connections edits your Figma file. Review the links it adds before you share the file.

​
Limits

One run takes at most three flows and 60 simulations (flows times people). Your plan’s caps on workspaces, studies, iterations, and participants apply as they do everywhere else, and the server enforces them; see credits and limits.

​
Troubleshooting

The prototype link stopped working: link sharing was turned off, the file was not found, or the link expired. Set Anyone with the link to can view again and paste a fresh link.
Figma asked the simulated person to log in, so the prototype is not public. Check the file’s link sharing and paste the link again.
You selected two or more frames that are not part of a flow. Add a flow starting point in Figma’s prototype settings, select a single frame, or generate connections.
The study is not interactive. Pick or create an interactive study.
The plugin says how many credits the run needs and how many you have, or which plan limit you reached. Upgrading opens billing in the web app.
The plugin stopped receiving updates. The run carries on; check its status in the web app.

​
Without the plugin

You can also test a Figma prototype from the web app (choose Figma when creating a study and paste the prototype URL), the CLI, or the MCP server. Use the full share link of the starting frame, including its node-id, and pass the file key and start frame alongside it.
Outside the plugin, ish reads the prototype through Figma, so a run needs Figma access on the workspace. In the web app, connect Figma or add a Figma access token under the workspace’s Settings, Integrations. CLI and MCP runs use that workspace token, and it can only be set in the web app.

Iterations

One iteration per flow, and how versions compare.

Frames

The screens a run captures, one card each.

Site access

Access for sites and prototypes behind a login.