So, you started using Figma Make while it was in Beta, and prompted your little heart out. Then the beta period ended and you found yourself quickly burning through your monthly allotment of credits. Your project doesn’t have the budget to purchase additional credits so what can you do? Well, while you wait for your credit balance to reset, learn how to min-max* your credit usage! I have spent the past few months building a complex prototype for a client using Figma Make, and have compiled a list of tips & tricks to help you reduce your credit usage and get the most out of the tool.
In case you aren’t familiar with the tool, Figma Make is an AI-powered design tool used to turn natural-language prompts or existing Figma design files into interactive prototypes. It was introduced in May 2025, and has quickly become a go-to tool for many designers and product teams due to its ease of use, design systems integration, and ability to speed up prototype creation. Like most AI tools, it uses credits (sometimes called tokens in other tools) for each prompt, which are calculated based on the complexity and size of the prompt. It can be tricky to manage credit usage, so hopefully the tips below will help you stretch your credits further.
Tip #1 - Start with the basics
- Read Figma’s article on best practices for optimizing AI credits. I wish I had read this sooner because there are a lot of good tips that would have saved me time and money in the beginning. I won’t rehash Figma’s advice here, but will say that having a well-structured guidelines.md file is arguably the most important tip, as it helps the AI get a lot of things right the first time and reduce churn.
Tip #2 - Meta prompting
- It’s easy to get fatigued writing prompts all day, and just as easy to default to vague, low-effort inputs. But strong prompts are one of the most effective ways to reduce token usage. My advice: let another AI do the heavy lifting. I’ve had great success using ChatGPT to generate prompts for Figma Make. With just a couple of sentences describing your goal (and asking it to tailor the output for Figma Make), you can get a well-structured prompt that’s ready to paste in, saving both time and credits.
Tip #3 - Use a code editor to search/edit multiple files
- At the time of writing, Figma Make does not yet have a way to do text searches across multiple files. You can search (Cmd/Ctrl + F) within a single file, but it won’t query all the files in your app. This can make it difficult if you want to manually edit something like a component that exists in many places. However, you CAN push your project to Github, clone the repo locally, and use your favorite code editor (I use VS Code) to search within the project. You can also make changes directly in your editor and copy the code back into Figma Make.
Tip #4 - Leverage version control
- Figma recently added a version control feature to Figma Make that allows you to restore a previous version of an app. This is great for when a result is not quite what you were intending, or if errors are introduced - you can roll back to the previous version rather than using additional prompts and credits to try and fix the issue.
Tip #5 - Create static mock ups first for specific UIs
- Sometimes, even with super specific prompts, the end result is not quite what you had envisioned. When this is the case and you have a very specific layout/design in mind, mock it up first in a traditional Figma file and use the frame as a reference in your prompt. This way you avoid having to iterate continuously, and the AI will likely get much closer to your desired result sooner.
Min-maxing your token usage in Figma Make ultimately comes down to being intentional by treating every prompt like an investment rather than a throwaway attempt. With a bit more upfront structure, smarter prompting, and the right tooling around the edges, you can dramatically reduce waste and still build complex, high-quality prototypes. While credit limits might feel limiting, it’s actually a great forcing function to work more strategically, and those habits will pay off long after your balance resets.
- Min-maxing is a term often used in gaming where a person tries to maximize their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses to get the best possible outcome.