Figma opens its canvas to AI coding agents, answering Canva's pivot. Figma added 20 Model Context Protocol partners, including Notion and Mistral, at its October 15 Config India event, months after Canva's COO declared the company an AI platform, not a template library. Figma just told Claude Code and Cursor they can edit your design files directly. That's not a small feature update, it's a bet on who controls the next layer of creative work. At Config India in Bengaluru on October 15, 2026, Figma announced 20 new partners for its Model Context Protocol server, the open standard that lets outside AI agents read and write inside a Figma file. According to a report from Crypto Briefing, the new partner list includes Amp, ClickUp, Dia, Junie by JetBrains, Linear, Meta Muse, Mistral, Notion, OpenCode and Sarvam Agents. Figma had already opened a narrower version of this in March, bringing on five partners focused on turning code into editable canvas objects. This expansion is the company tripling down on the same bet. Here's what the protocol actually does. A tool like Claude Code or Cursor can now query a Figma file for its layout, type styles, color tokens and component structure, then write changes back into that file, not just read a flat export. Figma's own help documentation lists Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex among the supported clients. A developer no longer has to eyeball a PNG and guess the padding. The agent pulls the real auto-layout rules and component variants straight from the file. Not everyone at Figma is fully sold on the plumbing underneath it. Dylan Field, the company's co-founder, posted on X that MCP is "not a perfect protocol," pointing out that Anthropic, the company that created the standard, doesn't expose artifacts and other cloud resources created through MCP calls, which he said leaves asymmetric context-sharing problems unaddressed. It's a notable thing for a CEO to say in the same week his company adds 20 partners to that exact protocol. He's shipping the bet while publicly flagging its flaws. This is where the timing gets interesting. Back on April 16, 2026, at Canva Create in Los Angeles, chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht told the crowd that Canva was shifting from "a design platform with AI tools" to "an AI platform with design tools." The company launched Canva AI 2.0 around a new in-house foundation model it calls the Canva Design Model, built to understand design hierarchy well enough to orchestrate layout engines, asset libraries and typography on its own. Feed it a plain-English prompt, like "build me a 12-page pitch deck," and it hands back editable vectors, not a flattened image. TechCrunch reported that Canva's assistant can now call on multiple internal tools in sequence to assemble a design rather than generating one static output. Figma reported Q1 revenue of $333.4 million, up 46% year over year, and raised its 2026 revenue outlook. Early AI credit usage and MCP adoption suggest AI may be expanding Figma's platform rather than replacing it. - how AI is changing design software revenue - turning AI threats into new product revenue streams The platform also keeps a persistent memory of a brand's style and fonts, and it connects to Gmail, Slack, Drive and Zoom so it can pull a meeting transcript or an inbox thread and turn it into a formatted report without anyone re-typing the content. Obrecht called it the biggest product overhaul since Canva launched in 2013, and TechRadar reported the rearchitecting took roughly two years. Put the two moves side by side and the strategic difference is obvious. Canva built its own closed AI model and wrapped design tools around it from the inside. Figma did the opposite: it left the canvas open and invited every outside AI lab's agent to come edit it under one protocol. One company is betting your workflow stays inside its walls. The other is betting it doesn't have to be the smartest agent in the room, just the place every agent ends up working. Canva's bet carries real weight behind it. The company is sitting on roughly $4 billion in annual recurring revenue and a private valuation near $60 billion, by far the larger business of the two. Figma, meanwhile, has had a rougher run on the public market: it priced its July 2025 IPO at $33 a share, popped to a near-$70 billion market cap on day one, and has since fallen hard, trading around $27 a share and roughly $14 billion in market cap by late August 2026, according to Stockanalysis.com. That gap matters for anyone building on either platform. Canva can fund an in-house model race practically indefinitely. Figma, with thinner public-market support, needs its ecosystem bet to pay off faster. For founders building AI design tools, the practical question isn't which platform is bigger. It's where the next feature actually has to live. If your product edits someone's brand kit or auto-generates a slide deck, you're now choosing between plugging into a closed, memory-aware AI inside Canva or building an agent that talks to Figma's open canvas through MCP. Pick wrong and you're rebuilding integrations in six months. Templates, the thing that made both companies' early businesses, are no longer the product. The agent that can actually hold your brand's layout rules in its head and act on them is. Join the discussion. No replies yet. Start the discussion. Elroy is a digital marketer and developer from Goa, with over a decade of experience web development and marketing. He has been associated with several startups and serves currently as an Editor to the Asia Pacific Industrial magazine. He occasionally writes on Startup Fortune about technology and automation.

Figma and Sanrio(R) celebrate Hello Kitty(R) and the joy of making things with friends. In honor of Hello Kitty(R)'s birthday, Hello Kitty(R) and Friends are moving into FigJam, and throwing a party in NYC. Figma, the full-stack creative canvas, and Sanrio(R), the global lifestyle brand behind pop culture icon Hello Kitty(R), are coming together to celebrate a simple idea: making things is better with friends. For one week starting on November 1, Hello Kitty's birthday, Sanrio's cast of characters are finding a home in FigJam, Figma's online whiteboard for collaboration, bringing a little dash of kawaii to brainstorms, group projects, and everything in between. On November 6-8, the party moves offline with a themed photobooth and free pop-up in New York City featuring limited-edition gifts and surprises. This marks Sanrio's first integration with Figma, coming at a time when team spirit and imagination matter more than ever. The two companies share a commitment to community: Figma is home to one of the most creative communities on the internet, while Hello Kitty and Friends are centered around friendship, supporting one another, and spreading kindness across generations. Both believe the best work happens together, with plenty of room for play. "Figma is a place for collaboration and expression, with room for every idea and every tool you need to bring it to life. Sanrio's beloved characters will feel right at home in Figma, surrounded by a community that cares just as much about craft and creativity," said Nairi Hourdajian, Chief Marketing Officer at Figma. "This collab is a little nostalgic, a lot of fun, and a reminder that making things is even better with friends by your side." "Hello Kitty and Friends have always been about friendship, creativity, and bringing people together," said Jill Koch, Chief Brand Officer, Sanrio, Inc. "Our collaboration with Figma brings that spirit to a community that shares our love of creativity and self-expression. We're excited to see how people incorporate their favorite characters into their work, connect with others, and bring a little more joy to the creative process." Here's how to join the fun over the next week: FigJam is an online whiteboard where friends come together for work or fun, from ice breakers and greeting cards to team meetings and party plans. Through November 8, you can select from 12 Sanrio friends in FigJam, including Hello Kitty, Pochacco(TM), My Melody(TM), Kuromi(TM), Cinnamoroll(TM), Pompompurin(TM), and more. Choose a character to transform the FigJam experience with supercute cursors, themed washi tape, colorful sticky notes, and photobooth selfie frames. Keep jamming to discover more Hello Kitty and Friends surprises. Figma's designers worked closely with Sanrio to bring each character's palette and personality into the product, so every detail feels delightful without getting in the way of real work. FigJam has always encouraged imagination with tools to express yourself like stamps, emotes, high-fives, and built-in tunes to stay in the flow. With Hello Kitty and Friends cheering you on from the toolbar, you never have to jam alone. Hello Kitty and Friends are also joining the Figma Community, where creatives connect and share their work with each other, including design templates, skills, and even games. For one week, you can personalize your community profile by featuring your top three characters and selecting a Sanrio-themed background. Browse the community to find FigJam tips and tricks in a new Sanrio playground file, design coloring book pages, and bring smiles to your next presentation with an adorable Figma Slides template. The celebration is moving IRL. Over the weekend, Figma and Sanrio are throwing a public party for Hello Kitty near Union Square in New York City. Enjoy an insta-worthy matcha or strawberry milk at a green Hello Kitty and Friends truck before heading inside to collect a mystery character keychain and customize it at the charm bar, then pose for a photo opp with your new friend. More party favors await, including a limited-edition sweatshirt and patches for the first 150 visitors each day. Leading up to the bash, swing by the Old Friend photobooth in the Lower East Side from November 6-7 for a custom photostrip and invitation to the weekend pop-up. Keep an eye out for tearaway posters around the city for another take-home souvenir. The fun doesn't stop in New York. A global network of Friends of Figma community groups and Figma Campus Leaders are hosting more than 60 Hello Kitty and Friends-themed meetups in cities and on campuses around the world. Bringing Sanrio fans and Figma aficionados together to connect, play, and make new friends, these gatherings might just be the cutest way to network. Find local community events at friends.figma.com. Figma and Sanrio hope this collaboration will inspire friends to create together and bring a bit of play to their everyday lives. Mark your calendar: * Hello Kitty and Friends are available in FigJam from November 1-8. Get started here. * Visit the Old Friend photobooth for a free Figma and Sanrio themed photostrip from November 6-7, 10:00AM-10:00PM ET at 145 Allen Street, New York. * Hello Kitty's birthday party pop-up is November 7-8, 10:00AM-6:00PM ET at 12 East 14th Street, New York. First come, first served! Visual assets can be downloaded here. About Figma Figma is where teams design and build the world's best digital products. Founded in 2012, Figma's full-stack creative canvas brings teams, agents, code and design together to go from idea to shipped product, all in one place. Whatever you're building, Figma makes your workflow more collaborative and efficient - while keeping everyone on the same page. About Sanrio Sanrio is the global lifestyle brand best known for pop icon Hello Kitty(R), and home to many other beloved character brands including Chococat(TM), My Melody(TM), Badtz-maru(TM), Keroppi(TM), Gudetama(TM) and Aggretsuko(TM). Sanrio was founded on the "Small Gift, Big Smile(R)" philosophy - that a small gift can bring happiness and friendship to people of all ages. Since 1960, this philosophy has served as the inspiration to offer quality products, services and activities that inspire unique consumer experiences across the world. Today, Sanrio's legendary breadth of products are available in over 130 countries and in retail locations including department, specialty, national chain retailers and Sanrio boutique stores. To learn more about Sanrio, please visit www.sanrio.com and follow @sanrio and @hellokitty on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and subscribe to the Hello Kitty and Friends YouTube Channel. Media Contacts