Figma Weave Ignoring Auto Layout: How to Fix

When Figma Weave generates UI components or layouts, it converts your prompts and design system instructions into Figma's native node tree. However, a common model-behavior regression occurs where Weave suddenly ignores auto layout settings, rendering absolute-positioned frames or rigid fixed-width elements instead of responsive layouts.

This behavior is usually triggered by context window saturation, overly complex layer hierarchies, or formatting conflicts in your design system's variables. Below is the practical, step-by-step troubleshooting sequence to restore proper auto layout output.

Why Figma Weave Ignores Auto Layout Constraints

Figma Weave processes design generation by analyzing your active canvas context and mapping text inputs to structural nodes. If the model receives too many nested frames, it simplifies the output to save tokens, frequently dropping structural rules like auto layout, gap values, and padding.

Additionally, if your design tokens or custom variables contain conflicting absolute values, the model will prioritize those hardcoded coordinates over responsive container rules.

Step 1: Flatten and Simplify Your Canvas Context

Deeply nested frames confuse the layout generator, forcing it to resort to absolute positioning.

1. Select the target frame or component where Weave is failing.
2. Open your layers panel and inspect the depth of your nested frames. If you have more than four levels of nesting, Weave will likely ignore the deepest constraints.
3. Temporarily flatten decorative vector groups or combine redundant frames (use Cmd + Option + G on Mac or Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows to group, then re-evaluate layout structures).
4. Select only the immediate parent frame when triggering the Weave prompt, rather than selecting your entire, complex artboard. This limits the context payload sent to the model.

Step 2: Use Explicit Layout Directives in Your Prompts

Standard conversational prompts like "make this section responsive" often lead to inconsistent model parsing. You must use precise layout syntax in your system instructions or prompt overrides.

1. Open the Weave prompt window. 2. Structure your prompt to use explicit Figma layout terminology. For example, instead of "Put these items in a row and make them fit," use: "Generate a horizontal Auto Layout frame with Fill Container width, Hug Contents height, 16px gap, and 24px padding." 3. If using a custom system prompt within Weave, append this instruction to the bottom of your rules: "Always output layouts as native Auto Layout frames. Do not use absolute positioning unless explicitly requested."

Step 3: Identify and Remove Conflicting Variable Overrides

If Weave is tied to your local variable library, a conflict between min/width variables can force Weave to fallback to standard frames.

1. Check if the parent frame has strict Min-width or Max-width variables applied that conflict with the child container's Fill or Hug rules.
2. Temporarily detach variables from the bounding box of your selected layer.
3. Run the Weave generation again. If auto layout is restored, your variable mapping is too restrictive for the model to parse. Simplify the variable constraints in your local library before re-linking them to Weave.

Step 4: Clear the Weave Local Plugin Cache

If Weave previously generated layouts correctly but has suddenly started outputting broken, static layers, your session cache may be corrupted.

1. Close the Figma Weave panel or plugin.
2. In the Figma desktop app, go to the top menu and select Help > Troubleshooting > Clear Cache and Restart (on Mac, this is under the main Figma menu).
3. If using Figma in a web browser, clear your browser’s cookies and local storage specifically for figma.com, then reload the tab.
4. Re-open Weave and run a basic layout test (e.g., "Generate a vertical auto layout stack of three buttons") to verify if the model behavior has normalized.

When to Escalate

If Weave continues to ignore all auto layout constraints despite explicit instructions, simplified layer nesting, and a cleared cache, there may be a service-side quality regression or an active bug in the model's node-generation schema.

Check Figma's official status page to see if there are any reported issues with AI tools or design system integrations. If services are normal, open a support ticket through the Figma Help Center. Provide a copy of the raw layer hierarchy (or a link to a test file) along with the exact system prompt you are using so the engineering team can inspect the layout translation logs.