Framer Local Dev Loop

Examples

Use fictional pages, CMS records, and form submissions in local tests. Confirm the workflow runs without production credentials, redacts logs, and removes temporary artifacts after the staging validation is complete.

Overview

Set up a fast development workflow for Framer plugins and code components with Vite hot-reload, TypeScript, and testing.

Prerequisites

• Completed framer-install-auth setup
• Node.js 18+ with npm
• Framer editor open

Instructions

Step 1: Plugin Dev Environment

npx create-framer-plugin@latest my-plugin
cd my-plugin
npm install
npm run dev  # Starts Vite dev server — hot-reloads into Framer editor

Project structure:

my-plugin/
├── src/
│   ├── App.tsx           # Plugin UI (React)
│   ├── main.tsx          # Entry point
│   └── framer.d.ts       # Type definitions
├── package.json
├── vite.config.ts        # Vite config with framer-plugin
└── tsconfig.json

Step 2: Connect to Framer Editor

1. Open Framer, go to your project
2. Click Plugins > Development in the toolbar
3. Select your local dev plugin
4. Changes in src/App.tsx hot-reload instantly

Step 3: Testing Plugin Logic

// tests/sync.test.ts — test data transformation outside Framer
import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';

// Extract pure functions for testability
function transformPosts(posts: any[]) {
  return posts.map(p => ({
    fieldData: {
      title: p.title,
      body: `<p>${p.body}</p>`,
      slug: p.title.toLowerCase().replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/g, '-').slice(0, 50),
    },
  }));
}

describe('CMS Sync', () => {
  it('should transform posts into CMS items', () => {
    const posts = [{ title: 'Hello World', body: 'Content here', userId: 1 }];
    const items = transformPosts(posts);
    expect(items[0].fieldData.title).toBe('Hello World');
    expect(items[0].fieldData.slug).toBe('hello-world');
    expect(items[0].fieldData.body).toContain('<p>');
  });

  it('should handle slugs with special characters', () => {
    const posts = [{ title: 'What\'s New in 2025?', body: 'test', userId: 1 }];
    const items = transformPosts(posts);
    expect(items[0].fieldData.slug).toBe('what-s-new-in-2025-');
  });
});

Step 4: Code Component Development

# Code components are edited directly in Framer editor
# For local development of shared component libraries:
mkdir framer-components && cd framer-components
npm init -y
npm install react framer typescript @types/react

// components/Button.tsx — develop locally, paste into Framer
import { addPropertyControls, ControlType } from 'framer';

export default function Button({ label = 'Click me', variant = 'primary' }) {
  const styles = {
    primary: { background: '#000', color: '#fff' },
    secondary: { background: '#eee', color: '#000' },
  };
  return <button style={{ ...styles[variant], padding: '12px 24px', border: 'none', borderRadius: 8, fontSize: 16, cursor: 'pointer' }}>{label}</button>;
}

addPropertyControls(Button, {
  label: { type: ControlType.String, title: 'Label', defaultValue: 'Click me' },
  variant: { type: ControlType.Enum, title: 'Variant', options: ['primary', 'secondary'], defaultValue: 'primary' },
});

Step 5: Server API Development

// server-dev.ts — develop Server API integrations locally
import { framer } from 'framer-api';
import 'dotenv/config';

async function dev() {
  const client = await framer.connect({
    apiKey: process.env.FRAMER_API_KEY!,
    siteId: process.env.FRAMER_SITE_ID!,
  });

  // Test CMS operations
  const collections = await client.getCollections();
  console.log('Collections:', collections.map(c => `${c.name} (${c.type})`));
}

dev().catch(console.error);

Output

• Vite-powered plugin with hot-reload into Framer editor
• Testable data transformation functions
• Local component development workflow
• Server API development setup

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Plugin not showing	Dev server not running	Run npm run dev
Hot-reload not working	Wrong Vite config	Ensure framer-plugin Vite plugin is configured
framer undefined in tests	Editor-only API	Mock framer or extract pure functions
Component type errors	Missing Framer types	Install @types/framer or use framer.d.ts

Resources

• create-framer-plugin
• Framer Developer Reference
• Vitest

Next Steps

See framer-sdk-patterns for production-ready patterns.