Cleanup rules

Remove hidden layers, empty groups, and default names

Cleanup rules catch structural problems that clutter your file, inflate the layer panel, and confuse developers during handoff. These findings are typically the easiest to fix and have the highest immediate impact on file hygiene.

Cleanup

Default: On | Severity: info

A multi-check rule that detects four types of structural clutter. Each sub-check targets a different kind of leftover that accumulates during normal design work.

What it detects

Hidden layers

What gets flagged: Any layer with visibility turned off.

Example scenario: While exploring a dark mode variant, you hide the original header. The design ships, the hidden header stays behind. A developer inspecting the file sees two headers and asks which one is correct.

Example finding:

Hidden layer Header/v1-old is not visible. 14 hidden layers found.

Why it matters: Hidden layers cause confusion during handoff because they appear in dev tool exports and layer inspectors. They also inflate file size and make the layer panel harder to navigate.

Fix: Click Apply Fix to remove the hidden layer. LintKit deletes the layer from the file entirely.

Before applying, verify the layer is not hidden intentionally (for example, as part of a toggle state or variant). If the layer is inside a component variant, removing it could break the component.

Empty groups

What gets flagged: Groups with zero children.

Example scenario: You select several layers, group them, then move the layers out to a different frame. The empty group remains behind, invisible but cluttering the layer panel.

Example finding:

Empty group Group 3 has 0 children. 5 empty groups found.

Why it matters: Empty groups add unnecessary depth to the layer tree and can confuse both designers and developers inspecting the file structure.

Fix: Click Apply Fix to delete the empty group.

Empty frames

What gets flagged: Frames with zero children and no visible fills or strokes.

Example scenario: You create a frame as a placeholder, never add content, and forget about it. It sits in your design as an invisible empty box.

Example finding:

Empty frame Frame 12 has 0 children and no fills or strokes. 3 empty frames found.

Why it matters: Empty frames with no visual properties serve no purpose and clutter the file.

Fix: Click Apply Fix to delete the empty frame.

Not flagged: Frames that have fills or strokes but no children are treated as intentional elements (color overlays, dividers, spacer elements) and are never flagged by this sub-check.

Single-child groups

What gets flagged: Groups that wrap a single element. The extra group adds no structural value.

Example scenario: You group a button with a label, then later remove the label. The group now wraps only the button. Or you paste content from another file and it arrives wrapped in an extra group.

Example finding:

Single-child group Group 7 wraps only Button/Primary. 8 single-child groups found.

Why it matters: Single-child groups inflate the layer tree, make selection harder (you have to double-click through the group), and break override chains on component instances.

Fix: Click Apply Fix to flatten (ungroup) the group. The child layer moves up to the group’s parent at the same position.

Not flagged:

• Groups where the single child is a component instance — these are handled by the components rule instead.
• Groups inside component instances — these are part of the library structure and are not yours to change.

When to enable it

Keep this rule on (it is the default) for all production files. It catches low-effort cleanup opportunities that improve file quality immediately. Disable only for rough exploration files where structure does not matter yet.

How to fix all cleanup findings at once

1. Run a scan

   Open LintKit and run a scan. Cleanup findings appear in the Structure tab.

2. Review the findings

   Click through each finding to verify nothing is hidden or empty intentionally. Pay special attention to hidden layers that might be variant states.

3. Bulk fix

   Use bulk fix (Pro) to apply all cleanup fixes at once, or fix findings individually by clicking Apply Fix on each one.

4. Re-scan

   Run another scan to confirm all cleanup findings are resolved. Fixing some findings (like ungrouping a single-child group) can reveal new findings.

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Layer Naming

Default: On | Severity: info

Detects layers with default auto-generated names (like Frame 1 or Rectangle 47) and naming convention violations. This rule uses a two-phase detection system that first catches generic names, then detects your team’s naming convention and flags deviations from it.

What it detects

Layer naming catches two broad categories of problems:

1. Generic default names — Figma’s auto-generated names like Frame 1, Rectangle 47, Group 3. These tell developers nothing about what the layer is.
2. Convention violations — If your file consistently uses camelCase naming, a layer named hero-banner (kebab-case) is flagged as a deviation.

Phase 1: Pattern detection

LintKit ships with 28 built-in patterns organized into four categories:

Default name patterns (21 patterns)

Matches Figma’s auto-generated names. These are the most common findings:

• Shape defaults: Frame 1, Rectangle 47, Ellipse 1, Line 1, Polygon 1, Star 1, Vector 1
• Container defaults: Group 3, Section 1
• Content defaults: Text 1, Image 1
• Component defaults: Component 1, Instance 1
• Other defaults: Slice 1, Connector 1, Stamp 1, Sticky 1, Widget 1, Highlight 1, Shape with Text 1
• Boolean operation defaults: Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude

Example finding:

Default name Frame 47 — 23 layers use Figma’s auto-generated names. Consider renaming to describe their purpose.

Copy and duplicate patterns (2 patterns)

• Copy suffix (enabled by default) — flags names like Button_copy, Card copy 2, Header Copy
• Numbered suffix (disabled by default) — flags names like Button 2, Card 3. This is disabled because numbering may be intentional in certain contexts.

Example finding:

Copy suffix Card copy 2 — 5 layers appear to be duplicates with copy suffixes. Consider renaming them.

Placeholder patterns (2 patterns)

• Temp names — flags temp, tmp, test, TODO, FIXME, untitled, asdf, and similar placeholder text
• Placeholder prefix — flags WIP Button, DRAFT Header, DELETE Card, REMOVE Section, OLD Footer

Example finding:

Placeholder name TODO fix this layout — 3 layers have temporary names that should be cleaned up before handoff.

Ignore patterns (3 patterns)

Layers matching these patterns are excluded from all naming checks:

• Dot prefix (.layerName) — intentionally hidden layers (enabled by default)
• Underscore prefix (_layerName) — internal/private layers (disabled by default)
• Hash prefix (#layerName) — metadata layers (disabled by default)

You can add custom forbidden patterns in Settings to flag names specific to your team’s conventions.

Phase 2: Convention detection

When LintKit collects at least 5 naming samples with 70% or higher confidence, it detects the prevailing naming convention in your file. Supported conventions include camelCase, PascalCase, kebab-case, snake_case, and others.

Once a convention is detected, any layer name that deviates is flagged. For example, if 80% of your layers use PascalCase, a layer named hero-banner (kebab-case) would be flagged.

Severity tiers

Layer naming severity scales based on where the layer sits in the hierarchy. Deeper, less important layers get lower severity:

Tier	Layer types	Severity	Rationale
1 (highest)	Top-level frames, sections, components	error	These appear in dev handoff navigation and page overview. A default name here is a serious problem.
2	Shallow frames, groups, text nodes, instances	warn	Visible in the layer panel during development. Worth fixing before handoff.
3	Deep frames, deep groups	info	Buried in the layer tree. Nice to fix but low priority.
4 (skipped)	Vectors, ellipses, shapes	Not flagged	Primitive shapes rarely need meaningful names.

Example: A component named Component 1 is tier 1 (error), while a deeply nested group named Group 3 is tier 3 (info).

How to fix findings

1. Start with tier 1 findings

   Focus on top-level frames, sections, and components first. These are the names that appear in navigation and dev tools.

2. Rename with intent

   Choose names that describe what the layer is or does: HeroSection, PrimaryButton, NavigationBar. Follow your team’s naming convention.

3. Fix single-child groups

   If a naming finding also flags a single-child group, consider flattening it instead of just renaming it. Click Apply Fix to flatten the group.

Configuration

Key	Default	Description
naming.flagGenericNames	true	Flag default auto-generated names
naming.flagSingleChildGroups	true	Flag single-child groups (also covered by the cleanup rule)
Custom forbidden patterns	[]	Add your own regex patterns in Settings

Edge cases

Layer filter behavior

• Naming checks respect your layer filters: hidden and locked layers are skipped if layerFilters.includeHiddenLayers and layerFilters.includeLockedLayers are set to false (the default).
• Layers inside component instances are skipped by default — rename the source component instead.
• The maximum is 100 nodes per finding to keep the findings panel manageable.