Rules overview

All 24 lint rules at a glance — severity levels, fix confidence, and where to start

LintKit ships with 24 rules across six categories. Every rule can be toggled on or off in Settings, and each finding carries a severity level that tells you how urgently it needs attention.

The brokenVariables rule always runs and cannot be toggled off — broken variable references are too dangerous to ignore.

Understanding severity levels

Every finding LintKit reports is assigned one of three severity levels. These levels determine sort order, dashboard impact, and handoff readiness.

Severity	What it means	When you see it
error	Something is broken or violates a hard constraint. Fix before handoff.	Broken instances, broken variable references, unapproved library usage
warn	A likely problem that should be reviewed. Most teams fix these before shipping.	Orphaned styles, contrast failures, off-scale spacing
info	An observation or suggestion. Safe to defer, but worth reviewing periodically.	Auto-layout suggestions, hidden layers, fractional pixels

Start by resolving all error findings first — they represent broken connections and hard violations. Then work through warn findings, which are the most common category. Treat info findings as cleanup opportunities.

What “library-only” means

Some rules are marked library-only in the table below. These rules only produce findings when you scan a file that is published as a Figma library. They detect problems that only matter to library maintainers — unused styles, hidden components, missing descriptions, and incomplete variables.

If you scan a regular design file, library-only rules silently return zero findings. You do not need to disable them manually.

Fix confidence

Every finding includes a confidence level that tells you how safe the suggested fix is. This determines whether LintKit shows a one-click Apply Fix button or provides manual instructions instead.

Confidence	Label	What it means in practice	Example
High	Auto-fixable	LintKit can safely fix this with one click. The change affects a single property and cannot break layout.	Snapping auto-layout padding from 13px to 12px
Medium	Review suggested fix	LintKit can apply a fix, but you should review the result. The change might affect layout or sizing.	Snapping a frame width from 157px to 160px — could cause text clipping
Low	Manual fix required	LintKit provides instructions but no auto-fix button. Fixing requires moving layers or making judgment calls.	Adjusting manual gaps between layers that are not in auto layout

Bulk fix (Pro) processes all findings in a category at once. It only applies high-confidence fixes automatically and skips low-confidence findings.

Rule categories

Styles

Orphaned fills, text, strokes, effects, grids. Plus duplicate and unused style detection.

Layout and positioning

Spacing scale, corner radii, stroke weight, fractional pixels, auto-layout suggestions, grid alignment, absolute positioning.

Cleanup and structure

Hidden layers, empty frames, single-child groups, default names, forbidden patterns.

Components and libraries

Unapproved libraries, broken instances, deep nesting, hidden components, missing descriptions.

Accessibility

WCAG contrast checking, broken variable references, variable completeness.

Full rule table

Rule	Category	Default	Severity	Description
Orphaned Fills	Styles	On	warn	Solid fills not linked to a paint style or variable
Orphaned Text	Styles	On	warn	Text nodes without a text style
Orphaned Strokes	Styles	On	warn	Strokes not linked to a paint style or variable
Orphaned Effects	Styles	On	warn	Effects (shadow, blur) not using an effect style
Orphaned Grids	Styles	On	info	Layout grids without a grid style
Duplicate Styles	Styles	Off	warn	Near-identical styles detected via Delta E 2000 color science
Unused Styles	Styles	On	info	Local styles with zero usage on the current page library-only
Spacing Scale	Layout	Off	warn	Spacing values outside your configured scale
Corner Radii	Layout	Off	warn	Radius values outside your allowed set
Stroke Weight	Layout	On	info	Stroke widths outside your allowed set
Fractional Pixels	Layout	On	info	Non-integer x, y, width, or height values
Auto Layout Suggestion	Layout	On	info	Frames that could benefit from auto layout
Grid Alignment	Layout	Off	info	Nodes misaligned to column or row grids
Absolute Positioning	Layout	On	warn	Absolute-positioned layers inside auto-layout parents
Cleanup	Cleanup	On	info	Hidden layers, empty frames/groups, single-child groups
Layer Naming	Cleanup	On	info	Default names (Frame 1, Rectangle 47), forbidden patterns
Unapproved Libraries	Components	On	error	Instances from non-approved libraries
Components	Components	On	warn	Wrapper groups, local components, broken instances, local instances
Nested Components	Components	On	info	Excessive component nesting (depth > 4 warn, > 6 error)
Hidden Components	Components	On	info	Components hidden from publishing by dot or underscore prefix library-only
Missing Descriptions	Components	Off	info	Styles and components without descriptions library-only
Contrast	Accessibility	On	warn	Text/background contrast below WCAG AA or AAA
Broken Variables	Accessibility	Always on	error	Variable bindings pointing to deleted or renamed variables
Variable Completeness	Accessibility	On	warn	Missing mode values, broken aliases, missing descriptions library-only

Rules marked library-only only produce findings when you scan a published library file.

Where to start

Different teams have different priorities. Here is a recommended order for enabling rules based on your role.

Product design teams (shipping features)

Start with rules that catch handoff problems:

1. Orphaned fills, text, strokes — the most common findings. These catch layers disconnected from your design system.
2. Contrast — catches accessibility violations before code review.
3. Cleanup — removes hidden layers and empty containers that confuse developers.
4. Fractional pixels — prevents blurry rendering in production.
5. Layer naming — stops “Frame 47” and “Rectangle copy 3” from reaching dev handoff.

Once comfortable, enable Spacing scale and Corner radii after configuring your design system values in Settings.

Design system teams (maintaining libraries)

Start with library health rules:

1. Unused styles — find styles no one is using so you can deprecate them.
2. Duplicate styles — consolidate near-identical styles cluttering your library.
3. Variable completeness — catch missing mode values and broken aliases before consumers hit them.
4. Hidden components — check which components are hidden from publishing.
5. Missing descriptions — ensure every style and component is documented for consumers.
6. Nested components — identify performance bottlenecks from deep nesting.

Then enable Unapproved libraries with your approvedLibraryKeys to enforce library governance across your org.

Individual designers (personal quality)

Start with rules that are enabled by default and require no configuration:

1. Cleanup — instant wins. Remove hidden layers, empty groups, and single-child wrappers.
2. Orphaned fills and text — connect everything to styles.
3. Fractional pixels — snap everything to the pixel grid.
4. Auto layout suggestions — find frames that should use auto layout.
5. Layer naming — rename “Frame 1” before anyone sees your file.

These rules work out of the box with zero configuration.

Findings and fixes

Every finding includes:

• A severity level — info, warn, or error
• Affected nodes — click to select them on the canvas
• A suggested fix — apply it with one click, or bulk-fix all instances (Pro)

Some findings offer multiple fix options. For example, an orphaned fill might suggest linking to an existing style, binding to a variable, or creating a new style.