TL;DR: The Figma REST API cannot create shapes or write arbitrary geometry; its write surface is limited to things like variables, comments, and webhooks. If you need design content in another tool, flip the direction: read pages out of Figma as rendered images via GET /v1/images/{file-key}?ids={page-node-ids}&format=png and embed those images.

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The REST API cannot create shapes: render pages to images instead
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## Fix
1. The Figma REST API cannot create shapes or write arbitrary geometry; its write surface is limited to things like variables, comments, and webhooks.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
2. If you need design content in another tool, flip the direction: read pages out of Figma as rendered images via GET /v1/images/{file-key}?ids={page-node-ids}&format=png and embed those images.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
3. Authenticate with a personal access token in the X-Figma-Token header.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
4. Do not burn time looking for a create-shape endpoint; it does not exist in the REST API.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.

## Details
The Figma REST API cannot create shapes or write arbitrary geometry; its write surface is limited to things like variables, comments, and webhooks. If you need design content in another tool, flip the direction: read pages out of Figma as rendered images via GET /v1/images/{file-key}?ids={page-node-ids}&format=png and embed those images. Authenticate with a personal access token in the X-Figma-Token header. Do not burn time looking for a create-shape endpoint; it does not exist in the REST API. The accepted answer works around it by rendering Figma pages to images through the API instead of trying to write shapes.

## When to use
You hit exactly this: The REST API cannot create shapes: render pages to images instead in The REST API.

## When not to use
A different error, or the same symptom in a different tool. This page only covers the failure above.

## Compatibility
The REST API (versions mentioned here: v1).

## Root cause
Context: Stack Overflow #58792786 (accepted answer, 5 votes): building a Google Slides to Figma exporter hits a wall because the Figma REST API has no shape-creation endpoint.