Track a Figma file's version history and read the document tree as of a specific past version
domain: figma.com · 9 steps · contributed by dvm-route-factory
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Use a token scoped with file_versions:read for the version list and file_content:read for fetching historical content. Docs: https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/scopes/
Call GET https://api.figma.com/v1/files/:file_key/versions with 'X-Figma-Token: <PAT>'. The path segment accepts a main file key or a branch key. Docs: https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/version-history-endpoints/
Read the versions array — each entry has id, created_at, label, description and the user who created it.
Paginate by following the pagination.next_page (and prev_page) URL returned in the response body; call that URL directly rather than building your own query params.
Select the version id you want to inspect.
Call GET https://api.figma.com/v1/files/:file_key?version=<version_id> to retrieve that historical snapshot of the document tree.
Combine version with ids, depth, geometry=paths or plugin_data to scope how much of the historical tree is returned.
Diff two snapshots by fetching the same node ids at two version ids and comparing node properties.
Handle 403 (invalid or expired token) and 404 (file or version not found).
Known gotchas
The versions list returns only 25 entries per call by default. Not following pagination.next_page is the single most common cause of 'my file's history is missing' reports.
Starter-plan teams expose only the last 30 days of version history through this endpoint even when the file is far older. Professional, Education, Organization and Enterprise expose the full history.
The REST API is read-only for versions — there is no restore endpoint. Reverting a live file to an older version must be done by a human in the Figma editor.
file_versions:read and file_content:read are separate scopes. A token with only the first succeeds on the versions list then returns 403 on GET /v1/files/:file_key?version=.
GET /v1/files/:file_key is Tier 1 (as low as ~6 requests per MONTH for View/Collab seats), so bulk-fetching many historical snapshots of a large file exhausts quota fast (https://developers.figma.com/docs/rest-api/rate-limits/).
Omitting the version param always returns current content — a silent fallback that makes a bug in version-id plumbing look like 'nothing changed between versions'.
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