Slots resources
One of the new features I am most excited about, announced at Schema — Figma's design systems conference — is slots.
Official explanation
Slots are explained by Figma as follows:
Since components were originally released in Figma, they’ve had restrictions on how they could be used. For example, if you had a dropdown list component, you couldn’t add new list items to an instance; you’d either have to author it with hidden list items (which designers could unhide to use), or designers would have to detach the component (breaking its connection with the design system and making handoff more difficult). With slots, you will be able to add your own layers within instances and easily specify which instances a slot accepts, allowing for both increased usability and compliance with your design system.
I believe slots will be a major change for how we architect design systems.
A deep dive
Nathan Curtis explains the concepts of slots in this detailed post:
Nathan Curtis
He gives some detailed examples I hadn't thought about yet. I am not sure if things will go as far as he goes where you could consider almost everything a slot.
Release date
The release date was announced as being in November, but I haven't seen any updates yet and it's almost the end of the month.
Correction: I misunderstood this, it's being released as a beta, then likely to the general audience in Q2 2026. To be decided by Figma.
Updates to design kits
In our Obra shadcn/ui kit, slots will have to be applied to the following components:
- Card
- Drawer
- Dialog
- Empy
- Hover card
- Sheet
If you have a design library with similar components, you're likely looking at similar work.
Evolution is tracked in this issue: https://github.com/Obra-Studio/shadcn-ui-kit/issues/84
