Finding Detached Instances 10x Faster

If you've ever spent an afternoon clicking through Figma layers looking for detached instances, you know the pain. These disconnected components are invisible to the naked eye but cause real problems: outdated styles, broken variants, and designs that don't match production.

The Manual Approach

The traditional way to find detached instances involves selecting layers, checking the right panel for component connections, and repeating this process across hundreds or thousands of elements. A thorough audit of a mid-sized file can take 2-4 hours—time that could be spent on actual design work.

Why Detachment Happens

Instances get detached for various reasons: designers need to make changes the component doesn't support, someone accidentally right-clicks and detaches, or a component swap goes wrong. The intent is rarely malicious, but the accumulation of detached instances erodes your design system's integrity.

Automated Detection

Automated tools can scan your entire file in seconds, identifying every detached instance and providing a direct link to its location. Instead of hunting, you're fixing. Instead of auditing once a quarter, you can check every week—or even every push to production.

Building a Response Workflow

Finding issues is only half the battle. Create a clear workflow for addressing detached instances: triage by page or feature, assign ownership, and track resolution. Some detachments are intentional and should be converted to new components. Others are accidental and just need reconnection.