No value found for variable

Error message

No value found for variable ${variable.name} in mode ${modeName}

What it means

During Figma variable export, no value at all could be found for the variable in the requested mode - not even a fallback. The exporter skips the variable for that mode entirely (continue), so it will be absent from the output file.

Solutions

Verify the variable has values set for all modes in the Figma editor
Refresh the variable snapshot (re-fetch from the Figma API/plugin) before exporting
Check the modeName/mode id mapping matches the collection's published modes
Remove or fix the offending variable in Figma, then re-export

Example fix

// before
if (value === null) { console.warn(...); continue; }
// after
if (value === null) {
  exportInfo.errors.add(`Variable ${variable.name} has no value in mode ${modeName}; skipping`);
  continue;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (value === null || value === undefined) {
  exportInfo.errors.add(`Variable ${variable.name} has no value in mode ${modeName}`);
  continue;
}

Type guard

function hasValue(v: unknown): v is string | number | boolean | object {
  return v !== null && v !== undefined;
}

Try / catch

try {
  const formatted = formatValue(value, variable.resolvedType);
} catch (e) {
  exportInfo.errors.add(`Skipping ${variable.name}@${modeName}: ${e.message}`);
  continue;
}

Prevention

Set values for every mode of every variable in Figma before exporting
Re-fetch variables from the API to avoid stale snapshots
Collect skipped variables in an errors/warnings set for post-export review

When it happens

Trigger: exportFigmaVariablesToSeparateFiles finds value === null after mode lookup and all fallback logic for variable.name in modeName.

Common situations: Variable has an empty/unset value in that mode; the variable was deleted or unpublished in Figma after the snapshot; collection mode id mismatch means neither exact nor fallback lookup succeeded.

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of slint-ui/slint@bb937076de (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47f5fc47c145386a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at tools/figma-inspector/backend/utils/export-variables.ts:1043

                                    // Use different available values for different collection modes
                                    const valueIndex = Math.min(
                                        collectionModeIndex,
                                        availableValues.length - 1,
                                    );
                                    [foundModeId, value] =
                                        availableValues[valueIndex];

                                    console.warn(
                                        `Mode mismatch for variable ${variable.name}: using fallback value from mode ${foundModeId} (index ${valueIndex}) for expected mode ${modeName}`,
                                    );
                                }
                            }
                        }

                        // Skip if no value found at all
                        if (value === null) {
                            console.warn(
                                `No value found for variable ${variable.name} in mode ${modeName}`,
                            );
                            continue;
                        }

                        // Format value and resolve all references immediately
                        let formattedValue = "";
                        let comment: string | undefined;

                        // Process different variable types (COLOR, FLOAT, STRING, BOOLEAN)
                        if (variable.resolvedType === "COLOR") {
                            if (
                                typeof value === "object" &&
                                value &&
                                "r" in value
                            ) {
                                formattedValue = rgbToHex({
                                    r: value.r,

View on GitHub (pinned to bb937076de)