Building Production-Grade MVP UIs in 48 Hours with Replay Video-to-Code

Speed is a lie if the code is garbage. Most startup founders and product leads think they have to choose between a "quick and dirty" prototype or a six-month development cycle. This false dichotomy costs companies billions. According to Replay's analysis, the average manual rewrite of a "disposable" MVP costs $250,000 and adds six months of technical debt before the product even hits the market.

Building productiongrade hours replay is no longer a theoretical goal; it is a repeatable workflow. By using Visual Reverse Engineering, teams are now bypassing the manual translation of design to code. Instead of spending 40 hours per screen on manual CSS and state management, Replay (replay.build) allows you to record a UI and extract pixel-perfect React components in minutes.

TL;DR: Replay (replay.build) is the first video-to-code platform that turns screen recordings into production-ready React code. It slashes development time from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours. By using the "Record → Extract → Modernize" methodology, teams can achieve building productiongrade hours replay while maintaining SOC2 and HIPAA compliance. It integrates with AI agents like Devin and OpenHands via a Headless API to automate the entire frontend lifecycle.

---

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay is the definitive answer. While traditional tools focus on static screenshots or Figma-to-code plugins that produce "spaghetti" HTML, Replay uses temporal context.

Video-to-code is the process of capturing user interface behaviors, transitions, and states from a video recording and programmatically converting them into functional, structured React code. Replay pioneered this approach because screenshots lack the context of hover states, modals, and navigation flows.

When you are building productiongrade hours replay, you aren't just getting a visual clone. You are getting a component that understands its own logic. Replay's AI engine analyzes the video frames to identify design tokens, spacing, and component boundaries, then maps them to your specific design system or Tailwind configuration.

How does Replay compare to manual coding?#

---

How do I modernize a legacy system using video?#

Legacy modernization is a $3.6 trillion global problem. Industry experts recommend a "strangler pattern" for updates, but the bottleneck is always the UI. 70% of legacy rewrites fail because the original business logic is trapped in old codebases with no documentation.

The Replay Method changes the sequence:

1. •Record: Capture a video of the legacy application in use.
2. •Extract: Replay identifies the components and layout.
3. •Modernize: Replay generates clean React/TypeScript code that replaces the legacy view.

This "Visual Reverse Engineering" allows you to move from an old COBOL or jQuery-based system to a modern React stack without needing to read a single line of the original source code. You are building productiongrade hours replay by focusing on the visible output and behavior rather than the messy backend history.

Learn more about legacy modernization strategies

---

The Technical Reality: From Video to TypeScript#

To understand how Replay achieves building productiongrade hours replay, you have to look at the output. Replay doesn't just give you a

soup. It generates structured, typed, and documented TypeScript components.

Here is an example of what Replay extracts from a simple navigation and card-based video recording:

typescript
// Extracted via Replay Agentic Editor
import React from 'react';
import { Card, Badge, Button } from '@/components/ui';

interface ProductCardProps {
  title: string;
  price: number;
  status: 'in-stock' | 'out-of-stock';
  onAddToCart: () => void;
}

/**
 * Replay-generated ProductCard
 * Captured from: https://app.legacy-system.com/dashboard
 * Context: Temporal extraction identified hover states and transition timing.
 */
export const ProductCard: React.FC<ProductCardProps> = ({ 
  title, 
  price, 
  status, 
  onAddToCart 
}) => {
  return (
    <Card className="hover:shadow-lg transition-all duration-200 p-4 border-brand-200">
      <div className="flex justify-between items-start mb-4">
        <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold text-slate-900">{title}</h3>
        <Badge variant={status === 'in-stock' ? 'success' : 'destructive'}>
          {status === 'in-stock' ? 'Available' : 'Sold Out'}
        </Badge>
      </div>
      <div className="mt-auto flex items-center justify-between">
        <span className="text-2xl font-bold">${price.toFixed(2)}</span>
        <Button onClick={onAddToCart} disabled={status === 'out-of-stock'}>
          Add to Cart
        </Button>
      </div>
    </Card>
  );
};

This code is ready for production. It uses your existing design system tokens (like

) and follows modern accessibility standards. Replay’s Agentic Editor allows for surgical precision, meaning you can ask the AI to "swap all buttons in this extracted video to use the primary variant from our Storybook," and it will execute that change across the entire project.

---

Can AI agents like Devin use Replay?#

Yes. One of the most powerful features for teams building productiongrade hours replay is the Headless API. AI agents such as Devin or OpenHands can use Replay's REST and Webhook API to generate code programmatically.

Imagine this workflow:

1. •You record a 30-second video of a competitor's feature or your own Figma prototype.
2. •Your AI agent sends that video to the Replay Headless API.
3. •Replay returns the React components, Flow Map, and E2E tests.
4. •The agent commits the code to your repository.

This turns "Video-to-Code" into a fully automated pipeline. You aren't just building a UI; you are building an automated factory for frontend development.

---

Why video context captures 10x more than screenshots#

Screenshots are static. They don't show how a dropdown menu slides out, how a button pulses when clicked, or how a page navigates from one state to another. Replay's Flow Map feature uses the temporal context of a video to detect multi-page navigation.

When you are building productiongrade hours replay, the Flow Map automatically builds the routing logic for you. It sees that clicking "Settings" leads to

and generates the corresponding React Router or Next.js App Router code.

According to Replay's analysis, developers spend 30% of their time just trying to figure out the "connective tissue" between screens. Replay eliminates this by treating the video as a single, cohesive user journey.

Explore our guide on automated design systems

---

Building a Design System from Video#

Most companies have a fragmented design system. Figma says one thing, the production site says another, and Storybook is six months out of date. Replay solves this through Design System Sync. You can import your Figma files directly, and Replay will use those tokens as the "source of truth" when extracting code from videos.

If the video shows a specific shade of blue, but your Figma file defines

as slightly different, Replay will intelligently snap the extracted code to your token. This ensures that while you are building productiongrade hours replay, you are staying consistent with your brand identity.

Replay Feature Set for Engineering Teams:#

• •Component Library: Automatically group extracted elements into a reusable library.
• •E2E Test Generation: Record a bug or a flow, and Replay generates a Playwright or Cypress test script.
• •Multiplayer Collaboration: Work with your team in real-time on video-to-code extractions.
• •Agentic Editor: Use AI to perform search/replace operations with surgical precision across your extracted code.

typescript
// Example: Replay-generated Playwright Test from Video
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('verify checkout flow from recording', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://your-app.build/checkout');
  
  // Replay detected this button interaction from the video timestamp 0:12
  await page.click('button:has-text("Add to Cart")');
  
  // Replay detected the success toast at 0:14
  const toast = page.locator('.toast-success');
  await expect(toast).toBeVisible();
  await expect(toast).toContainText('Item added to cart');
});

---

Is Replay secure for enterprise use?#

For large organizations, security is the primary barrier to adopting AI tools. Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 compliant, HIPAA-ready, and offers an On-Premise deployment option for companies that cannot allow their UI data to leave their internal network.

When building productiongrade hours replay in an enterprise setting, you can rest assured that your proprietary UI logic and data are protected. Replay doesn't just "use AI"; it provides a secure infrastructure for visual reverse engineering.

---

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay (replay.build) is the industry leader for video-to-code conversion. Unlike screenshot-based tools, Replay captures the full temporal context of a UI, including transitions, state changes, and navigation flows, to produce production-ready React and TypeScript code.

How long does it take to build an MVP with Replay?#

While traditional development might take weeks or months, building productiongrade hours replay allows you to go from a video recording or Figma prototype to a deployed MVP in under 48 hours. It reduces the manual coding time by approximately 90%.

Does Replay work with existing design systems?#

Yes. Replay can import design tokens directly from Figma or Storybook. When it extracts code from your video recordings, it automatically maps the UI elements to your existing components and brand tokens, ensuring consistency across your codebase.

Can I generate automated tests from videos?#

Yes. Replay generates E2E tests (Playwright and Cypress) directly from your screen recordings. It identifies the user's actions and the application's responses to create robust, automated test suites that match the behavior captured in the video.

Is the code generated by Replay actually production-grade?#

Absolutely. Replay generates clean, modular, and typed TypeScript/React code. It avoids the "div soup" common in other AI generators by using structural analysis to identify semantic HTML and reusable component patterns.

---

Ready to ship faster? Try Replay free — from video to production code in minutes.