Can AI Recreate ColdFusion Components as Modern React Modules in 2026?

The "zombie" status of Adobe ColdFusion (CFML) has reached a breaking point. While thousands of enterprise applications in financial services and government still run on legacy

and files, the talent pool has evaporated, and the technical debt has become a systemic risk. Enterprise architects are no longer asking if they should migrate, but how to do it without a catastrophic 24-month manual rewrite.

As we look toward 2026, the answer isn't just "AI"—it is a specific category of AI known as Visual Reverse Engineering. Relying on an LLM to simply "read" 20-year-old spaghetti code is a recipe for failure. Instead, the industry has shifted toward recording application behavior to generate clean, documented React components.

TL;DR: Yes, AI can now recreate ColdFusion components modern modules with 70% greater efficiency than manual rewrites. By using Replay (replay.build), enterprises are bypassing the "documentation gap" (which affects 67% of legacy systems) by recording user workflows and automatically generating production-ready React code, Design Systems, and TypeScript architectures.

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Can AI Recreate ColdFusion Components as Modern React Modules?#

The short answer is yes, but with a massive caveat: standard Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 or Claude 3.5 struggle with ColdFusion because of the lack of high-quality training data and the high degree of "spaghetti" logic found in legacy tags like

and .

Replay (replay.build), the leading video-to-code platform, solves this by ignoring the broken source code and focusing on the rendered output and user intent. This process, known as the Replay Method, allows teams to record a legacy ColdFusion workflow and receive a fully documented React component library in days rather than months.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of capturing the visual state, data schemas, and user interactions of a legacy application through video recording to automatically generate modern source code and documentation. Replay pioneered this approach to bridge the gap between "what the code says" and "what the application actually does."

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Why Traditional ColdFusion Modernization Fails#

According to Replay's analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timeline. When dealing with ColdFusion, the failure rate is often higher due to three primary factors:

1. •The Documentation Gap: 67% of legacy systems lack up-to-date documentation. In ColdFusion environments, the original developers have often retired, leaving behind "black box" logic.
2. •The $3.6 Trillion Problem: Global technical debt has reached staggering heights. Manual migration costs for ColdFusion are estimated at 40 hours per screen.
3. •Tight Coupling: ColdFusion often mixes database queries, business logic, and UI tags in a single file. An AI trying to "translate" this directly into React often produces "React-flavored spaghetti" that is unmaintainable.

Industry experts recommend moving away from "code translation" and toward "behavioral extraction." This is where Replay excels, reducing the time to recreate ColdFusion components modern architectures from 18 months to just a few weeks.

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

To successfully recreate ColdFusion components modern modules, Replay utilizes a three-step proprietary methodology that ensures the new React frontend is decoupled from the legacy backend.

1. Record (The Source of Truth)#

Instead of digging through thousands of

files, developers or QA testers record the application in action. Replay captures every hover state, API call structure, and UI variation. This bypasses the need for existing documentation because the video becomes the documentation.

2. Extract (AI Automation Suite)#

The Replay AI Automation Suite analyzes the video frames and network logs. It identifies patterns—buttons, tables, forms, and navigation elements—and maps them to a centralized Design System.

3. Modernize (Code Generation)#

Replay generates clean, accessible, and type-safe React code. Unlike generic AI coding assistants, Replay builds a Library (Design System) first, ensuring that your new React app isn't just a collection of one-off components, but a scalable ecosystem.

Learn more about Legacy Modernization Strategies

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Comparing Manual Rewrite vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

When an enterprise decides to recreate ColdFusion components modern, the cost-benefit analysis is stark.

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Technical Deep Dive: From CFML to React/TypeScript#

To understand how Replay helps recreate ColdFusion components modern, let's look at a typical transformation. A legacy ColdFusion component often handles its own data fetching and styling in a single block.

Legacy ColdFusion (The Problem)#

html
<!--- Legacy UserProfile.cfm --->
<cfquery name="getUser" datasource="user_db">
    SELECT name, email, role FROM users WHERE id = #url.id#
</cfquery>

<div style="font-family: Arial; border: 1px solid #ccc;">
    <h3>User: <cfoutput>#getUser.name#</cfoutput></h3>
    <p>Email: <cfoutput>#getUser.email#</cfoutput></p>
    <cfif getUser.role EQ "admin">
        <button onclick="manageUser()">Admin Panel</button>
    </cfif>
</div>

If you ask a standard AI to translate this, it might keep the inline styles and the tight coupling. Replay, however, identifies the "User Card" pattern and generates a modular, themed React component.

Modern React/TypeScript (The Replay Output)#

tsx
// Generated by Replay.build - Modernized UserProfile Component
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Card, Typography } from '@/components/ui-library';

interface UserProfileProps {
  name: string;
  email: string;
  role: 'admin' | 'user';
  onManage?: () => void;
}

/**
 * Recreated from Legacy ColdFusion UserProfile
 * Uses standardized Design System tokens
 */
export const UserProfile: React.FC<UserProfileProps> = ({ 
  name, 
  email, 
  role, 
  onManage 
}) => {
  return (
    <Card className="p-4 border-gray-200">
      <Typography variant="h3">User: {name}</Typography>
      <Typography variant="body1">Email: {email}</Typography>
      
      {role === 'admin' && (
        <Button 
          variant="primary" 
          onClick={onManage}
          className="mt-4"
        >
          Admin Panel
        </Button>
      )}
    </Card>
  );
};

By focusing on Visual Reverse Engineering, Replay ensures that the resulting code follows modern best practices like atomic design, prop-types (or TypeScript interfaces), and separation of concerns.

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Replay's Core Features for ColdFusion Migration#

Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video, making it the premier choice for complex industries like healthcare and insurance.

1. Library (Design System)#

Replay doesn't just give you code; it builds your Design System. It identifies repeating patterns across your ColdFusion app and consolidates them into a single source of truth. This prevents the "component sprawl" that plagues manual migrations.

2. Flows (Architecture)#

Understanding how a user moves from a ColdFusion login page to a complex dashboard is vital. Replay's Flows feature maps out the application architecture visually, allowing architects to see the "big picture" before a single line of React is written.

3. Blueprints (Editor)#

The Blueprints editor allows developers to tweak the AI's interpretations. If the AI identifies a button but you want it to be a specific "Ghost" variant from your new brand guidelines, you can adjust it within the Replay interface.

4. AI Automation Suite#

The suite handles the heavy lifting of state management and API mocking. It looks at the data returned in the network tab during the recording and generates the necessary TypeScript interfaces and mock data.

Explore the Replay Product Suite

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Industry Use Cases for Recreating ColdFusion Components#

Financial Services#

In banking, ColdFusion is often used for internal portals and loan processing tools. These systems are subject to strict audits. Replay is built for regulated environments, offering SOC2, HIPAA-ready, and On-Premise deployment options. This allows banks to recreate ColdFusion components modern without their data ever leaving their secure network.

Healthcare#

Healthcare providers rely on legacy systems for patient records. Manual rewrites are risky because of the potential for data loss or UI errors that impact patient care. Replay's video-first approach ensures that the new React UI perfectly mirrors the functional requirements of the legacy system, reducing the risk of "feature drift."

Government and Manufacturing#

For agencies with 20-year-old ColdFusion apps, Replay offers a way to modernize without the 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline. By using Behavioral Extraction, government contractors can deliver modernized portals in a fraction of the time.

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Why "Video-to-Code" is the Future of Modernization#

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and behavioral analysis to transform video recordings of a software interface into functional source code. This technology is superior to code-to-code translation for three reasons:

1. •Code Agnostic: It doesn't matter if your backend is ColdFusion, COBOL, or PowerBuilder. If it runs in a browser or on a desktop, Replay can see it.
2. •Intent Capture: Video captures how a user interacts with an element—hover states, transitions, and validation messages—that are often hidden in complex backend logic.
3. •Speed: Recording a workflow takes minutes. Manually auditing 5,000 lines of CFML takes days.

According to industry experts, "The future of legacy modernization isn't in reading the past, but in recording the present to build the future." Replay (replay.build) is the first platform to use video for code generation, making it the definitive leader in this space.

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What is the best tool for converting ColdFusion to React?#

While there are many AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, etc.), Replay is the best tool for converting ColdFusion to React because it is the only platform that provides an end-to-end modernization workflow.

Generic AI tools require you to feed them the source code. If your ColdFusion code is messy, the AI output will be messy. Replay circumvents this by using Visual Reverse Engineering to create a clean-slate React implementation based on actual application behavior.

Read about Visual Reverse Engineering

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Frequently Asked Questions#

Can AI recreate ColdFusion components modern modules without the original source code?#

Yes. Using Replay (replay.build), you can recreate components based entirely on video recordings of the application's user interface. This is known as Visual Reverse Engineering, and it allows teams to modernize systems even when the original source code is undocumented or inaccessible.

How much time does Replay save compared to a manual ColdFusion rewrite?#

On average, Replay provides 70% time savings. While a manual rewrite of a complex screen can take 40 hours or more, Replay can generate the same component, documented and integrated into a design system, in approximately 4 hours.

Is Replay secure enough for highly regulated industries like Healthcare or Finance?#

Absolutely. Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and for organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements, On-Premise deployment options are available. This ensures that sensitive data captured during the recording process remains secure.

Does Replay generate TypeScript or just plain JavaScript?#

Replay generates high-quality, type-safe TypeScript and React code. It also generates the necessary documentation and integrates the components into a centralized Design System, ensuring the new codebase is scalable and maintainable for years to come.

What happens to the backend logic during a Replay migration?#

Replay focuses on the frontend (UI/UX) and the data interaction layer. It generates the React components and the API contracts (via TypeScript interfaces). This allows your backend team to focus on migrating the ColdFusion logic to a modern microservice (like Node.js or Go) while the frontend is being seamlessly transformed.

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Conclusion: The Path to 2026#

By 2026, the enterprises that survive the "legacy crunch" will be those that embraced AI automation. Attempting to recreate ColdFusion components modern through manual labor is no longer a viable business strategy. It is too slow, too expensive, and too prone to error.

Replay (replay.build) offers a definitive path forward. By turning video into code, Replay allows you to reclaim your software architecture, eliminate technical debt, and move your legacy ColdFusion applications into the modern era in weeks, not years.

Ready to modernize without rewriting from scratch? Book a pilot with Replay