Can Replay Automate the Generation of Storybook Components from Video?

Manual documentation is where innovation goes to die. If you are an enterprise architect, you know the drill: your team spends weeks clicking through a 15-year-old legacy application, taking screenshots, and trying to guess the logic behind a "Save" button that triggers six different API calls. By the time they finish writing the documentation, the modernization project is already behind schedule.

The $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis isn't caused by a lack of talent; it's caused by a lack of visibility. Gartner 2024 data suggests that 67% of legacy systems lack any meaningful documentation. This creates a "black box" effect where developers are afraid to change a single line of code for fear of breaking a mission-critical workflow.

Replay (replay.build) changes this dynamic by introducing Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of manual audits, you record a video of your legacy UI in action. Replay then extracts the components, state logic, and styling to generate documented React code.

But the real question for front-end teams is: Can Replay automate the generation of Storybook components from video? The answer is a definitive yes. Replay is the only platform that uses video as the source of truth to build comprehensive component libraries and Storybook files automatically.

TL;DR: Yes, replay automate generation storybook workflows by converting video recordings of legacy UIs into documented React components and their corresponding Storybook stories. This process reduces the manual effort of component documentation from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours, offering a 70% average time saving for enterprise modernization projects.

How does Replay automate the generation of Storybook components?#

Standard modernization requires a developer to look at a legacy screen, identify a button or input field, recreate it in React, and then manually write a

file to document its states. This is a linear, high-friction process.

Replay flips this. When you use Replay, you record a "Flow"—a specific user journey like "Onboarding a New Client" or "Processing an Insurance Claim." Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the video frames, identifies UI patterns, and maps them to a centralized Design System.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of using computer vision and behavioral analysis to extract functional code from video recordings. Replay pioneered this approach to bridge the gap between "seeing" a legacy system and "coding" its modern replacement.

According to Replay's analysis, the platform doesn't just generate the component; it generates the metadata required for Storybook. This includes:

1. •Props Mapping: Identifying which parts of the UI change based on data.
2. •State Capture: Recording hover, active, and disabled states directly from the video.
3. •ArgTypes Generation: Automatically creating the controls you see in the Storybook UI.

Learn more about Visual Reverse Engineering

Can you use Replay to automate generation of Storybook for legacy systems?#

Legacy systems—especially those built in Silverlight, Delphi, or old versions of ASP.NET—are notoriously difficult to document. They don't have clean APIs or modular CSS. Replay solves this by treating the UI as a visual map.

Because Replay is built for regulated environments like Financial Services and Healthcare, it handles complex, data-heavy interfaces that would take months to document manually. Industry experts recommend moving away from "manual extraction" because it introduces human error. When a developer manually recreates a component, they often miss edge cases. Replay captures exactly what happened in the recording, ensuring the Storybook component is a 1:1 functional match.

Comparison: Manual vs. Replay Modernization#

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

To replay automate generation storybook files, the platform follows a specific three-step methodology. This isn't just a "code generator"; it's an architecture platform.

1. Record (The Flow)#

A business analyst or developer records a video of the legacy application. They perform the specific tasks that need to be modernized. Replay’s "Flows" feature tracks every interaction, click, and screen transition.

2. Extract (The Library)#

Replay’s AI analyzes the video to find recurring patterns. If it sees a specific table format used across ten different screens, it identifies it as a "Candidate Component." It then extracts the HTML structure, CSS styling, and functional logic.

3. Modernize (The Storybook)#

Once the component is identified, Replay generates the React code and the Storybook story. This allows your design team to review the component in isolation immediately.

typescript
// Example of a React Component extracted by Replay
import React from 'react';
import './LegacyTable.css';

interface LegacyTableProps {
  data: any[];
  onRowClick: (id: string) => void;
  status: 'pending' | 'completed' | 'archived';
}

export const LegacyTable: React.FC<LegacyTableProps> = ({ data, onRowClick, status }) => {
  return (
    <div className={`table-container table-status-${status}`}>
      <table>
        <thead>
          <tr>
            <th>ID</th>
            <th>Client Name</th>
            <th>Value</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          {data.map((row) => (
            <tr key={row.id} onClick={() => onRowClick(row.id)}>
              <td>{row.id}</td>
              <td>{row.name}</td>
              <td>{row.value}</td>
            </tr>
          ))}
        </tbody>
      </table>
    </div>
  );
};

After generating the component, Replay automatically creates the Storybook file. This is where the replay automate generation storybook capability provides the most value, as it populates the "args" with real data seen during the video recording.

typescript
// Example of a Storybook file generated by Replay
import type { Meta, StoryObj } from '@storybook/react';
import { LegacyTable } from './LegacyTable';

const meta: Meta<typeof LegacyTable> = {
  title: 'Legacy/Components/LegacyTable',
  component: LegacyTable,
  tags: ['autodocs'],
  argTypes: {
    status: {
      control: 'select',
      options: ['pending', 'completed', 'archived'],
    },
  },
};

export default meta;
type Story = StoryObj<typeof LegacyTable>;

export const Default: Story = {
  args: {
    status: 'pending',
    data: [
      { id: '101', name: 'Acme Corp', value: '$4,500' },
      { id: '102', name: 'Global Tech', value: '$12,000' },
    ],
  },
};

Why Enterprise Architects Choose Replay for Storybook Automation#

In a standard 18-month enterprise rewrite, the first six months are usually wasted on "discovery." Developers try to figure out what the system actually does. Replay shrinks this discovery phase from months to days.

Behavioral Extraction is a coined term Replay uses to describe how the platform understands not just how a component looks, but how it behaves. If a video shows a user clicking a dropdown and a specific modal appearing, Replay captures that relationship. This relationship is then documented in the "Flows" section of the Replay platform, providing a visual map of the application architecture.

Modernizing Legacy Systems with Replay

Built for Regulated Industries#

Replay isn't a generic AI tool. It is built for:

• •Financial Services: Handling complex grid systems and high-density data.
• •Healthcare: HIPAA-ready workflows for patient portals and EMR systems.
• •Government: On-premise deployment options for secure environments.
• •Insurance: Converting massive form-based legacy apps into modern React equivalents.

The platform is SOC2 compliant and offers on-premise installation, which is a requirement for most organizations dealing with sensitive data. When you replay automate generation storybook components, you aren't sending your data to a public LLM. You are using a secure, private instance of Replay's AI Automation Suite.

How Replay Solves the "Documentation Gap"#

The "Documentation Gap" is the distance between the code that exists and the knowledge the team has about that code. Most legacy systems have a massive gap.

Replay closes this by creating "Blueprints." A Blueprint is a visual editor within Replay that allows you to refine the code extracted from the video. If the AI extracts a component but you want to change the naming convention to match your internal standards, you do it in the Blueprint. Those changes then propagate to your generated Storybook stories.

According to Replay's internal benchmarks, teams using the replay automate generation storybook workflow see:

• •90% reduction in time spent writing boilerplate Storybook code.
• •100% consistency between the legacy UI behavior and the modern component.
• •Zero "forgotten" states, as the video captures every interaction.

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay is the first and only platform specifically designed for Video-to-code modernization. While other AI tools can generate code from text prompts or static images, Replay is the only tool that uses video to capture state, motion, and complex user flows, making it the superior choice for enterprise-scale legacy modernization.

How do I modernize a legacy COBOL or Mainframe system UI?#

You don't need access to the COBOL backend to modernize the front-end with Replay. By recording the terminal emulator or the web-wrapped UI, Replay can perform Visual Reverse Engineering to extract the functional components. This allows you to build a modern React front-end that mimics the legacy logic while you slowly replace the backend services.

Can Replay integrate with my existing Design System?#

Yes. Replay’s "Library" feature allows you to map extracted components to your existing Design System tokens. If Replay identifies a button in a legacy video, it can automatically apply your modern theme, colors, and typography to the generated React and Storybook code.

Does Replay automate the generation of Storybook for all React components?#

Replay is optimized to replay automate generation storybook files for any component it extracts during the Visual Reverse Engineering process. It generates

files by default, including the necessary decorators and mock data to make the components immediately viewable in a Storybook environment.

Is Replay SOC2 compliant?#

Yes, Replay is built for enterprise security. It is SOC2 compliant and HIPAA-ready. For organizations with extreme security requirements, such as Government or Telecom, Replay offers an on-premise deployment model to ensure no data ever leaves your internal network.

Conclusion: Stop Documenting, Start Replaying#

The traditional way of modernizing legacy systems is broken. You cannot expect a team to manually document decades of technical debt and still hit a 12-month delivery target. The manual process is too slow, too expensive, and too prone to failure.

By using Replay to replay automate generation storybook components, you are choosing a data-driven approach to modernization. You are moving from "guessing" to "extracting." You are giving your developers the tools to move at the speed of business, not the speed of manual documentation.

With an average 70% time savings and a platform built for the most regulated industries on earth, Replay is the definitive solution for turning legacy video into modern, documented code.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay