CI/CD for the "Untouchables": DevOps for 15-Year-Old Systems via Visual Logic Tracing

Your most critical enterprise application is likely a 15-year-old black box that everyone is afraid to touch. It’s the core banking system, the claims processing engine, or the manufacturing ERP that has survived three CTOs and five "modernization initiatives." The source code is a labyrinth of undocumented patches, the original developers are long gone, and the deployment process is a manual, high-stakes ritual performed at 2:00 AM on Sundays.

When we talk about devops 15yearold systems implementing modern CI/CD pipelines, we aren't just talking about installing Jenkins or GitHub Actions. We are talking about archeology. You cannot automate what you do not understand, and in the world of $3.6 trillion in global technical debt, understanding is the scarcest resource.

The traditional approach is a "rip and replace" rewrite, but 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timeline significantly. The alternative is Visual Logic Tracing—a method where we use the system's runtime behavior to generate the documentation and components required for a modern DevOps lifecycle.

TL;DR: Implementing DevOps on 15-year-old systems fails because of a lack of documentation (67% of systems) and high manual overhead (40 hours per screen). Visual Logic Tracing through Replay allows teams to convert video recordings of legacy workflows into documented React code and Design Systems. This shifts the modernization timeline from 18 months to weeks, enabling CI/CD by creating a "known good" baseline from actual user behavior.

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The Barrier: Why DevOps for 15-Year-Old Systems Implementing CI/CD Fails#

Most enterprise systems built circa 2009 were designed for stability, not velocity. They predate the Docker revolution, the rise of microservices, and the ubiquity of automated testing frameworks. When teams attempt devops 15yearold systems implementing strategies, they hit three specific walls:

1. •The Documentation Void: According to Replay's analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack accurate documentation. The "truth" exists only in the minds of a few senior analysts or in the literal pixels on the screen.
2. •The Regression Paradox: You can't build a CI pipeline without tests. You can't build tests without knowing the expected output. You can't know the expected output because the business logic is buried in 50,000 lines of spaghetti code.
3. •The Manual Tax: Manually reverse-engineering a single legacy screen into a modern component takes an average of 40 hours. In a 500-screen application, that's a decade of man-hours before you even start the CI/CD implementation.

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual code inspection and toward Visual Logic Tracing. This is where Replay changes the math. By recording real user workflows, Replay captures the visual state and the underlying data flow, effectively "filming" the logic into existence.

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What is Visual Logic Tracing?#

Before we dive into the implementation, we must define the core technology.

Visual Logic Tracing is the process of capturing the state transitions, data inputs, and UI responses of a running application to automatically generate functional specifications and code components.

Video-to-code is the specific mechanism within Replay that converts these visual recordings into documented React components and Design Systems.

By using these techniques, the "black box" of the 15-year-old system becomes a transparent set of components that can be version-controlled, tested, and deployed via a standard DevOps pipeline.

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Step-by-Step: DevOps for 15-Year-Old Systems Implementing CI/CD#

To successfully bring a legacy system into a modern DevOps environment, you must follow a path that prioritizes visibility over velocity.

1. Establish the "Visual Baseline"#

You cannot trust the source code of a 15-year-old system. You can only trust the runtime. Use Replay to record every critical path in the application. These recordings serve as your "source of truth." Instead of reading dead code, you are capturing living logic.

2. Decompose the Monolith into a Component Library#

DevOps requires modularity. 15-year-old systems are notoriously monolithic. Replay’s Library feature takes the recordings and extracts repeatable UI patterns. It identifies that the "Customer Search" box used in 15 different modules is actually the same component logic.

3. Automate the Generation of Modern Code#

Once the patterns are identified, Replay's AI Automation Suite generates the React/TypeScript code. This isn't just "dumb" code; it’s structured according to your enterprise design system.

4. Integrate into the CI/CD Pipeline#

Now that you have modular React components, you can implement a standard pipeline. Every time a change is made to the legacy backend, your visual tests (generated from Replay's Flows) run against the modern frontend components to ensure parity.

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Comparison: Manual Rewrite vs. Replay Visual Tracing#

When considering devops 15yearold systems implementing workflows, the efficiency gains of visual reverse engineering are staggering.

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Technical Deep Dive: From Legacy Logic to React#

To understand how devops 15yearold systems implementing works in practice, let’s look at a typical transformation. Imagine a 15-year-old insurance claims portal. The logic for "Validate Claim Amount" is buried in a 2,000-line jQuery file or a server-side ASPX code-behind.

The Legacy "Black Box" Logic#

In the old system, the logic might look like this (simplified):

javascript
// Legacy logic buried in a 5,000 line file
function checkClaim() {
    var amt = document.getElementById('claim_amount').value;
    var type = $('#claim_type_id').val();
    if (type == '15' && amt > 5000) {
        alert('Requires Supervisor Approval');
        document.getElementById('submit_btn').disabled = true;
    } else {
        // ... 200 more lines of nested if-else
    }
}

The Replay-Generated React Component#

Replay traces the visual interaction (user types 6000, alert pops up, button disables) and generates a clean, documented React component that can be dropped into a modern CI/CD pipeline.

typescript
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Button, Alert, Input } from '@enterprise-ds/core';

/**
 * @component ClaimValidation
 * @description Generated via Replay Visual Tracing from Legacy Claims Portal
 * @flow Claims_Submission_v2
 */
export const ClaimValidation: React.FC = () => {
  const [amount, setAmount] = useState<number>(0);
  const [claimType, setClaimType] = useState<string>('');
  const [needsApproval, setNeedsApproval] = useState<boolean>(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Logic extracted from visual trace: Type 15 threshold is 5000
    if (claimType === '15' && amount > 5000) {
      setNeedsApproval(true);
    } else {
      setNeedsApproval(false);
    }
  }, [amount, claimType]);

  return (
    <div className="p-4 border rounded-lg shadow-sm">
      <Input 
        label="Claim Amount" 
        type="number" 
        onChange={(e) => setAmount(Number(e.target.value))} 
      />
      {needsApproval && (
        <Alert variant="warning">
          Requires Supervisor Approval: Amount exceeds threshold for Claim Type 15.
        </Alert>
      )}
      <Button disabled={needsApproval}>Submit Claim</Button>
    </div>
  );
};

This component is now ready for devops 15yearold systems implementing automated testing. You can write a Jest test for this in minutes, something that was impossible with the original legacy code.

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Strategic Advantages for Regulated Industries#

For Financial Services, Healthcare, and Government sectors, the stakes of devops 15yearold systems implementing are higher. You cannot afford a "break and fix" mentality.

According to Replay's analysis, the primary inhibitor for modernization in regulated industries is compliance risk. Replay addresses this by being:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA Ready: Ensuring that the data captured during visual tracing is handled with enterprise-grade security.
• •On-Premise Available: For manufacturing or government entities that cannot send data to the cloud.
• •Audit-Ready: Every component generated by Replay includes a link back to the original visual recording, providing an immutable audit trail of why the code was written that way.

For a deeper look at how to manage these risks, see our article on Legacy Modernization Strategies.

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Overcoming the "18-Month Rewrite" Trap#

The average enterprise rewrite takes 18 months. By the time the new system is ready, the business requirements have changed, and the "new" system is already accruing technical debt.

By focusing on devops 15yearold systems implementing through visual tracing, you move from a "Big Bang" migration to "Continuous Modernization." You can modernize one "Flow" at a time.

1. •Identify the Flow: (e.g., "User Login" or "Monthly Reporting")
2. •Record with Replay: Capture the exact behavior.
3. •Generate Blueprint: Use the Replay Blueprint Editor to refine the generated code.
4. •Deploy to Production: Route traffic from the legacy screen to the new React component.

This incremental approach reduces risk and shows ROI in weeks, not years. For more on this process, read our Visual Reverse Engineering Guide.

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The Role of AI in DevOps for 15-Year-Old Systems#

Artificial Intelligence is the engine behind devops 15yearold systems implementing at scale. Replay doesn't just record pixels; its AI Automation Suite interprets intent. It recognizes that a specific sequence of clicks represents a "Form Submission" and maps it to a standard API call structure.

This AI-driven mapping allows for the creation of "Synthetic Documentation." Since 67% of legacy systems lack documentation, the AI fills the gap by generating READMEs, prop types, and state management diagrams directly from the visual traces.

Example: AI-Generated Component Documentation#

markdown
# Component: PolicySearch
**Original Source:** Legacy Underwriting Module (Circa 2008)
**Visual Trace ID:** trc_9982x_policy_search

## Business Logic Captured:
- Search triggers only after 3 characters are entered.
- Policy numbers starting with 'XP' redirect to the High-Risk queue.
- Table results are paginated at 25 rows (Legacy default).

## DevOps Integration:
- **Unit Test Coverage:** Required for 'XP' prefix logic.
- **CI/CD Path:** /components/underwriting/PolicySearch.tsx

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Implementing CI/CD via Visual Logic Tracing: The Final Architecture#

When you finish devops 15yearold systems implementing, your architecture shifts from a stagnant monolith to a dynamic, component-based ecosystem.

1. •Source Control: All components reside in Git.
2. •Automated Testing: Replay-generated components include unit tests that validate against the original visual baseline.
3. •Deployment: Using a modern CI/CD tool (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps), components are built and deployed to a modern frontend host (like Vercel or an internal Kubernetes cluster).
4. •Monitoring: The new components are monitored for visual regressions, ensuring they never deviate from the business logic captured during the initial tracing.

Industry experts recommend this "Visual-First" approach because it solves the hardest problem in DevOps: the feedback loop. By using Replay, the feedback loop starts with what the user actually sees, ensuring that the modernized system is functional from day one.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

How does visual logic tracing handle complex backend calculations?#

Visual logic tracing focuses on the "Input/Output" relationship. While it captures the UI behavior and the data sent to/from the API, it treats the backend as a black box. This is ideal for devops 15yearold systems implementing because it allows you to modernize the frontend and the delivery pipeline without needing to rewrite the entire legacy COBOL or Java backend simultaneously. You can wrap the legacy logic in a modern API and use the Replay-generated components to interact with it.

Can Replay work with systems that have no source code available?#

Yes. Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it only requires access to the running application. By recording the user workflows, Replay identifies the UI patterns and data structures needed to recreate the system in React. This is a primary use case for devops 15yearold systems implementing where the original source code may be lost, corrupted, or too obfuscated to read.

Does this replace my existing DevOps tools like Jenkins or Jira?#

No. Replay integrates with your existing stack. It provides the "content" for your DevOps pipeline—the components, the tests, and the documentation. You still use Jenkins for orchestration and Jira for task management. Replay simply eliminates the 40-hour-per-screen manual overhead that usually prevents legacy systems from ever entering a DevOps pipeline.

What is the learning curve for a team to start using visual tracing?#

The learning curve is significantly lower than traditional reverse engineering. Instead of needing "Legacy Experts" who understand 15-year-old frameworks, your modern React developers can use Replay to "see" the logic. Most teams are productive within days, moving from recording to code generation in a single afternoon.

Is the code generated by Replay maintainable?#

Unlike "low-code" platforms that spit out unreadable "spaghetti" code, Replay generates standard, clean TypeScript and React code that follows your organization's specific Design System. The code is fully editable in the Blueprints editor and is designed to be owned and maintained by your engineering team long-term.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay