ColdFusion to React: The Rapid Extraction Path for Mid-Market Enterprises

Your ColdFusion monolith is a ticking time bomb. While your competitors are shipping features in days using modern React frameworks, your team is likely trapped in a cycle of "Developer Archaeology"—spending 80% of their time deciphering 15-year-old

tags and undocumented files just to make a simple UI change.

The global technical debt crisis has reached $3.6 trillion, and mid-market enterprises running legacy ColdFusion (CFML) are disproportionately affected. The traditional solution—a "Big Bang" rewrite—is a trap. Statistics show that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines. When you realize that 67% of legacy systems lack any form of usable documentation, the "rewrite from scratch" approach isn't just risky; it’s architectural suicide.

TL;DR: Modernizing ColdFusion to React shouldn't involve manual code translation; by using Replay's Visual Reverse Engineering to extract components directly from user workflows, enterprises can reduce modernization timelines from 18 months to a few weeks.

The ColdFusion Trap: Why Manual Rewrites Fail#

Most mid-market enterprises in Financial Services and Healthcare are stuck. They have massive ColdFusion footprints that handle critical business logic, but the talent pool for CFML is evaporating. When a CTO decides to move to React, they typically assign a team to "read the old code and replicate it."

This is where the project dies. ColdFusion is often a "black box" where business logic, database queries, and UI rendering are tightly coupled in a single file. Trying to untangle this manually takes an average of 40 hours per screen. Multiply that by a 200-screen application, and you’re looking at a 2-year roadmap before you even ship a MVP.

The Cost of Developer Archaeology#

When you ask a senior engineer to modernize a ColdFusion screen, you aren't paying them to code; you're paying them to be a historian. They have to:

1. •Trace the
   text

   .cfm
   file to its corresponding
   text

   .cfc
   (ColdFusion Component).
2. •Decipher how session variables are being manipulated.
3. •Guess the validation logic hidden in legacy tags.
4. •Manually recreate the CSS and HTML structure in React.

This process is prone to "logic drift," where the new system looks right but behaves differently than the legacy version, leading to catastrophic bugs in regulated environments.

Visual Reverse Engineering: A Better Path#

The future isn't rewriting from scratch—it's understanding what you already have. Replay shifts the "source of truth" from the messy, undocumented legacy codebase to the actual user workflow.

By recording a real user interacting with a ColdFusion application, Replay captures the DOM state, the data structures, and the visual intent. It then uses AI to extract these into clean, documented React components and API contracts.

💰 ROI Insight: Manual screen migration takes ~40 hours. With Replay, extraction and component generation take ~4 hours. That is a 90% reduction in labor costs per screen.

Step 1: Capturing the Workflow#

Instead of reading ColdFusion code, you run the application. As you navigate through a complex insurance claim form or a healthcare patient portal, Replay records the interactions. This captures the "as-is" state of the application—including the edge cases that are rarely documented.

Step 2: Component Extraction#

Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the recording and identifies UI patterns. It doesn't just "scrape" the HTML; it understands the intent. It identifies buttons, inputs, and complex data tables, then maps them to your modern Design System.

typescript
// Example: React component extracted from a legacy ColdFusion "Policy Search" screen
// Generated by Replay Blueprints

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Button, Input, Table, Alert } from '@/components/ui'; // Your Design System

interface PolicyData {
  policyNumber: string;
  holderName: string;
  status: 'Active' | 'Pending' | 'Expired';
  effectiveDate: string;
}

export const PolicySearchMigrated: React.FC = () => {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState('');
  const [results, setResults] = useState<PolicyData[]>([]);
  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false);

  // Replay extracted this logic from the legacy <cfsearch> behavior
  const handleSearch = async () => {
    setLoading(true);
    try {
      const response = await fetch(`/api/v1/policies?search=${query}`);
      const data = await response.json();
      setResults(data);
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Modernized error handling preserved from legacy logic", error);
    } finally {
      setLoading(false);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className="p-6 space-y-4">
      <header className="flex justify-between items-center">
        <h1 className="text-2xl font-bold">Policy Management</h1>
        <Button onClick={handleSearch} loading={loading}>Execute Search</Button>
      </header>
      
      <Input 
        placeholder="Enter Policy Number..." 
        value={query} 
        onChange={(e) => setQuery(e.target.value)}
      />

      {results.length > 0 ? (
        <Table data={results} columns={['policyNumber', 'holderName', 'status']} />
      ) : (
        <Alert message="No records found matching your criteria." />
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

Bridging the Logic Gap: API Contracts#

One of the biggest hurdles in ColdFusion to React migrations is the backend. ColdFusion often acts as both the UI and the API. Replay solves this by generating API Contracts based on the data observed during the recording.

This allows your frontend team to build against a mocked interface while the backend team works on replacing the ColdFusion logic with modern Microservices or Serverless functions.

📝 Note: Replay generates E2E tests automatically during extraction. This ensures that the new React component behaves exactly like the legacy ColdFusion screen, providing a safety net for regulated industries like Insurance and Banking.

The Replay Modernization Workflow#

1. •Assessment: Use the Replay Technical Debt Audit to identify which ColdFusion modules are the most complex and mission-critical.
2. •Recording: Record subject matter experts (SMEs) performing standard business workflows in the legacy app.
3. •Extraction: Use the Replay Library to map legacy elements to your new React Design System.
4. •Generation: Use Blueprints to output clean TypeScript code, CSS-in-JS, and documentation.
5. •Validation: Run the auto-generated E2E tests to verify parity between the legacy and modern screens.

Solving the Documentation Debt#

67% of legacy systems have no documentation. This is the "Black Box" problem. When you use Replay, the documentation is a byproduct of the extraction. You get a visual map of your application's architecture (Flows) and a documented component library.

For a VP of Engineering, this is the ultimate insurance policy. If a developer leaves the project mid-way, the next person doesn't have to start from scratch. They have the "Video as source of truth" and the generated technical specs.

⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to "clean up" the business logic during the first phase of extraction. The goal is functional parity. Optimization should happen in Phase 2, once you are off the legacy ColdFusion infrastructure.

Built for Regulated Environments#

Mid-market enterprises in Government, Healthcare, and Finance cannot afford data leaks. Replay is built with these constraints in mind:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA Ready: Your data and recordings are handled with enterprise-grade security.
• •On-Premise Availability: For highly sensitive environments, Replay can be deployed within your own firewall, ensuring no code or data ever leaves your network.
• •Air-Gapped Workflows: Support for modernization in environments without external internet access.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does a ColdFusion to React extraction take?#

While a manual rewrite of a complex enterprise application typically takes 18-24 months, Replay users average a 70% time saving. Most mid-market applications can have their core UI extracted and documented in 4-8 weeks.

Does Replay convert ColdFusion tags (

text

<cfml>

) directly to React?#

No, and that’s why it works. Direct code translation often carries over "bad habits" and legacy technical debt. Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to understand the output and behavior of the code, generating clean, modern React components that follow current best practices.

What about the business logic inside ColdFusion Components (.cfc)?#

Replay identifies the data inputs and outputs of your legacy system. It generates API contracts and documentation that describe exactly what the backend needs to provide. This allows you to decouple the UI migration from the backend refactoring, reducing the risk of the project stalling.

Can we use our own Design System?#

Absolutely. The Replay Library allows you to map extracted legacy elements directly to your existing React component library (e.g., MUI, Tailwind, or a custom internal system).

---

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay - see your legacy screen extracted live during the call.