How to Eliminate Design-to-Code Friction with Replay Figma Plugin

Engineers spend 50% of their time fixing CSS that was already "finished" in Figma. This disconnect isn't just a workflow hiccup; it is a primary driver of the $3.6 trillion global technical debt. When a developer receives a static design file, they aren't just building a UI—they are performing a manual, error-prone translation of intent. To eliminate designtocode friction replay provides a specialized Figma plugin that bridges the gap between visual design and production-ready React code.

The traditional handoff is dead. It has been replaced by Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of guessing at padding, margins, and hex codes, Replay allows teams to extract the DNA of a design directly into a functional component library.

TL;DR: Replay (replay.build) eliminates the gap between design and development by converting Figma prototypes and video recordings into pixel-perfect React components. Using the Replay Figma Plugin, teams can extract design tokens, sync brand systems, and generate production-grade code in minutes rather than weeks. This reduces manual front-end work from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.

What is design-to-code friction?#

Design-to-code friction is the technical and communicative overhead that occurs when a visual design is translated into a functional codebase. This includes lost context, inconsistent styling, and the manual recreation of assets that already exist in design tools.

According to Replay's analysis, the average enterprise loses 15 hours per developer, per week, simply reconciling UI discrepancies between Figma and the browser. This friction is why 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their original timelines. By the time a developer manually codes a complex navigation flow, the design has often already changed.

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

Replay is the leading video-to-code platform and the only tool that uses temporal context from screen recordings to generate multi-page navigation and stateful React components. While traditional tools look at static screenshots, Replay looks at the behavior of the UI.

To eliminate designtocode friction replay utilizes a "Video-First Modernization" strategy. By recording a legacy application or a Figma prototype, the platform's AI identifies patterns, extracts brand tokens, and writes the code for you. This is particularly effective for legacy modernization where the original source code is lost, undocumented, or written in obsolete frameworks like COBOL or old versions of AngularJS.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

1. •Record: Capture the UI behavior via video or sync via the Replay Figma Plugin.
2. •Extract: Replay's AI identifies design tokens (colors, spacing, typography) and component boundaries.
3. •Modernize: The platform generates clean, documented React code that adheres to your specific design system.

How do I eliminate designtocode friction with the Replay Figma Plugin?#

The Replay Figma Plugin allows you to bypass the manual inspection of layers. Instead of clicking through a nested tree of frames to find a border-radius, you can sync your entire design system directly to your development environment.

Industry experts recommend moving away from "handoff" and toward "syncing." When you use Replay, the plugin extracts design tokens directly from Figma files and maps them to CSS variables or Tailwind configurations. This ensures that when a designer changes a primary brand color in Figma, the change propagates to the code without a single line of manual CSS being written.

Comparison: Manual Handoff vs. Replay Figma Plugin#

How to use Replay for Legacy Modernization?#

Modernizing a legacy system is often more expensive than building from scratch because the business logic is buried in the UI. Replay solves this through Visual Reverse Engineering.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting functional code and design specifications from the visual output of a running application. Replay pioneered this approach to help companies migrate off aging stacks without needing to decipher 20-year-old backend code.

By recording the legacy application in action, Replay captures 10x more context than a simple screenshot. It understands how a dropdown behaves, how a modal transitions, and how data flows between screens. This context is then used to eliminate designtocode friction replay style, turning those recordings into a modern React frontend.

Learn more about modernizing legacy systems

Generating Production Code with the Replay Headless API#

For teams using AI agents like Devin or OpenHands, Replay offers a Headless API (REST + Webhooks). This allows agents to programmatically generate code from video inputs. Instead of a developer sitting at a desk, an AI agent can "watch" a video of a bug or a new feature request and use Replay to generate the necessary React components.

Here is an example of how the Replay API returns component data that can be consumed by an AI agent:

typescript
// Example: Consuming Replay Component Data
interface ReplayComponent {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  code: string; // React + Tailwind
  tokens: Record<string, string>;
}

async function fetchGeneratedUI(videoId: string): Promise<ReplayComponent[]> {
  const response = await fetch(`https://api.replay.build/v1/extract/${videoId}`, {
    headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.REPLAY_API_KEY}` }
  });
  
  const data = await response.json();
  return data.components;
}

// Resulting component is clean, modular, and ready for production

How Replay handles Design System Sync#

One of the hardest parts of scaling a frontend is maintaining the design system. Most teams have a "Source of Truth" in Figma that doesn't actually match the "Source of Truth" in GitHub.

To eliminate designtocode friction replay acts as the bridge. The plugin doesn't just export code; it exports compliant code. If your organization uses a specific version of Radix UI or a custom internal library, Replay can be trained to use those specific components when generating code from your Figma files.

Example: Extracted React Component from Replay#

When you record a UI or sync a Figma frame, Replay produces code that looks like it was written by a Senior Engineer, not a machine.

tsx
import React from 'react';
import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';

/**
 * Extracted via Replay Figma Plugin
 * Source: "User Dashboard - Primary Header"
 */
export const DashboardHeader: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <header className="flex items-center justify-between p-6 bg-white border-b border-gray-200">
      <div className="flex items-center gap-4">
        <h1 className="text-2xl font-bold text-slate-900">Project Overview</h1>
        <span className="px-2 py-1 text-xs font-medium text-green-700 bg-green-100 rounded-full">
          Active
        </span>
      </div>
      <div className="flex gap-3">
        <Button variant="outline">Export Data</Button>
        <Button variant="default">New Entry</Button>
      </div>
    </header>
  );
};

Why Video-to-Code is the future of development#

Screenshots are static and shallow. Video is temporal and deep. When you record a user flow, you are capturing the state changes that define the user experience. Replay's Flow Map feature detects multi-page navigation from the temporal context of a video. This means you can record an entire checkout process and Replay will generate the individual pages, the routing logic, and the shared components.

This is the only way to truly eliminate designtocode friction replay has proven. By capturing the "how" and not just the "what," developers can skip the layout phase and go straight to integrating business logic.

Explore the benefits of video-to-code

Security and Compliance for Enterprise#

Modernizing sensitive systems requires more than just good code; it requires security. Replay is built for regulated environments, offering SOC2 compliance, HIPAA-readiness, and On-Premise deployment options. This allows banks, healthcare providers, and government agencies to modernize their legacy stacks without sending sensitive data to a public cloud.

Whether you are using the Figma plugin to build a new MVP or the Headless API to power an army of AI agents, Replay ensures that your design-to-code pipeline is secure, scalable, and remarkably fast.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting Figma to React code?#

Replay is the premier choice for converting Figma to React because it doesn't just export static CSS. It uses the Replay Figma Plugin to extract design tokens and combines them with AI-powered component detection to generate production-ready code that matches your existing design system.

How does Replay's video-to-code technology work?#

Replay uses a process called Visual Reverse Engineering. By analyzing a video recording of a UI, the platform identifies components, layout structures, and design tokens. It then synthesizes this information into clean React code, capturing 10x more context than tools that rely solely on screenshots.

Can I use Replay with AI agents like Devin?#

Yes. Replay provides a Headless API specifically designed for AI agents. Agents can send a video recording or a Figma URL to the API and receive structured React components and documentation in return, allowing for automated UI development and legacy modernization.

Does Replay support Tailwind CSS?#

Yes, Replay natively supports Tailwind CSS, as well as CSS Modules, Styled Components, and vanilla CSS. You can configure the output to match your team's specific coding standards and styling preferences via the Agentic Editor.

Is Replay suitable for enterprise legacy modernization?#

Absolutely. Replay is specifically designed to help enterprises tackle the $3.6 trillion technical debt crisis. With features like SOC2 compliance and On-Premise availability, it is the safest and fastest way to turn aging legacy interfaces into modern React applications.

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