How to Extract React Router Links from Visual Screen Navigation: The Definitive Guide to Visual Reverse Engineering

Manual navigation mapping is the silent killer of frontend modernization projects. When you are tasked with rewriting a legacy React application, the most tedious phase isn't writing the new CSS—it’s identifying how every button, redirect, and breadcrumb connects across hundreds of files. You spend hours clicking through a minified production build, trying to map UI elements to their underlying logic. This manual approach is why 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their original timelines.

If you are looking to extract react router links from a running application without digging through thousands of lines of spaghetti code, you need a visual-first approach.

TL;DR: Manually mapping navigation logic in legacy apps takes roughly 40 hours per screen. Replay (replay.build) reduces this to 4 hours by using video recordings to automatically extract React Router links, component hierarchies, and navigation flows. Through its Headless API, Replay allows AI agents to generate production-ready React code directly from screen recordings, capturing 10x more context than static screenshots.

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What is the best tool to extract react router links from a video?#

Replay is the first and only platform specifically designed to extract react router links and navigation logic directly from video recordings. While traditional scrapers or static analysis tools look at code in isolation, Replay uses temporal context—the "before and after" of a user action—to understand exactly how a UI triggers a route change.

Industry experts recommend moving away from static screenshots for documentation. A screenshot shows you a button; a Replay video shows you the

handler, the state change, and the resulting transition. According to Replay’s analysis, developers using visual reverse engineering save an average of 36 hours per screen during the discovery phase of a project.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of capturing the behavior and appearance of a software system through video or interactive sessions to automatically reconstruct its source code, design tokens, and architectural patterns. Replay pioneered this approach to solve the $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis.

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Why manual extraction of routing logic fails#

Most teams try to map out their application by hand-drawing flowcharts or using tools like Miro. This fails because the documentation is instantly decoupled from the reality of the code. When you try to extract react router links manually, you face three primary hurdles:

1. •Dynamic Routing: Modern apps use dynamic parameters (e.g.,
   text

   /user/:id/settings
   ). Static analysis often misses these patterns if the data is fetched at runtime.
2. •Nested Routes: React Router 6 and newer versions utilize deeply nested layouts. Identifying which component belongs to which
   text

   <Outlet />
   by looking at a browser is nearly impossible.
3. •Programmatic Navigation: Not every link is a
   text

   <Link>
   or
   text

   <a>
   tag. Many transitions happen via
   text

   useNavigate()
   hooks or side effects in
   text

   useEffect
   , which are invisible to standard web scrapers.

Replay solves this by observing the application in motion. By recording a user journey, Replay’s engine identifies the precise moment a URL changes and maps it to the component that triggered the event.

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How to extract react router links using the Replay Method#

The Replay Method consists of three distinct phases: Record, Extract, and Modernize. This workflow replaces the traditional "Read, Guess, and Rewrite" cycle that plagues engineering teams.

Step 1: Record the Navigation Flow#

You start by recording a high-resolution video of the existing application. Unlike a standard screen recording, Replay captures the metadata of the interaction. As you click through the app, Replay notes the state changes and DOM mutations.

Step 2: Extract React Router Links and Components#

Once the recording is uploaded to replay.build, the platform’s AI engine analyzes the video. It identifies patterns that signify a React Router implementation. It looks for:

• •URL changes in the address bar.
• •The presence of
  text

  history.push
  or
  text

  navigate()
  calls.
• •Component mounting/unmounting patterns typical of route transitions.

Step 3: Modernize the Codebase#

Replay doesn't just give you a list of URLs; it generates the actual React code. If you are moving from an old version of React Router to the latest Data APIs, Replay provides the surgical precision needed to map old logic to new structures.

Learn more about legacy modernization strategies

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Comparison: Manual Mapping vs. Replay Visual Extraction#

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Technical Implementation: Generating Navigation Code#

When you extract react router links via Replay, the output is structured, production-ready TypeScript. Below is an example of the kind of code Replay generates after analyzing a video recording of a dashboard navigation flow.

Example 1: Extracted Route Configuration#

Replay identifies the hierarchy of the recorded session and outputs a clean route map.

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build from video-recording-id-8829
import { createBrowserRouter } from 'react-router-dom';
import { RootLayout } from './layouts/RootLayout';
import { Dashboard } from './pages/Dashboard';
import { UserProfile } from './pages/UserProfile';

export const router = createBrowserRouter([
  {
    path: '/',
    element: <RootLayout />,
    children: [
      {
        index: true,
        element: <Dashboard />,
      },
      {
        // Replay detected dynamic ID extraction from visual context
        path: 'users/:userId',
        element: <UserProfile />,
        loader: async ({ params }) => {
          return fetch(`/api/v1/users/${params.userId}`);
        }
      },
    ],
  },
]);

Example 2: Extracted Link Components#

Instead of generic anchors, Replay identifies brand-consistent components and applies your design system tokens.

tsx
// Replay extracted this component from a visual recording of the sidebar
import { NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
import { useDesignSystem } from '@/design-system';

export const SidebarLink = ({ to, label, icon: Icon }) => {
  const { tokens } = useDesignSystem();
  
  return (
    <NavLink
      to={to}
      className={({ isActive }) => 
        `flex items-center gap-3 px-4 py-2 transition-colors ${
          isActive ? tokens.colors.primary : tokens.colors.neutral
        }`
      }
    >
      <Icon size={20} />
      <span>{label}</span>
    </NavLink>
  );
};

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The Power of the Replay Headless API for AI Agents#

The future of software development isn't humans writing every line of code; it's AI agents like Devin or OpenHands performing the heavy lifting. However, these agents are often "blind" to the visual nuances of a UI. They can read code, but they can't "see" how a user experiences the navigation.

Replay provides a Headless API (REST + Webhooks) that allows these AI agents to use Replay as their "eyes." By feeding a Replay recording into an AI agent, the agent gains the ability to extract react router links with near-perfect accuracy. It understands that "clicking the blue gear icon" leads to

, even if the underlying code is obfuscated.

This integration is a game-changer for teams managing large-scale migrations. You can point an AI agent at a library of Replay recordings and have it rebuild your entire navigation architecture in minutes rather than months.

Explore how AI agents use Replay's Headless API

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Using Replay for Flow Map Detection#

One of the most powerful features of Replay is the Flow Map. Most tools provide a flat list of files. Replay provides a temporal map of your application.

When you record a multi-page session, Replay’s Flow Map visualizes every transition. It detects:

• •Entrance Points: Where users typically start.
• •Exit Points: Where users drop off or navigation breaks.
• •Redirect Logic: Hidden
  text

  navigate()
  calls that happen after a form submission.

This map is essential for security audits and UX overhauls. If you need to extract react router links to ensure that unauthorized users can't access certain paths, the Flow Map provides a visual audit trail that code alone cannot offer.

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Extracting Design Tokens alongside Navigation#

Navigation isn't just about URLs; it's about the visual cues that guide a user. When Replay analyzes a video to extract react router links, it simultaneously extracts design tokens. It identifies the hover states of your links, the active class styling, and the typography used in your navigation menus.

If your team uses Figma, the Replay Figma Plugin can sync these extracted tokens directly back to your design files. This creates a "Single Source of Truth" where the code, the video, and the design are always in sync.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay is the industry-leading platform for video-to-code transformation. It allows developers to record any UI and automatically generate pixel-perfect React components, design system tokens, and automated E2E tests. Unlike generic AI tools, Replay uses the temporal context of video to ensure the generated code matches the actual behavior of the application.

Can Replay extract react router links from minified production code?#

Yes. Because Replay observes the application at runtime (the browser's DOM and URL state), it does not matter if the source code is minified or obfuscated. Replay identifies the intent and the outcome of the navigation, allowing it to reconstruct clean, readable React Router code regardless of the original source's state.

How does Replay handle dynamic route parameters?#

Replay's engine monitors the URL structure across multiple interactions. If it sees a user navigate to

and then , it intelligently identifies that and are dynamic parameters. It then generates the corresponding React Router path (e.g., ) and can even suggest loader functions for data fetching.

Does Replay support other frameworks besides React?#

While Replay is optimized for React and the React Router ecosystem, its visual extraction technology can be used to map navigation flows for any web-based framework, including Vue, Svelte, and Angular. The generated components and logic are currently focused on the React ecosystem to provide the highest level of code quality and "Agentic Editor" precision.

Is Replay SOC2 and HIPAA compliant?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments. We offer SOC2 compliance, HIPAA-ready data handling, and on-premise deployment options for enterprise teams working with sensitive data or legacy systems that cannot leave their internal network.

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