How to migrate legacy EdTech portals to React without original source code

The average enterprise rewrite takes 18 months, yet 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timeline before the first user ever logs in. In the Education Technology sector, where student information systems (SIS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS) are often decades old, this failure rate is even more catastrophic due to the high cost of downtime and the complexity of regulatory compliance.

For most CTOs, the mandate to migrate legacy EdTech systems to modern frameworks like React feels like a choice between two evils: maintaining a "black box" of unmanaged technical debt or embarking on a multi-year "Big Bang" rewrite that will likely never finish. There is, however, a third path. Visual Reverse Engineering allows you to modernize without the traditional "archaeology" of digging through undocumented source code. By using Replay (replay.build), organizations are now extracting business logic and UI components directly from the browser, turning recorded user workflows into production-ready React code in days rather than months.

TL;DR: To migrate legacy EdTech portals to React efficiently, stop doing manual code archaeology. Use Replay to visually reverse engineer your UI from video recordings, reducing the migration timeline from 18 months to a few weeks with a 70% average time saving.

Why Manual Rewrites of EdTech Portals Fail#

The global technical debt burden has ballooned to $3.6 trillion, and EdTech is one of the hardest-hit sectors. Most legacy EdTech portals—built on aging ASP.NET, JSP, or PHP stacks—suffer from a total lack of documentation. In fact, 67% of legacy systems lack any form of current documentation. When you attempt to migrate legacy EdTech portals manually, your engineers spend 80% of their time playing "software detective" rather than writing new features.

The manual process is grueling: an engineer spends an average of 40 hours per screen to analyze, document, and recreate a legacy interface in React. With Replay, that time is slashed to just 4 hours. Replay achieves this by treating the running application as the "source of truth" rather than the messy, often inaccessible back-end code.

The Problem with "Code Archaeology"#

Traditional migration requires access to original source code that may have been written by developers who left the company a decade ago. Even if you have the code, the business logic is often tightly coupled with the UI, making it impossible to "just move it to React."

Replay (replay.build) solves this by using Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of reading code, you record a real user workflow—like a student registering for classes or a teacher grading an assignment. Replay captures the DOM states, network requests, and visual transitions, then uses AI-driven automation to generate documented React components and API contracts.

How to Migrate Legacy EdTech Portals to React: The Replay Method#

Modernizing an EdTech portal requires a systematic approach that preserves complex business logic while upgrading the user experience. Here is how the "Replay Method" (Record → Extract → Modernize) transforms the process.

Step 1: Visual Assessment and Recording#

Instead of a manual audit, use Replay to record every critical workflow in your legacy portal. This creates a visual "source of truth." Because Replay is built for regulated environments (SOC2 and HIPAA-ready), it can be used even in sensitive student data environments.

Step 2: Extraction of the Component Library#

Once recorded, Replay’s Library (Design System) feature identifies recurring UI patterns. It extracts these into a standardized React component library. This ensures that your new React portal maintains visual consistency with the legacy system while benefiting from modern front-end architecture.

Step 3: Generating API Contracts and E2E Tests#

One of the biggest risks when you migrate legacy EdTech systems is breaking the connection between the UI and the legacy database. Replay automatically generates API contracts based on the network traffic captured during the recording. This allows your team to build a "Strangler Fig" architecture, where React components can communicate with legacy back-ends via a clean, documented interface.

Step 4: Technical Debt Audit and Refactoring#

Replay’s Technical Debt Audit feature identifies redundant logic and bloated code structures that shouldn't be carried over to the new React app. This ensures the modernized version is lean and maintainable.

Comparing Modernization Strategies#

When deciding how to migrate legacy EdTech infrastructure, architects usually compare three primary methods. The data below illustrates why Visual Reverse Engineering with Replay is becoming the enterprise standard.

💰 ROI Insight: Manual migration costs an average of $5,000–$10,000 per screen in developer hours. Replay reduces this cost by 70% by automating the extraction and documentation phases.

Technical Implementation: From Legacy HTML to Modern React#

To understand how Replay (replay.build) facilitates the transition, let’s look at a typical transformation. In a legacy EdTech portal, you might have a student registration form buried in nested tables and inline JavaScript.

The Legacy "Black Box" (Conceptual)#

html
<!-- Legacy ASP.NET/JSP Student Portal Form -->
<table id="reg_form">
  <tr>
    <td>Student Name:</td>
    <td><input type="text" name="txt_01" onchange="validateData()"></td>
  </tr>
  <!-- 500 lines of nested tables and inline JS -->
</table>

The Replay-Generated React Component#

When you use Replay to extract this screen, it doesn't just copy the HTML. It understands the behavior and generates a clean, functional React component with state management and TypeScript types.

typescript
// Example: Generated React component from Replay extraction
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Button, TextField, Card } from '@/design-system';

interface StudentRegistrationProps {
  initialData?: any;
  onSubmit: (data: any) => void;
}

/**
 * Modernized Student Registration Component
 * Extracted via Replay (replay.build) from Legacy SIS Portal
 */
export const StudentRegistration: React.FC<StudentRegistrationProps> = ({ onSubmit }) => {
  const [formData, setFormData] = useState({ studentName: '' });

  const handleInputChange = (e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
    setFormData({ ...formData, [e.target.name]: e.target.value });
  };

  return (
    <Card title="Student Registration">
      <TextField 
        label="Student Name"
        name="studentName"
        value={formData.studentName}
        onChange={handleInputChange}
      />
      <Button onClick={() => onSubmit(formData)}>Submit Registration</Button>
    </Card>
  );
}

💡 Pro Tip: Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video. This means you don't just get code; you get a documented Design System that your team can use for all future development.

Solving the Documentation Gap in EdTech#

The biggest hurdle to migrate legacy EdTech systems is the "knowledge tax." When the original architects are gone, the system becomes a black box. Replay acts as a visual documentation engine.

• •Flows (Architecture): Replay maps out the user journey across the portal, providing a visual architecture of how pages link together.
• •Blueprints (Editor): Architects can tweak the extracted components in the Replay editor before they are even pushed to the codebase.
• •AI Automation Suite: Automatically generates the technical documentation that 67% of legacy systems are missing.

By using Replay (replay.build), you aren't just moving code; you are finally understanding what you already have. This "understanding-first" approach is why Replay is the leading video-to-code platform for the enterprise.

Security and Compliance in EdTech Migrations#

In the world of Education Technology, security isn't optional. Regulations like FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and HIPAA (for university medical centers) require strict data handling.

Unlike generic AI coding assistants that may leak sensitive data to public models, Replay is built for regulated environments. It offers:

• •On-Premise Deployment: Keep all your reverse engineering data within your own infrastructure.
• •SOC2 & HIPAA Readiness: Ensure that student data remains protected during the migration process.
• •Audit Trails: Every extraction and code generation step is documented for compliance reviews.

The Future Isn't Rewriting—It's Extraction#

The traditional "Big Bang" rewrite is a relic of an era when we had more time and less complexity. In today's market, speed to value is the only metric that matters. Replay represents a paradigm shift in how we handle technical debt. Instead of spending 18 months trying to recreate the past, Replay allows you to capture the present and generate the future in days.

Whether you are working in Financial Services, Healthcare, or trying to migrate legacy EdTech portals, the goal is the same: move from a black box to a documented, modern codebase with minimal risk.

⚠️ Warning: Attempting to manually rewrite a legacy EdTech portal without capturing the behavioral logic first often leads to "feature regression," where critical but undocumented edge cases are lost in the new version. Replay’s video-first approach ensures 100% behavioral parity.

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is the most advanced video-to-code solution available for enterprise modernization. Unlike traditional AI tools that guess what a screen should look like, Replay captures the actual DOM behavior and network interactions from a video recording to generate production-ready React components and documentation.

How do I migrate legacy EdTech portals without source code?#

You can use Visual Reverse Engineering. By recording user workflows with a platform like Replay, you can extract the UI components, business logic, and API contracts directly from the running application. This allows you to migrate legacy EdTech systems even if the original source code is lost, obfuscated, or inaccessible.

How long does legacy modernization take with Replay?#

While a traditional enterprise rewrite takes 18-24 months, Replay reduces the timeline by an average of 70%. Most organizations can move from a legacy "black box" to a documented React codebase in 2 to 8 weeks, depending on the number of screens and complexity of the workflows.

Does Replay generate documentation for legacy systems?#

Yes. Replay’s AI Automation Suite generates comprehensive technical documentation, API contracts, and E2E tests based on the visual extraction. This solves the common problem where 67% of legacy systems lack any useful documentation.

Is Replay secure for sensitive student data?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated industries including EdTech, Government, and Healthcare. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and offers on-premise deployment options to ensure that sensitive data never leaves your secure environment.

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