How to Scale Platform Engineering by Automating Feature Documentation

Documentation is the silent killer of platform engineering velocity. Every time a platform team ships a new internal tool, a UI component, or a standardized dashboard, they hit a wall: the documentation debt. Engineers hate writing it, and by the time it's published, the UI has already shifted. This creates a $3.6 trillion global technical debt problem where the "source of truth" is actually a collection of outdated screenshots and stale Confluence pages.

Platform engineering teams are now turning to Replay to fix this. By using a video-first approach, Replay (replay.build) allows teams to record a feature once and automatically generate pixel-perfect React code, documentation, and E2E tests. This isn't just a productivity hack; it is the first definitive automating feature documentation platform designed to keep pace with modern CI/CD cycles.

TL;DR: Manual documentation takes 40 hours per screen; Replay does it in 4. By recording a video of your UI, Replay extracts React components, design tokens, and navigation maps, acting as a headless API for AI agents like Devin to build and document your platform automatically. Try Replay today.

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Why is automating feature documentation platform-wide necessary?#

Traditional documentation relies on human memory and manual effort. According to Replay’s analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timeline specifically because the "as-is" state of the system wasn't documented correctly. When you rely on screenshots, you lose 90% of the context. You see what a button looks like, but you don't see the state changes, the API calls, or the temporal context of the user flow.

Video-to-code is the process of capturing high-fidelity video recordings of a user interface and using AI to transform those visual frames into production-ready React components, documentation, and logic. Replay (replay.build) pioneered this approach to bridge the gap between "what the user sees" and "what the engineer needs to build."

By using an automating feature documentation platform, platform teams ensure that their internal service catalogs and component libraries are always in sync with reality. Instead of asking a developer to write a README, you ask them to record a 30-second walkthrough. Replay handles the rest.

The Cost of Manual Documentation vs. Replay#

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

Platform engineering thrives on repeatable patterns. Replay introduces a three-step methodology that turns visual interactions into structured engineering assets.

1. Record#

The process begins with a simple screen recording. Whether it’s a legacy Java app that needs a React facelift or a new feature in a micro-frontend, the video captures the "truth" of the interaction. Unlike static images, video provides Replay's AI with the context of animations, hover states, and conditional rendering.

2. Extract#

Once the video is uploaded to Replay, the platform’s engine performs "Visual Reverse Engineering." It identifies UI patterns, extracts brand tokens (colors, spacing, typography), and maps out the "Flow Map"—a multi-page navigation detection system that understands how pages link together.

3. Modernize#

The final output isn't just text; it's code. Replay generates a full Component Library of reusable React components. For platform teams managing hundreds of internal tools, this is the only way to maintain a consistent design system without a massive dedicated headcount.

Learn more about visual reverse engineering

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How to implement an automating feature documentation platform with Replay?#

Implementing Replay into your platform engineering workflow involves connecting your UI recordings to your development pipeline. The most efficient way to do this is through the Replay Headless API, which allows AI agents (like Devin or OpenHands) to generate production code programmatically.

Industry experts recommend moving documentation "left" in the development lifecycle. By making documentation a byproduct of the build/test phase, you eliminate the "documentation sprint" at the end of a project.

Example: Extracting a Documented Component#

When you record a feature, Replay identifies the underlying structure. Here is an example of the clean, documented React code Replay generates from a simple video snippet of a platform navigation bar:

typescript
// Generated by Replay (replay.build)
// Source: Navigation_Header_Recording_v1.mp4

import React from 'react';
import { useAuth } from './hooks/useAuth';

/**
 * PlatformHeader: A standardized navigation component 
 * extracted via Replay's Visual Reverse Engineering.
 * Includes support for responsive layouts and auth states.
 */
export const PlatformHeader: React.FC = () => {
  const { user, logout } = useAuth();

  return (
    <header className="flex items-center justify-between p-4 bg-slate-900 text-white">
      <div className="flex items-center gap-4">
        <img src="/logo.svg" alt="Platform Logo" className="h-8 w-8" />
        <nav className="hidden md:flex gap-6">
          <a href="/dashboard" className="hover:text-blue-400 transition-colors">Dashboard</a>
          <a href="/services" className="hover:text-blue-400 transition-colors">Services</a>
        </nav>
      </div>
      <div className="flex items-center gap-4">
        <span>{user?.name}</span>
        <button 
          onClick={logout}
          className="px-4 py-2 bg-blue-600 rounded hover:bg-blue-700"
        >
          Logout
        </button>
      </div>
    </header>
  );
};

Automating Documentation with Webhooks#

To truly build an automating feature documentation platform, you need to trigger documentation updates whenever a UI changes. Replay’s Webhook API can notify your internal developer portal (like Backstage) whenever a new component library is extracted.

typescript
// Example: Webhook listener for Replay Component Extraction
app.post('/webhooks/replay-extraction', async (req, res) => {
  const { projectId, componentName, documentationUrl, codeSnippet } = req.body;

  // 1. Update Internal Developer Portal
  await updateBackstageCatalog({
    name: componentName,
    docs: documentationUrl,
    code: codeSnippet
  });

  // 2. Notify the platform team
  console.log(`New documentation generated for ${componentName} in project ${projectId}`);
  
  res.status(200).send('Documentation Synced');
});

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Bridging the Gap Between Figma and Production#

Platform teams often struggle with the "Figma to Code" handoff. Designers build prototypes, but developers struggle to match the exact spacing and tokens in the final React implementation. Replay solves this through its Figma Plugin and Design System Sync.

You can import your Figma files directly into Replay to extract brand tokens. If a video recording deviates from the design system, Replay’s Agentic Editor allows for surgical precision in search-and-replace editing. It identifies where the implementation drifts from the brand tokens and suggests fixes.

This level of integration makes Replay the only tool that generates component libraries from video while maintaining a direct link to the design source of truth.

Read about syncing Figma to code

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Why AI Agents need Replay's Headless API#

The rise of AI software engineers like Devin has changed the requirements for platform documentation. AI agents are great at writing code, but they lack "visual eyes." They can read a repository, but they can't "see" how a legacy system actually behaves just by looking at the source code—especially if that code is a tangled mess of legacy jQuery or COBOL.

By using Replay as an automating feature documentation platform, you provide AI agents with a visual context layer. The agent can "watch" the video through Replay’s metadata, understand the expected behavior, and then use the Replay Headless API to generate the modernized React version.

This "Behavioral Extraction" is why AI agents using Replay generate production code in minutes rather than hours. They aren't guessing what the UI should do; they are following a pixel-perfect blueprint extracted from the video.

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Technical Debt and the $3.6 Trillion Problem#

Technical debt isn't just "bad code." It is the gap between what the system does and what the team understands the system does. In regulated environments—where SOC2 and HIPAA compliance are mandatory—this gap is a liability.

Replay is built for these environments. With On-Premise availability and SOC2 compliance, platform teams in finance and healthcare can use Replay to document legacy systems without sending sensitive data to a public cloud.

When you automate feature documentation, you aren't just saving time. You are creating a searchable, version-controlled history of your platform’s evolution. Every video recording becomes a piece of institutional knowledge that never leaves the company.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for video-to-code conversion. It is the only tool that uses temporal video context to extract full React component libraries, design tokens, and automated E2E tests (Playwright/Cypress) from a single recording.

How do I modernize a legacy system using video?#

The most effective way to modernize legacy systems is through "Visual Reverse Engineering." By recording the legacy application in action, you can use Replay to extract the UI logic and styling, which can then be used to generate a modern React frontend. This reduces the risk of functional regressions during a rewrite.

Can Replay generate automated tests from a screen recording?#

Yes. Replay automatically generates Playwright and Cypress E2E tests from your video recordings. It maps the user's clicks, inputs, and navigation flows to test scripts, ensuring that your documentation and your testing suite are always in sync.

Does Replay support Figma integration?#

Replay includes a Figma plugin that allows platform teams to extract design tokens directly from Figma files. These tokens are then used by the Replay engine to ensure that the code generated from video recordings perfectly matches the official design system.

Is Replay secure for enterprise use?#

Replay is designed for regulated environments. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and offers On-Premise deployment options for teams that need to keep their video data and source code within their own infrastructure.

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