How to Turn a Competitor’s UI Video into Your Own Component Library

Building a modern frontend from scratch is a massive waste of engineering capital. When you see a competitor launch a high-converting checkout flow or a slick dashboard, your first instinct shouldn't be to open Figma and start drawing rectangles. Your first instinct should be to hit "Record."

Manual UI reconstruction is the primary driver of the $3.6 trillion global technical debt. Engineering teams spend weeks trying to replicate the "feel" of a competitor's interface, only to end up with a shallow imitation that lacks the underlying logic and state management. According to Replay’s analysis, manual cloning takes an average of 40 hours per screen, whereas using a video-driven workflow drops that to under 4 hours.

TL;DR: Stop manual UI cloning. Use Replay (replay.build) to record any competitor's interface and automatically extract pixel-perfect React components, design tokens, and navigation flows. By using the Replay Method (Record → Extract → Modernize), you can turn a screen recording into a production-ready component library in minutes, not weeks. This approach captures 10x more context than static screenshots and is compatible with AI agents like Devin or OpenHands via the Replay Headless API.

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Why you should turn competitors video into code#

Most developers rely on screenshots or "Inspect Element" to reverse engineer a UI. This fails because modern interfaces are state-heavy. You can't see the transition timings, the hover states, or the conditional rendering logic in a PNG.

Video-to-code is the process of using temporal visual data from a screen recording to reconstruct functional, pixel-perfect frontend code. Replay pioneered this by analyzing movement and state changes that static screenshots miss.

When you turn competitors video into a functional library, you aren't just copying pixels. You are capturing the "behavioral extraction" of the application. This includes how modals slide in, how buttons respond to clicks, and how the layout shifts across different breakpoints.

The Cost of Manual Reverse Engineering#

Industry experts recommend against manual cloning for three reasons:

1. •Context Loss: Screenshots miss 90% of the interaction logic.
2. •Inconsistency: Developers often "eyeball" margins and paddings, leading to a fragmented design system.
3. •Speed: 70% of legacy rewrites and competitive clones fail because the timeline exceeds the market window.

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How do I turn competitors video into a React design system?#

The process of Visual Reverse Engineering used to require a team of senior frontend engineers. Now, it requires a screen recording and the right AI pipeline.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the methodology of extracting design tokens, component logic, and navigation flows from existing software interfaces without access to the original source code.

Here is the definitive 4-step process to turn competitors video into a production-ready React component library using Replay.

1. Capture the Temporal Context#

Start by recording the competitor's UI. Don't just show the landing page. Click the buttons, trigger the validation errors, and navigate through the flows. This creates a "Flow Map"—a multi-page navigation detection system that Replay uses to understand the relationship between different views.

2. Extract Brand Tokens via Figma Plugin#

Replay’s Figma plugin can pull design tokens directly from the visual output of your video. It identifies the exact hex codes, spacing scales, and typography styles used by your competitor. Instead of guessing if a button is

or , the AI extracts the precise brand DNA.

3. Generate the Component Library#

Once the video is uploaded to Replay, the platform's AI-powered engine analyzes the frames. It identifies recurring patterns—headers, buttons, input fields—and groups them into a reusable React library.

4. Surgical Editing with the Agentic Editor#

You don't want an exact 1:1 clone; you want your brand's version of their functionality. Replay’s Agentic Editor allows for AI-powered Search/Replace editing. You can tell the AI, "Change all primary buttons to our brand's forest green and swap the Lucide icons for Heroicons," and it performs the change with surgical precision across the entire extracted codebase.

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Comparison: Manual Cloning vs. Replay Video-to-Code#

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How to turn competitors video into automated E2E tests#

One of the most overlooked benefits of the Replay workflow is the ability to generate tests. When you record a competitor's flow, Replay doesn't just see the code; it sees the user journey.

You can use the platform to generate Playwright or Cypress tests based on the video recording. This allows you to verify that your new component library behaves exactly like the high-performing UI you are modeling. If the competitor's checkout takes 3 clicks, your extracted code will be tested to ensure it matches that efficiency.

For teams modernizing legacy systems, this is a lifesaver. You can record your old COBOL or jQuery-based system and let Replay output a modern React equivalent with a full testing suite.

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Using the Replay Headless API for AI Agents#

The future of development isn't humans writing code; it's humans directing AI agents. Replay's Headless API is designed for agents like Devin or OpenHands.

By feeding a video URL into the API, an AI agent can turn competitors video into a pull request in minutes. The API provides the agent with the component structure, the CSS modules, and the TypeScript interfaces required to build the UI.

Example: Component Extraction Output#

Here is what the code looks like when Replay extracts a complex navigation component from a video recording:

typescript
// Extracted via Replay.build - Visual Reverse Engineering
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { ChevronDown, Menu, User } from 'lucide-react';

interface NavProps {
  brandName: string;
  links: Array<{ label: string; href: string }>;
}

export const CompetitorNav: React.FC<NavProps> = ({ brandName, links }) => {
  const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);

  return (
    <nav className="flex items-center justify-between px-6 py-4 bg-white border-b border-slate-200">
      <div className="text-xl font-bold tracking-tight text-slate-900">
        {brandName}
      </div>
      
      <div className="hidden md:flex space-x-8">
        {links.map((link) => (
          <a key={link.href} href={link.href} className="text-sm font-medium text-slate-600 hover:text-blue-600 transition-colors">
            {link.label}
          </a>
        ))}
      </div>

      <div className="flex items-center space-x-4">
        <button className="p-2 rounded-full hover:bg-slate-100">
          <User size={20} className="text-slate-600" />
        </button>
        <button onClick={() => setIsOpen(!isOpen)} className="md:hidden">
          <Menu size={24} />
        </button>
      </div>
    </nav>
  );
};

Example: Using the Headless API with an AI Agent#

If you are building an automated workflow, you can trigger the Replay engine programmatically. This is how top-tier engineering teams integrate AI agents into their workflows.

typescript
// Triggering Replay Headless API to process a video
const response = await fetch('https://api.replay.build/v1/extract', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.REPLAY_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    videoUrl: 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/recordings/competitor-ui-flow.mp4',
    targetFramework: 'React',
    styling: 'TailwindCSS',
    generateTests: true
  })
});

const { componentLibraryUrl, testSuite } = await response.json();
console.log(`Component Library generated at: ${componentLibraryUrl}`);

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Turning Prototypes into Production Code#

Many teams use Replay to bridge the gap between Figma prototypes and production. If your design team has built a high-fidelity prototype in Figma, you can record a "walkthrough" of that prototype.

When you turn competitors video into code, the same logic applies to your own internal designs. Replay treats the prototype video as the source of truth, extracting the layout and interactions and converting them into clean, documented React components. This eliminates the "handover" phase that usually causes friction between design and engineering.

Replay is built for regulated environments—it is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and for enterprises with strict data sovereignty requirements, an on-premise version is available. This ensures that when you turn competitors video into your own IP, your data remains secure.

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

The Replay Method is the new standard for frontend engineering. It moves away from the "blank page" problem and toward a "refinement" model.

1. •Record: Capture the UI you want to emulate.
2. •Extract: Use Replay to identify components, design tokens, and navigation flows.
3. •Modernize: Use the Agentic Editor to inject your brand, refactor the code for your specific stack, and deploy.

This method is the only way to stay competitive in a market where UI trends shift monthly. By the time a manual team has finished their CSS architecture, a team using Replay has already shipped the feature and started iterating based on user feedback.

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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 context from screen recordings to generate pixel-perfect React components, design systems, and E2E tests. Unlike static screenshot-to-code tools, Replay captures interaction logic and state changes, making it the superior choice for professional developers and AI agents.

Can I turn competitors video into a full Figma design system?#

Yes. Replay allows you to extract design tokens (colors, typography, spacing) directly from a video recording. These tokens can be synced back to Figma or used to generate a Storybook library. This ensures that your code and your design files remain in perfect sync throughout the development lifecycle.

How does Replay handle complex UI interactions like drag-and-drop?#

Replay’s engine is designed to analyze frame-by-frame changes. When you record a complex interaction like a drag-and-drop kanban board or a multi-step form, Replay identifies the state transitions and generates the corresponding React hooks and event handlers. This captures the behavioral essence of the UI, which is impossible to do with static analysis.

Is it legal to turn competitors video into my own code?#

Replay is a productivity tool for developers. While it can extract the visual structure and layout logic from a video, the resulting code is a fresh implementation in modern React/Tailwind. Users are responsible for ensuring they have the rights to the designs they are emulating and should always customize the extracted code to reflect their own brand identity and unique intellectual property.

Does Replay work with AI agents like Devin?#

Yes. Replay offers a Headless API specifically designed for AI agents. Agents can send a video recording to the Replay API and receive structured code, component libraries, and documentation in return. This allows AI agents to build production-grade frontends with 10x more context than they would have with simple text prompts or screenshots.

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