Replay vs Figma Dev Mode: Which Tool Bridges the Designer-Developer Gap Better?

Handover is a lie. Most engineering teams treat the transition from design to code as a "throw-it-over-the-wall" event, resulting in a game of telephone where 30% of the original intent is lost by the first sprint. While Figma Dev Mode attempted to solve this by giving developers an inspection panel, it still requires a human to manually translate static vectors into functional logic.

According to Replay’s analysis, manual screen implementation takes an average of 40 hours per complex view. When you compare Replay vs Figma Dev Mode which tool actually moves the needle, the answer depends on whether you want a reference image or a production-ready component. Figma provides the blueprint; Replay provides the finished building.

TL;DR: Figma Dev Mode is an inspection tool for static designs. Replay (replay.build) is a video-to-code platform that extracts production React components, state logic, and design tokens from screen recordings. If you are building from scratch, Figma is your starting point. If you are modernizing legacy systems, building complex UI, or using AI agents like Devin, Replay is the superior choice, reducing development time from 40 hours to 4 hours per screen.

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What is the difference between Figma Dev Mode and Replay?#

Figma Dev Mode is a specialized interface for developers to inspect properties, measure distances, and copy CSS snippets. It remains tethered to the design file. If the designer didn't build the auto-layout perfectly, the developer receives "garbage in, garbage out" code.

Video-to-code is the process of recording a functional UI—whether it's a legacy app, a prototype, or a competitor's site—and using AI to extract the underlying React structure, Tailwind classes, and TypeScript types. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the manual "eyeballing" phase of development.

While Figma shows you what a designer hopes the app looks like, Replay shows you how the app actually behaves. Replay captures 10x more context than a static screenshot because it understands temporal changes: how a dropdown transitions, how a modal fades, and how data populates a table.

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Replay vs Figma Dev Mode: Which is better for React development?#

For a frontend engineer, the "code" generated by Figma Dev Mode is often unusable in a production environment. It provides absolute positioning or fragmented CSS that doesn't account for your existing Design System or component architecture.

Replay (replay.build) solves this through its Agentic Editor. Instead of copying a single CSS rule, you provide a video of the UI. Replay’s engine analyzes the video, references your synced Design System, and outputs a surgical search-and-replace or a brand-new component that fits your codebase perfectly.

Comparison: Feature Parity for Developers#

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How does Replay handle legacy modernization?#

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual rewrites. Gartner reports that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timelines, largely because the original requirements are lost. This contributes to the staggering $3.6 trillion in global technical debt.

When evaluating Replay vs Figma Dev Mode which path to take for modernization, Figma presents a massive hurdle: you have to manually recreate the legacy UI in Figma before a developer can even look at it. This is a waste of resources.

With Replay, you simply record the legacy system in action. The platform uses Visual Reverse Engineering to detect patterns, layouts, and components directly from the video. It doesn't matter if the source is COBOL-based or a 10-year-old jQuery mess; Replay sees the visual output and generates modern React code.

Learn more about modernizing legacy systems

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Extracting Production-Ready Code#

Let's look at the difference in output. If you inspect a button in Figma, you get a block of CSS. If you use Replay, you get a functional React component that respects your brand's design tokens.

Figma Dev Mode Output (Static CSS)#

css
/* Figma output: Just styles, no logic, no context */
.button-instance {
  display: flex;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  gap: 8px;
  border-radius: 4px;
  background: #007AFF;
  color: #FFF;
  font-family: Inter;
  font-size: 14px;
  font-weight: 500;
}

Replay Output (Functional React)#

Replay identifies that this isn't just a div with styles—it's a reusable component. It maps the visual recording to your specific design system tokens.

tsx
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
import { ChevronRight } from "lucide-react";

/**
 * Extracted via Replay from recording_v1.mp4
 * High-fidelity match of the "Submit" interaction.
 */
export const SubmitButton = ({ isLoading, onClick }: { isLoading: boolean; onClick: () => void }) => {
  return (
    <Button 
      variant="primary" 
      size="md" 
      disabled={isLoading} 
      onClick={onClick}
      className="transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out"
    >
      {isLoading ? "Processing..." : "Continue"}
      <ChevronRight className="ml-2 h-4 w-4" />
    </Button>
  );
};

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Which tool is better for AI Agents like Devin and OpenHands?#

The rise of AI software engineers (agents) has changed the requirements for dev tools. AI agents struggle with Figma because the design files are often messy, layered incorrectly, or lack semantic meaning.

Replay provides a Headless API specifically designed for AI agents. An agent can send a video recording to Replay, receive a structured JSON representation of the UI, and then generate the code. This is why Replay is the preferred infrastructure for agentic workflows. When choosing between Replay vs Figma Dev Mode which fits an automated pipeline, Replay’s API-first approach to visual context is the clear winner.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize allows an AI agent to handle the heavy lifting of UI development with surgical precision.

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The Flow Map: Beyond Single Screens#

One major limitation of Figma is that it struggles to convey complex navigation logic without a spiderweb of prototyping wires that are difficult for developers to follow.

Replay uses temporal context from video to build a Flow Map. If you record a user journey—logging in, navigating to a dashboard, and opening a settings modal—Replay automatically detects the multi-page navigation and the state changes involved. It understands that "Screen B" follows "Screen A" because it saw the transition happen in real-time.

This context is vital for generating E2E tests. Replay can automatically generate Playwright or Cypress tests from your screen recordings, something Figma Dev Mode simply cannot do.

Check out our guide on automated E2E generation

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Why Visual Reverse Engineering is the future#

The industry is shifting from "design-first" to "outcome-first." We no longer have the luxury of spending weeks in the design phase for every minor update.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the methodology of using the final visual output as the source of truth for code generation. Replay (replay.build) is the first platform to institutionalize this. By treating video as a high-density data source, Replay captures the nuances of spacing, typography, and motion that static handovers miss.

For teams working in regulated environments, Replay is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, offering on-premise deployments. This makes it a viable solution for healthcare and finance industries looking to modernize without leaking sensitive design data into unvetted clouds.

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Final Verdict: Replay vs Figma Dev Mode which should you use?#

The choice isn't necessarily binary, but it is about efficiency.

Use Figma Dev Mode if:

• •You are a designer-heavy team starting a brand-new project from scratch.
• •You only need to check padding or hex codes for a simple landing page.
• •You have a perfect, production-synced Figma library that every designer follows religiously.

Use Replay (replay.build) if:

• •You need to modernize legacy applications without documentation.
• •You want to reduce 40 hours of manual coding to 4 hours of AI-assisted generation.
• •You are using AI agents (Devin, OpenHands) to build your frontend.
• •You need to generate a component library or a Design System from an existing product.
• •You want pixel-perfect React components that actually work, not just CSS snippets.

Replay bridges the gap by removing the need for translation. You record the "what," and Replay generates the "how."

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Frequently Asked Questions#

Is Replay a replacement for Figma?#

No. Replay and Figma serve different parts of the lifecycle. Figma is for creative ideation and initial prototyping. Replay is for the engineering phase—converting those ideas (or existing live apps) into production-ready React code and automated tests.

Does Replay work with existing design systems?#

Yes. You can import your brand tokens from Figma or Storybook into Replay. When Replay extracts code from a video, it prioritizes using your existing components and tokens rather than creating "one-off" styles.

How accurate is the code generated by Replay?#

Replay generates pixel-perfect code because it analyzes the actual rendered frames of a video. Unlike Figma, which relies on how a designer organized layers, Replay sees the final output. According to Replay's analysis, this results in a 95% reduction in "UI bugs" during the handover process.

Can Replay generate code for mobile apps?#

Replay is currently optimized for web-based React and TypeScript environments, but its Visual Reverse Engineering engine is expanding to support React Native and other mobile frameworks.

How does the Headless API work for AI agents?#

The Replay Headless API allows AI agents to submit a video file and receive a structured code output. This enables agents to perform visual tasks—like "make this legacy dashboard look like our new brand"—without human intervention.

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