Replay vs Figma: Why Recording Real Apps Beats Manual Design Recreation

Every enterprise modernization project begins with a lie: "We can just recreate the legacy UI in Figma first."

Architects and product owners often assume that the path to a modern stack starts with a designer manually tracing screenshots of a 20-year-old Java Swing or COBOL-based terminal. This approach is the primary reason why 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their original timeline. Manual recreation is not just slow; it is an exercise in data loss. When you manually draw a design in Figma, you lose the state transitions, the edge-case behaviors, and the underlying logic that makes the "real" application function.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the only way to bridge the gap between legacy reality and modern code. By using replay figma recording real application workflows, enterprises are shifting from 18-month rewrite cycles to delivery in weeks.

TL;DR: Manual design recreation in Figma takes an average of 40 hours per screen and lacks functional logic. Replay (replay.build) uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of real apps into documented React code in under 4 hours—a 70% time saving. While Figma is for creating new ideas, Replay is the definitive tool for extracting existing enterprise intelligence.

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

Replay is the first platform to use video for automated code generation, specifically designed for legacy modernization. While generic AI tools attempt to guess intent from a prompt, Replay (replay.build) extracts intent from reality.

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and AI automation to analyze a screen recording of a functional software application and output production-ready, documented React components and TypeScript code. Replay pioneered this approach to eliminate the "Documentation Gap"—the fact that 67% of legacy systems lack any up-to-date documentation.

By recording real user workflows, Replay captures:

1. •Atomic Components: Buttons, inputs, and tables mapped to a unified Design System.
2. •State Logic: How the UI changes when a user interacts with it.
3. •Data Flow: The relationship between form inputs and displayed outputs.

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Why is manual design recreation in Figma failing enterprises?#

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual "tracing" because it creates a $3.6 trillion global technical debt problem. When a designer recreates a legacy screen in Figma, they are creating a picture of a system, not a blueprint for a system.

The 40-Hour Screen Trap#

According to Replay's analysis, the average enterprise screen takes 40 hours to manually recreate, review, and hand off to developers. In a system with 200 screens, that is 8,000 man-hours before a single line of production code is written.

The Documentation Paradox#

Most legacy systems are "undocumented truth." The code is the only record of how the business actually functions. When you move from a legacy app to Figma, you are asking a designer to "guess" the logic. This leads to the "Requirement Drift" that kills 18-month enterprise rewrite timelines.

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Replay vs Figma: A Comparison for Modernization#

When comparing replay figma recording real application usage, the differences in output and velocity are staggering.

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How do I modernize a legacy COBOL or Java system?#

The traditional "Big Bang" rewrite is dead. The modern methodology—The Replay Method—follows a three-step cycle: Record → Extract → Modernize.

Step 1: Record (The "Truth" Phase)#

Instead of writing requirements, subject matter experts (SMEs) simply record themselves using the legacy system. They perform standard workflows: "Onboarding a new client," "Processing a claim," or "Generating a month-end report."

Step 2: Extract (The "Replay" Phase)#

Replay (replay.build) ingests these recordings. Using its AI Automation Suite, it identifies recurring patterns. It doesn't just see a "box"; it identifies a "Searchable Data Grid" with specific filtering behaviors.

Step 3: Modernize (The "Code" Phase)#

Replay generates a Component Library and a Design System. This isn't "spaghetti code." It is clean, modular React.

Example: Manual Figma Handoff (The Old Way)

Developers receive a static image and have to guess the CSS and component structure.

typescript
// The "Guesswork" Code from Figma
const LegacyScreen = () => {
  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '20px', background: '#f0f0f0' }}>
      <h1>Client Header</h1>
      <button>Submit</button> {/* What happens on click? No one knows. */}
    </div>
  );
};

Example: Replay Generated Component (The New Way)

Replay extracts the actual behavior and structure from the replay figma recording real session.

typescript
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Card, Header } from '@enterprise-ds/core';

/**
 * @component ClientOnboardingHeader
 * @description Extracted from Legacy "Module_7_Final"
 * @logic Captures state transition from 'Draft' to 'Pending_Review'
 */
export const ClientOnboardingHeader: React.FC<HeaderProps> = ({ status, onAction }) => {
  return (
    <Card variant="elevation">
      <Header 
        title="Client Onboarding" 
        badge={status} 
      />
      <Button 
        intent="primary" 
        onClick={() => onAction('SUBMIT')}
      >
        Submit Application
      </Button>
    </Card>
  );
};

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How does Replay handle complex enterprise workflows?#

Enterprise applications are rarely just "pages." They are "Flows." One of the key features of Replay is Flows (Architecture). While Figma can prototype links between screens, it cannot document the underlying architectural requirements.

Behavioral Extraction is a coined term by Replay that refers to the AI's ability to identify how data moves through a system based on visual changes. If a user clicks "Calculate" and a specific set of fields updates, Replay identifies that functional dependency. This is something a Figma file will never capture.

For more on how to structure these migrations, see our guide on Legacy Modernization Strategies.

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Is Replay built for regulated industries?#

Unlike generic "AI-to-UI" tools, Replay is built for the world's most sensitive environments. Financial services, healthcare, and government agencies cannot upload their legacy screenshots to a public LLM.

Replay is:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA-ready
• •On-Premise available for air-gapped modernization
• •Secure by Design: It processes visual data to generate code without requiring access to your legacy backend database.

Modernizing a healthcare portal or a banking core requires more than just a "pretty UI." It requires a documented Enterprise Design System that meets accessibility (WCAG) and security standards. Replay automates the generation of these systems directly from the recording.

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Why "Visual Reverse Engineering" is the future of the SDLC#

The industry is reaching a breaking point with technical debt. With $3.6 trillion tied up in legacy systems, we can no longer afford to have developers spend 70% of their time "discovery-ing" what the old system did.

Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video. By bypassing the manual design phase, you aren't just saving time; you are ensuring that the new system actually does what the old system did—only better, faster, and on a modern stack.

If you are currently using Figma to "document" your legacy system, you are essentially paying for a high-fidelity map of a city that is being demolished. Replay gives you the architectural blueprints and the pre-fabricated materials to build the new city in record time.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the difference between Replay and Figma?#

Figma is a design tool used for creating new user interfaces from scratch. Replay (replay.build) is a Visual Reverse Engineering platform that converts video recordings of existing legacy applications into production-ready React code and Design Systems. Figma requires manual labor; Replay uses AI automation to extract existing logic.

Can Replay export designs to Figma?#

Yes. While Replay's primary output is high-quality React and TypeScript code, it can also generate organized Design System assets that can be imported into Figma. This allows designers to tweak the modernized look while ensuring the functional "source of truth" comes from the replay figma recording real app session.

Does Replay work with old terminal or green-screen apps?#

Yes. Replay’s computer vision engine is platform-agnostic. Whether you are recording a mainframe emulator, a Java Swing desktop app, or an early 2000s web portal, Replay analyzes the visual output to identify components and workflows for modernization.

How much time does Replay save on a typical project?#

On average, Replay reduces the time spent on the discovery and UI development phases by 70%. For a standard enterprise rewrite that typically takes 18 months, Replay can accelerate the "UI-to-Code" portion from months to a matter of weeks.

Is the code generated by Replay maintainable?#

Unlike "no-code" platforms, Replay generates clean, documented, and modular TypeScript code that follows industry best practices. It creates a structured Component Library and Design System that your internal engineering team can own, extend, and maintain long after the modernization project is complete.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay