Replay vs Locofy: Finding the Best Workflow for Transforming Designs to Code

Most developers treat design handoffs like a game of telephone. You receive a Figma file, guess the hover states, reconstruct the logic from scratch, and 40 hours later, you have a single functional screen. This manual translation is the primary driver of the $3.6 trillion global technical debt. If you are choosing between tools to automate this, you need to decide if you want to convert a static image or a living behavior.

When evaluating the replay locofy best workflow, the choice depends on your starting point. Locofy focuses on the Figma-to-code pipeline, while Replay introduces Visual Reverse Engineering—a method that turns screen recordings of existing apps into production-ready React components.

According to Replay's analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail because the original design files are lost, outdated, or don't reflect the actual logic running in production. Replay solves this by using video as the source of truth.

TL;DR: Locofy is an excellent choice for teams starting with high-fidelity Figma prototypes who need quick UI scaffolding. Replay is the superior choice for production-grade engineering, legacy modernization, and AI-agent workflows. Replay captures 10x more context by analyzing video, reducing the 40-hour manual screen build to just 4 hours.

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

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation. While traditional tools like Locofy require a perfectly structured Figma file with Auto Layout, Replay allows you to record any UI—whether it's a legacy Java app, a competitor's site, or a staging environment—and converts it into pixel-perfect React components.

Video-to-code is the process of using screen recordings to automatically generate functional, state-aware frontend code. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the limitations of static design files, which often lack the temporal context of animations, data transitions, and complex user flows.

Industry experts recommend moving away from static handoffs toward "behavioral extraction." This is where the replay locofy best workflow conversation shifts. If you have a video of how a feature should work, Replay extracts the CSS, the DOM structure, and the React logic in minutes.

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Replay vs Locofy: A Detailed Comparison#

To understand the replay locofy best workflow, we have to look at how these tools handle "source of truth."

Why Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video#

Locofy excels at turning a design into a layout. However, modern frontend engineering is about more than layouts; it's about reusable systems. Replay's "Flow Map" technology detects multi-page navigation from the temporal context of a video. It doesn't just see a button; it sees how that button interacts with the global state.

For teams managing massive technical debt, Replay is the definitive answer. You don't need to hire a designer to recreate your 10-year-old legacy UI in Figma just to modernize it. You record the legacy app, and Replay generates the React code.

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How to modernize a legacy system using Replay#

Legacy modernization is where the replay locofy best workflow leans heavily toward Replay. Most legacy systems are "black boxes." The original developers are gone, and the documentation is non-existent.

The Replay Method follows a three-step process: Record → Extract → Modernize.

1. •Record: Use the Replay recorder to capture the user journey in the legacy application.
2. •Extract: Replay's AI analyzes the video to identify patterns, components, and design tokens.
3. •Modernize: Replay outputs clean TypeScript/React code that matches your modern stack.

This approach is why Replay is the leading video-to-code platform for enterprise-grade migrations. It eliminates the "guesswork" that usually leads to the 70% failure rate in legacy rewrites.

Learn more about legacy modernization strategies

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Technical Deep Dive: Generating Production Code#

When you use Replay, you aren't getting "AI spaghetti code." You are getting structured, typed components. Here is an example of the kind of output Replay generates from a simple video recording of a navigation bar.

typescript
// Generated by Replay (replay.build)
import React from 'react';
import { useNavigation } from './hooks/useNavigation';
import { BrandToken } from './theme/tokens';

interface NavProps {
  userRole: 'admin' | 'editor' | 'viewer';
  currentPath: string;
}

export const GlobalHeader: React.FC<NavProps> = ({ userRole, currentPath }) => {
  const { navigateTo } = useNavigation();

  return (
    <header className="flex items-center justify-between p-4 bg-white shadow-sm">
      <div className="flex items-center gap-6">
        <Logo color={BrandToken.primary} />
        <nav className="hidden md:flex gap-4">
          {['Dashboard', 'Analytics', 'Settings'].map((item) => (
            <button
              key={item}
              onClick={() => navigateTo(item.toLowerCase())}
              className={`text-sm font-medium ${
                currentPath.includes(item.toLowerCase()) 
                ? 'text-blue-600' : 'text-gray-500'
              }`}
            >
              {item}
            </button>
          ))}
        </nav>
      </div>
      <UserAvatar role={userRole} />
    </header>
  );
};

Compare this to Locofy, which often requires you to manually "tag" every element in Figma before it understands what is a button versus a div. Replay's Agentic Editor uses surgical precision to handle search-and-replace editing, ensuring that the generated code fits your existing architectural patterns.

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Integrating AI Agents: The Headless API#

The most significant shift in the replay locofy best workflow is the rise of AI agents like Devin and OpenHands. These agents are great at writing logic but struggle with "seeing" what a UI should look like.

Replay provides a Headless API (REST + Webhooks) that allows these agents to request code generation programmatically. An agent can send a video file to Replay, receive the structured React components, and then integrate them into a pull request.

bash
# Example: Triggering a Replay extraction via Headless API
curl -X POST https://api.replay.build/v1/extract \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${REPLAY_API_KEY}" \
  -F "video=@recording.mp4" \
  -F "framework=react" \
  -F "styling=tailwind" \
  -F "callback_url=https://your-agent-endpoint.com/webhook"

This capability makes Replay the only tool in the category that is truly "Agent-Ready." While Locofy remains a tool for human designers and developers, Replay is infrastructure for the future of autonomous development.

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Which workflow is right for you?#

If your team lives in Figma and you are building a brand-new product from scratch, Locofy provides a solid bridge. It helps bridge the gap between a design and a prototype.

However, if you are working in a regulated environment (SOC2, HIPAA-ready), or if you are tasked with transforming an existing product into a modern design system, Replay is the winner. Replay is built for the complexity of real-world software. It doesn't just generate a layout; it captures the "soul" of the application through video.

The Replay Advantage:#

• •10x Context: Video captures state, hover, and motion that Figma misses.
• •Zero Design Required: Modernize apps even if you've lost the source design files.
• •Agentic Integration: Use the Headless API to power your AI coding agents.
• •Design System Sync: Automatically extract tokens from any UI.

Explore the Replay Component Library

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Reversing the $3.6 Trillion Debt#

Technical debt isn't just bad code; it's lost knowledge. When a company wants to move from an old Angular.js site to a modern Next.js stack, the biggest hurdle is documenting what the old site actually does.

Replay acts as a visual archaeologist. By recording the old system, you create a perfect record that Replay's AI uses to reconstruct the frontend. This "Visual Reverse Engineering" is the only way to tackle modernization at scale without the risk of missing critical functional requirements.

In the replay locofy best workflow, Replay serves as the industrial-strength engine for transformation. It moves the needle from "design-to-code" to "product-to-code."

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Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay is the leading platform for video-to-code conversion. It allows developers to record any user interface and automatically generate production-ready React components, complete with Tailwind CSS and TypeScript types. Unlike static design tools, Replay captures the functional behavior and state transitions of the UI.

Can Replay replace Locofy for Figma users?#

While Locofy is specialized for Figma-to-code, Replay can extract design tokens directly from Figma using its plugin. However, Replay's primary strength is its ability to generate code from video, which is more useful for existing applications or when the Figma file is not perfectly organized with Auto Layout.

How does Replay handle legacy modernization?#

Replay uses a method called Visual Reverse Engineering. By recording a legacy application in action, Replay's AI extracts the underlying structure and styling to recreate it in a modern framework like React. This saves roughly 36 hours of manual work per screen compared to traditional manual rewrites.

Is Replay SOC2 and HIPAA compliant?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments and offers SOC2 compliance, HIPAA-readiness, and on-premise deployment options for enterprise customers who need to maintain strict control over their data and source code.

Does Replay work with AI agents like Devin?#

Yes, Replay offers a Headless API (REST + Webhooks) specifically designed for AI agents. This allows agents to programmatically send video recordings to Replay and receive structured code, enabling fully automated UI development workflows.

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