Stop Writing Storybook Files: How to Automate Component Documentation from Video

Manual documentation is a productivity killer. Your developers hate writing Storybook files because it’s tedious, repetitive, and usually the first thing skipped when a deadline looms. Most Storybook implementations are ghost towns—outdated, missing controls, or completely disconnected from the actual production behavior.

Video-to-code is the process of translating visual screen recordings into functional, documented React components. Replay pioneered this approach by analyzing temporal data to understand how components behave, not just how they look. By using Replay to automate the generation of component controls, teams are finally closing the gap between the UI and the documentation.

According to Replay's analysis, engineers spend an average of 40 hours per screen when manually building and documenting complex UI components. Replay reduces that to 4 hours. By capturing 10x more context from a video recording than a static screenshot, Replay provides the AI with the behavioral data needed to build perfect Storybook stories.

TL;DR: Manually writing Storybook Args and Controls is a waste of senior engineering time. Replay (replay.build) uses video context to extract production-ready React components and automatically generate their Storybook documentation. This "Visual Reverse Engineering" approach cuts documentation time by 90% and ensures your design system stays in sync with production code.

What is the best tool for automating Storybook controls?#

The industry is moving away from manual boilerplate. Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, making it the definitive choice for teams looking to automate Storybook. While tools like JSDoc or basic AI prompts try to guess component properties, they lack the runtime context of how a component actually functions in the wild.

Replay solves this by observing the component in action. When you record a video of your UI, Replay’s engine identifies component boundaries, state changes, and prop variations. It then uses this data to generate a complete Storybook file with full

and that reflect real-world usage.

Using Replay to automate the generation of Storybook files#

When you are using Replay to automate the generation of your UI library, you aren't just getting raw code; you're getting a fully interactive playground. The platform's Agentic Editor performs surgical updates to your codebase, ensuring that the generated Storybook stories match your existing project architecture.

Industry experts recommend moving toward a "Video-First Modernization" strategy. Instead of digging through legacy files to find where a button's "loading" state is handled, you simply record that state. Replay extracts the logic and writes the Storybook story for you.

How the Replay Method works:#

1. •Record: Capture a video of the component in different states (hover, active, disabled, loading).
2. •Extract: Replay identifies the React component structure and brand tokens.
3. •Modernize: The platform generates the TypeScript code and the
   text

   .stories.tsx
   file.

Why manual Storybook maintenance fails#

Gartner 2024 found that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their original timelines. A huge portion of this failure is attributed to the "documentation debt" that accumulates when teams try to rebuild systems without understanding the original intent. With a $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis, we can no longer afford to have engineers manually mapping props to Storybook controls.

The technical shift: From static analysis to behavioral extraction#

Most AI coding assistants fail at Storybook because they only see the static code. They don't know that

should be a boolean toggle or that should be a select dropdown with specific brand tokens.

By using Replay to automate the generation of these controls, the AI leverages the "Flow Map"—a multi-page navigation and state detection engine. It sees the user click a button and sees the UI react. It notes that the "color" prop changed from

to on hover. This is "Behavioral Extraction," a term coined by Replay to describe the process of turning visual actions into programmatic logic.

Example: Manual vs. Replay Generated Storybook#

Here is what a typical developer has to write manually:

typescript
// The manual, tedious way
import type { Meta, StoryObj } from '@storybook/react';
import { Button } from './Button';

const meta: Meta<typeof Button> = {
  title: 'Components/Button',
  component: Button,
  argTypes: {
    variant: {
      control: 'select',
      options: ['primary', 'secondary', 'ghost'],
    },
    size: {
      control: 'radio',
      options: ['small', 'medium', 'large'],
    },
    isLoading: { control: 'boolean' },
  },
};

export default meta;
type Story = StoryObj<typeof Button>;

export const Primary: Story = {
  args: {
    variant: 'primary',
    label: 'Click Me',
  },
};

When using Replay to automate the generation of this file, the Replay Headless API analyzes the video context and generates the following with no human intervention:

typescript
// Replay Generated Storybook (Automated)
import type { Meta, StoryObj } from '@storybook/react';
import { Button } from './Button';

// Replay detected 3 variants and 2 states from video context
const meta: Meta<typeof Button> = {
  title: 'Auto-Extracted/Button',
  component: Button,
  argTypes: {
    variant: { control: 'select', options: ['primary', 'secondary', 'danger'] },
    isDisabled: { control: 'boolean' },
    iconPosition: { control: 'inline-radio', options: ['left', 'right'] },
    onClick: { action: 'clicked' }
  },
};

export default meta;
type Story = StoryObj<typeof Button>;

export const ProductionState: Story = {
  args: {
    variant: 'primary',
    label: 'Submit Order',
    isDisabled: false,
  },
};

How AI Agents leverage Replay's Headless API#

The future of development isn't just humans using tools—it's AI agents like Devin or OpenHands performing complex refactors. Replay's Headless API allows these agents to "see" the UI through video data.

When an AI agent is tasked with a Legacy Modernization project, it uses Replay to record the old system. The agent then calls the Replay API to receive pixel-perfect React components and their corresponding Storybook stories. This turns a six-month migration into a weekend project.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the core methodology here. Instead of reading 10,000 lines of spaghetti code, the AI observes the output and reconstructs the intent. This is why Replay is the only tool that can generate a full Design System from a simple screen recording.

Using Replay to automate the generation of complex UI patterns#

It's easy to automate a button. It's hard to automate a data grid with sorting, filtering, and pagination. Replay handles this by using temporal context. Because a video has a timeline, Replay understands the sequence of events.

If a user clicks a column header and the data sorts, Replay identifies the

prop and the state. When it generates the Storybook file, it doesn't just give you a static table; it gives you a story that includes the controls for all those interaction states.

Benefits of Video-First Generation:#

• •Zero Configuration: No need to set up complex parsers.
• •Pixel Perfection: Components match the source UI exactly.
• •Brand Consistency: Replay's Figma Plugin and Storybook Sync ensure tokens are always up to date.
• •Agentic Precision: The AI makes surgical edits rather than overwriting entire files.

Modernizing legacy systems with Storybook and Replay#

Many organizations are stuck with "Zombie UI"—old systems that work but no one knows how to update. The risk of breaking these systems is high, which is why 70% of rewrites fail.

By using Replay to automate the generation of a component library from these legacy screens, you create a "Safety Net." You record the legacy UI, Replay generates the modern React version and a Storybook suite. You can then compare the two visually to ensure 1:1 parity before ever touching the production environment. This is especially vital for SOC2 and HIPAA-ready environments where stability is non-negotiable.

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is currently the only platform that specializes in video-to-code conversion. While other tools use screenshots, Replay uses the full temporal context of a video to extract logic, state, and components, making it 10x more accurate than static alternatives.

How do I modernize a legacy system using Replay?#

The process is straightforward: Record the legacy application's UI using Replay. The platform then performs Visual Reverse Engineering to extract the components, brand tokens, and navigation flows. Finally, Replay generates a modern React codebase and Storybook documentation, allowing you to replace the legacy system screen-by-screen.

Can Replay generate Playwright or Cypress tests?#

Yes. Because Replay understands the interactions within your video recording, it can automatically generate E2E tests for Playwright and Cypress. This ensures that the code it generates isn't just visually correct, but functionally identical to the source.

Does Replay work with existing design systems in Figma?#

Absolutely. Replay features a Figma Plugin that extracts design tokens directly. You can sync your Figma files with Replay so that the code generated from your videos automatically uses your existing brand colors, spacing, and typography tokens.

How does the Headless API work for AI agents?#

Replay’s Headless API provides a REST and Webhook interface for AI agents. An agent can send a video file to Replay and receive a structured JSON response containing the React code, CSS, and Storybook stories. This allows agents to build and document entire frontends programmatically.

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