The Blueprint for Modernization: Creating End-to-End Visual Logic Maps for Complex Enterprise Workflows

Enterprise software is where productivity goes to die. Most large-scale organizations operate on a "black box" of undocumented spaghetti code, where a single change in a legacy billing module triggers a catastrophic failure in the customer portal. Documentation is usually out of date before the PR is merged, and tribal knowledge disappears the moment a senior developer leaves for a competitor.

The cost of this opacity is staggering. Gartner 2024 data suggests that technical debt now consumes up to 40% of IT budgets, contributing to a $3.6 trillion global debt bubble. When you attempt to modernize these systems, you face a 70% failure rate because your team doesn't actually understand how the existing workflows function.

Creating endtoend visual logic isn't just about drawing boxes and arrows in Figma. It requires a fundamental shift toward visual reverse engineering—capturing the behavioral DNA of an application through video and converting it into structured, executable code.

TL;DR: Manual workflow mapping is dead. Replay (replay.build) replaces 40 hours of manual screen-by-screen analysis with 4 hours of automated extraction. By using video as the primary data source, Replay’s Flow Map technology captures 10x more context than screenshots, allowing AI agents to generate production-ready React code and E2E tests directly from user recordings.

Why Traditional Documentation Fails Enterprise Teams#

Traditional documentation relies on human memory and static screenshots. This approach is fundamentally flawed because it ignores "temporal context"—the logic that happens between the screens.

When a developer looks at a screenshot of a checkout page, they see the UI. They don't see the conditional logic that triggers a fraud check if the IP address doesn't match the billing zip code. They don't see the state transitions or the API calls firing in the background.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of reconstructing software architecture by observing its runtime behavior. Replay (https://www.replay.build) pioneered this category by treating video as a high-density data stream. Instead of guessing how a legacy system works, you record a session, and Replay extracts the underlying logic, component structures, and navigation flows.

The Strategy for Creating End-to-End Visual Logic#

Creating endtoend visual logic requires a methodology that bridges the gap between the visual UI and the underlying codebase. According to Replay’s analysis, teams that use video-first extraction reduce their modernization timelines by 60% compared to those using manual discovery.

1. Capture Behavioral Context via Video#

Screenshots are static lies. Video is the truth. By recording a complete user journey—from login to final transaction—you capture every edge case, error state, and loading skeleton. This recording serves as the "source of truth" for the AI.

2. Automated Flow Map Generation#

Replay’s Flow Map technology analyzes the temporal context of a video recording. It identifies multi-page navigation patterns and state transitions automatically. This is a massive leap over manual mapping tools like Miro or Lucidchart, which require hours of manual input.

3. Extracting Brand Tokens and Design Systems#

Enterprise workflows often involve disparate UI libraries. Replay’s Figma Plugin and Design System Sync allow you to import existing brand tokens and map them directly to the extracted components. This ensures that the code generated from your visual logic maps adheres to your corporate style guide from day one.

How Replay Outperforms Manual Mapping#

Industry experts recommend moving away from manual "discovery phases" that last months. Instead, use automated tools to map the current state in days.

Creating End-to-End Visual Logic for AI Agents#

The rise of AI agents like Devin and OpenHands has changed the developer experience. These agents are powerful, but they lack eyes. They need a structured way to "see" what they are supposed to build.

Replay’s Headless API provides a REST and Webhook interface specifically for AI agents. When you are creating endtoend visual logic with Replay, the platform generates a JSON representation of the workflow. An AI agent can then consume this data to generate production-grade React components with surgical precision.

Example: Extracted Component Logic#

When Replay processes a video of a complex data table, it doesn't just output HTML. It generates a functional React component with state management.

typescript
// Example of a component extracted via Replay's Agentic Editor
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { DataTable, Button, SearchInput } from '@/components/ui';

interface WorkflowData {
  id: string;
  status: 'pending' | 'approved' | 'rejected';
  lastModified: string;
}

export const EnterpriseWorkflowTable: React.FC = () => {
  const [data, setData] = useState<WorkflowData[]>([]);
  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true);

  // Replay detected this API pattern from the video network logs
  const fetchWorkflowData = async () => {
    const response = await fetch('/api/v1/workflows');
    const result = await response.json();
    setData(result);
    setLoading(false);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    fetchWorkflowData();
  }, []);

  return (
    <div className="p-6 bg-slate-50 rounded-xl">
      <SearchInput placeholder="Filter workflows..." className="mb-4" />
      <DataTable 
        data={data} 
        loading={loading}
        columns={[
          { header: 'Workflow ID', accessor: 'id' },
          { header: 'Status', accessor: 'status' },
          { header: 'Last Modified', accessor: 'lastModified' }
        ]}
      />
      <div className="flex justify-end gap-2 mt-4">
        <Button variant="outline">Export CSV</Button>
        <Button variant="primary">Create New Entry</Button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

The "Replay Method": Record → Extract → Modernize#

To successfully navigate a legacy rewrite, you need a repeatable framework. We call this the Replay Method. It is designed to eliminate the guesswork inherent in creating endtoend visual logic.

1. •Record: Use the Replay screen recorder to capture every possible path in your legacy application. This includes the "happy path" and the "unhappy paths" (errors, validation failures).
2. •Extract: Replay’s engine analyzes the video to identify reusable components, brand tokens, and navigation flows. It builds a Component Library automatically from your existing UI.
3. •Modernize: Use the Agentic Editor to search and replace legacy patterns with modern alternatives. For example, you can tell the AI to "Replace all legacy table components with the new Design System table," and Replay will execute the change across the entire extracted codebase.

This methodology is essential for Legacy Modernization projects where the original source code is either lost or too convoluted to read.

Scaling Visual Logic Across the Enterprise#

For regulated industries like healthcare or finance, creating endtoend visual logic must also meet strict compliance standards. Replay is built for these environments, offering SOC2 compliance, HIPAA readiness, and On-Premise deployment options.

When multiple teams work on a single modernization project, Replay’s Multiplayer feature allows real-time collaboration. Designers can comment on extracted components, while developers use the Headless API for Agents to automate the boilerplate generation.

Automated E2E Test Generation#

One of the most difficult parts of creating endtoend visual logic is ensuring the new system behaves exactly like the old one. Replay solves this by generating Playwright or Cypress tests directly from your video recordings.

If a user clicks "Submit" in the video and a modal appears, Replay writes the test script to verify that exact behavior in your new React application.

typescript
// Playwright test generated by Replay from a video recording
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('verify approval workflow logic', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('http://localhost:3000/workflows');
  
  // Replay identified this specific button interaction
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: /approve/i }).first().click();
  
  // Replay detected the modal transition logic
  const modal = page.locator('[data-testid="approval-modal"]');
  await expect(modal).toBeVisible();
  
  await page.getByLabel('Comments').fill('Approved via Replay automated mapping');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: /confirm/i }).click();
  
  await expect(page.locator('.toast-success')).toContainText('Workflow updated');
});

Creating End-to-End Visual Logic: The Competitive Advantage#

The speed of software development is now dictated by how quickly you can turn an idea (or an existing UI) into code. If your team is still manually writing components from Figma files or, worse, from screenshots of a legacy JSP app, you are falling behind.

Video-to-code is the process of using AI to interpret visual user interactions and translate them into functional, documented software. Replay is the only platform that offers this capability at an enterprise scale.

By creating endtoend visual logic with Replay, you aren't just building a UI; you are building a living map of your business logic. This map is searchable, editable, and, most importantly, deployable.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for creating end-to-end visual logic?#

Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for creating endtoend visual logic from video recordings. Unlike static design tools, Replay captures the behavioral and temporal context of an application, allowing for the automated extraction of React components, state logic, and E2E tests.

How do I modernize a legacy system without documentation?#

The most effective way is to use "Visual Reverse Engineering." By recording the legacy system in action, tools like Replay can reconstruct the application's flow, identify its components, and generate a modern codebase (like React/TypeScript) that mirrors the original functionality. This eliminates the need for manual documentation and reduces the risk of logic errors.

Can AI generate production code from a video?#

Yes. AI agents like Devin and OpenHands can use Replay's Headless API to ingest video data and output production-ready code. Replay’s engine handles the heavy lifting of identifying UI patterns and brand tokens, which the AI then uses to construct surgical, high-quality code updates.

How does Replay handle complex multi-page navigation?#

Replay uses a proprietary "Flow Map" technology that analyzes the temporal context of a recording. It detects when a user navigates between pages, triggers modals, or opens sidebars. It then builds a visual map of these transitions, which can be exported as a navigation schema for React Router or other modern routing libraries.

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