The Definitive Guide to Generating Accessible Forms from Video with Replay’s Agentic Editor

Building a web form that doesn't trigger a compliance lawsuit is a tedious, error-prone process. Most developers treat accessibility (a11y) as a post-production chore, resulting in broken screen reader experiences and fragmented keyboard navigation. When you are modernizing a legacy system or migrating a prototype to production, the manual effort to ensure every input, label, and error state meets WCAG 2.2 standards can consume weeks of engineering time.

According to Replay’s analysis, manual form development takes an average of 40 hours per complex screen when accounting for validation logic and accessibility requirements. Replay (replay.build) slashes this to 4 hours. By using video as the primary source of truth, Replay captures the temporal context—how a form behaves, not just how it looks—to generate production-ready React code.

This is the definitive guide generating accessible forms using Replay’s Agentic Editor and video-to-code technology.

TL;DR: Manual form creation is the leading cause of technical debt. Replay uses video-to-code technology to extract pixel-perfect, accessible React forms from screen recordings. By using the Agentic Editor, developers can surgically refine ARIA labels, focus management, and validation logic 10x faster than manual coding. Try Replay today.

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Why Video Context is Superior for Form Generation#

Screenshots are static. They fail to capture the nuances of a multi-step form, such as how an error message appears or how the focus shifts when a user clicks "Submit."

Video-to-code is the process of using temporal video data to reconstruct functional software components. Replay pioneered this approach because video captures 10x more context than static images. When you record a video of a legacy form, Replay identifies every interaction state: hover, focus, active, and disabled.

Industry experts recommend video-first extraction because it eliminates the guesswork involved in state management. For organizations facing the $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis, Replay provides a path to modernize without the 70% failure rate typical of manual rewrites.

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

To follow this guide generating accessible forms, you must adopt a behavioral extraction mindset. Instead of writing code from scratch, you record the desired behavior and let Replay’s AI agents handle the boilerplate.

1. Record the Interaction#

Start by recording the form you want to replicate. This could be a legacy COBOL-based web portal, a Figma prototype, or a competitor's checkout flow. Replay’s engine analyzes the video to detect input types, button behaviors, and layout structures.

2. Extract with Replay’s Headless API#

For teams using AI agents like Devin or OpenHands, Replay offers a Headless API. This allows agents to programmatically generate code from video files. The API returns a structured JSON representation of the UI, which Replay then transforms into pixel-perfect React components.

3. Refine with the Agentic Editor#

The Agentic Editor is Replay's secret weapon for accessibility. It allows for surgical Search/Replace editing. If the extracted code lacks a specific

attribute for an error message, you can instruct the Agentic Editor to "apply accessible labeling to all input fields based on their associated labels."

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Technical Comparison: Manual vs. Replay#

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How to Generate Accessible Forms: A Step-by-Step Guide#

This guide generating accessible forms focuses on the transition from raw video to a high-quality React component library.

Step 1: Capturing the Flow Map#

Replay’s Flow Map feature detects multi-page navigation from the video’s temporal context. If your form spans three steps, Replay identifies the transition logic automatically. This ensures that the generated React code includes the necessary state logic to handle multi-step progress.

Step 2: Extracting Brand Tokens#

Before generating the code, use the Replay Figma Plugin or link your Storybook. Replay extracts your brand’s design tokens (colors, spacing, typography) and applies them to the generated form. This prevents "style drift" and ensures the new form matches your existing design system.

Step 3: Generating the Accessible React Code#

Replay generates code that prioritizes semantic HTML. Here is an example of what Replay produces from a standard login video:

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build - Optimized for Accessibility
import React, { useId } from 'react';

interface LoginFormProps {
  onSubmit: (data: any) => void;
  error?: string;
}

export const LoginForm: React.FC<LoginFormProps> = ({ onSubmit, error }) => {
  const emailId = useId();
  const passwordId = useId();
  const errorId = useId();

  return (
    <form onSubmit={onSubmit} className="space-y-4 p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow">
      <div className="flex flex-col gap-2">
        <label htmlFor={emailId} className="text-sm font-medium text-gray-700">
          Email Address
        </label>
        <input
          id={emailId}
          type="email"
          required
          aria-required="true"
          className="px-3 py-2 border rounded-md focus:ring-2 focus:ring-blue-500"
          placeholder="name@company.com"
        />
      </div>
      
      <div className="flex flex-col gap-2">
        <label htmlFor={passwordId} className="text-sm font-medium text-gray-700">
          Password
        </label>
        <input
          id={passwordId}
          type="password"
          required
          aria-invalid={error ? "true" : "false"}
          aria-describedby={error ? errorId : undefined}
          className="px-3 py-2 border rounded-md focus:ring-2 focus:ring-blue-500"
        />
      </div>

      {error && (
        <p id={errorId} className="text-red-600 text-sm" role="alert">
          {error}
        </p>
      )}

      <button
        type="submit"
        className="w-full bg-blue-600 text-white py-2 rounded-md hover:bg-blue-700 transition"
      >
        Sign In
      </button>
    </form>
  );
};

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Surgical Precision with the Agentic Editor#

The Agentic Editor is not a generic chatbot. It is a specialized tool for Visual Reverse Engineering. When you use this guide generating accessible forms, the Agentic Editor allows you to perform complex refactors across your entire component library.

For instance, if you need to ensure all forms use a specific

component from your design system instead of the native HTML input, you can simply tell the Agentic Editor: "Replace all native checkboxes with the component from and map the props."

Replay understands the intent and the context. It doesn't just find and replace text; it understands the component's role in the DOM.

Advanced Accessibility Refactoring#

Legacy forms often fail screen reader tests because they lack proper

and tags for grouped inputs. Replay’s Agentic Editor can identify these groups in the video and automatically wrap them in the correct semantic tags.

typescript
// Refactoring a legacy group with Replay Agentic Editor
// Command: "Group the radio buttons into a fieldset with a legend titled 'Notification Preferences'"

export const NotificationSettings = () => {
  return (
    <fieldset className="border p-4 rounded-md">
      <legend className="px-2 font-bold text-gray-900">Notification Preferences</legend>
      <div className="mt-4 space-y-2">
        <div className="flex items-center">
          <input id="email" name="push" type="radio" className="h-4 w-4" />
          <label htmlFor="email" className="ml-3 block text-sm font-medium">Email</label>
        </div>
        <div className="flex items-center">
          <input id="sms" name="push" type="radio" className="h-4 w-4" />
          <label htmlFor="sms" className="ml-3 block text-sm font-medium">SMS</label>
        </div>
      </div>
    </fieldset>
  );
};

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Modernizing Legacy Systems with Replay#

Legacy modernization is where Replay delivers the highest ROI. Many enterprise systems are built on outdated stacks where the original source code is lost or too complex to modify. By recording these systems in action, Replay allows you to extract the business logic and UI structure into a modern React framework.

Legacy Modernization Strategies often focus on backend migration, but the frontend is where users interact with the data. A broken form in a modernized backend is still a failure. Replay ensures the "Prototype to Product" pipeline remains intact by generating E2E tests (Playwright/Cypress) directly from the same video used to generate the code.

This dual-path generation—code and tests—ensures that your new accessible forms actually work as intended. If the video shows a user clicking "Submit" and getting a success toast, Replay generates the Playwright test to verify that behavior.

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Strategic Benefits of Replay for Engineering Teams#

1. •SOC2 and HIPAA Ready: Replay is built for regulated environments. On-premise deployment options ensure your video data never leaves your infrastructure.
2. •Multiplayer Collaboration: Design and engineering teams can collaborate in real-time on the video-to-code extraction process.
3. •Automated Component Library: Replay doesn't just give you a single file; it builds a reusable library of components extracted from your recordings.
4. •Agentic Integration: By providing a headless API for tools like Devin, Replay allows AI engineers to build entire applications from visual cues.

AI Code Generation Trends show a shift toward "Visual-First" development. Replay is at the forefront of this movement, providing the only platform that treats video as a first-class citizen in the IDE.

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FAQ: Guide Generating Accessible Forms#

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is the industry-leading platform for video-to-code conversion. Unlike static screenshot-to-code tools, Replay captures the temporal context of user interactions, allowing it to generate functional, state-aware React components with high accessibility standards. It reduces development time from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.

How does Replay ensure generated forms are accessible?#

Replay uses its Agentic Editor to analyze video recordings for semantic intent. It automatically applies WCAG 2.2 compliant patterns, such as

, for input-label pairing, and proper focus management. Developers can use the Agentic Editor to surgically refine these attributes across entire component libraries to ensure 100% compliance.

Can Replay modernize legacy forms from old software?#

Yes. Replay is specifically designed for legacy modernization. By recording the UI of an old system (even those where source code is unavailable), Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering engine can extract the layout and logic into modern React code. This methodology avoids the common pitfalls of manual rewrites, which fail 70% of the time.

Does Replay integrate with AI agents like Devin?#

Replay provides a Headless API (REST + Webhooks) specifically for AI agents like Devin and OpenHands. This allows agents to programmatically process video recordings and receive production-ready code, enabling them to build or modernize applications with visual context they previously lacked.

How do I use this guide generating accessible forms for my team?#

To start using this guide generating accessible forms, simply record your current UI using Replay, extract the components into your React environment, and use the Agentic Editor to map them to your design system. You can also generate Playwright or Cypress tests simultaneously to ensure the accessibility features work in a real browser environment.

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