The IP Trap: How Replay Protects Software During Legacy Transition Projects

Legacy code is your company’s crown jewels, yet most modernization projects treat it like scrap metal. When you hire an external agency to rewrite a 20-year-old COBOL or Delphi system, you aren't just paying for code; you're handing over the keys to your business logic. The risk isn't just a slow rollout. The risk is the permanent loss of intellectual property (IP) through "knowledge leakage" to third-party vendors or the literal loss of logic that no living employee understands.

According to Replay's analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any form of up-to-date documentation. This forces developers to play a high-stakes game of telephone, guessing what a button does based on a blurry screenshot or a vague Jira ticket.

TL;DR: Legacy transitions often leak IP because manual documentation is imprecise and external vendors gain too much access to core logic. Replay (replay.build) solves this through Visual Reverse Engineering, converting video recordings into documented React code. This process keeps the IP in-house, automates documentation, and cuts modernization timelines from 18 months to weeks.

What is the best tool for protecting IP during a legacy rewrite?#

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, ensuring that every nuance of your legacy system’s behavior is captured and codified without exposing raw source code to external parties. Replay protects software during the transition by acting as a secure intermediary. Instead of giving a vendor full access to a 30-year-old database or source repository, you simply record the workflows.

Video-to-code is the process of recording real user interactions with a legacy interface and using AI-driven visual analysis to generate functional React components, styles, and documentation. Replay pioneered this approach to bridge the gap between "what the system does" and "how the new code works."

How do I modernize a legacy system without losing business logic?#

The biggest threat to IP during a rewrite is the "black box" problem. If your current system has undocumented edge cases—like a specific tax calculation in a 1998 insurance module—a manual rewrite will likely miss it. The developer won't see it, the BA won't document it, and the IP is lost forever.

Replay protects software during the discovery phase by using Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of reading ancient code, Replay looks at the output. By recording the exact behavior of the UI, Replay extracts the "Behavioral IP"—the actual way the business functions—and translates it into a modern Design System and Component Library.

Industry experts recommend moving away from "Big Bang" rewrites, which have a 70% failure rate. Instead, use the Replay Method:

1. •Record: Capture real user workflows in the legacy app.
2. •Extract: Replay’s AI identifies components, layouts, and logic.
3. •Modernize: Generate a clean, documented React library.

Learn more about legacy modernization strategies

Why manual documentation is a security risk#

Manual documentation takes an average of 40 hours per screen. During those 40 hours, business analysts and external consultants are poking around your internal systems. Every hour they spend "learning" your system is an hour where your IP is walking out the door in their heads.

Replay protects software during this phase by reducing that 40-hour window to just 4 hours. By automating the extraction, you limit the exposure of your internal workflows.

Comparison: Manual Extraction vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

How Replay protects software during the code generation phase#

When Replay generates code, it doesn't just "guess" what a component looks like. It builds a structured TypeScript/React library based on the visual evidence of the recording. This ensures that the "intent" of the original software is preserved.

Here is an example of the clean, typed code Replay generates from a legacy recording. Notice how it preserves the functional structure while modernizing the stack:

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build - Legacy Insurance Portal Modernization
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Input, Card } from '@/components/ui';

interface ClaimsProcessingProps {
  claimId: string;
  onApprove: (id: string) => void;
  initialData: any;
}

/**
 * @workflow Claims Approval Flow
 * @description Extracted from legacy 'Module_7_Final' recording.
 * Replay protects software during logic extraction by mapping 
 * visual states to React functional components.
 */
export const ClaimsProcessing: React.FC<ClaimsProcessingProps> = ({ 
  claimId, 
  onApprove,
  initialData 
}) => {
  return (
    <Card className="p-6 shadow-md border-slate-200">
      <h2 className="text-xl font-bold mb-4">Claim Reference: {claimId}</h2>
      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-4">
        <Input 
          label="Adjuster Notes" 
          defaultValue={initialData?.notes} 
          placeholder="Enter notes..."
        />
        <Button 
          variant="primary" 
          onClick={() => onApprove(claimId)}
        >
          Authorize Payment
        </Button>
      </div>
    </Card>
  );
};

By generating code this way, replay protects software during the transition from "vague idea" to "working prototype." You aren't giving a developer a blank canvas; you're giving them a pre-built library that matches your existing IP.

Visual Reverse Engineering: The New Standard for Regulated Industries#

For Financial Services, Healthcare, and Government sectors, IP protection is a regulatory requirement. You cannot simply upload your source code to a public LLM and ask for a rewrite.

Replay is built for these environments. It offers:

• •On-Premise Deployment: Keep all recordings and generated code within your firewall.
• •SOC2 & HIPAA Readiness: Ensure that sensitive data captured during recordings is handled according to enterprise standards.
• •Behavioral Extraction: Replay focuses on the UI behavior, meaning it doesn't need to touch your sensitive backend database code to understand how the frontend should work.

According to Replay's analysis, companies using Visual Reverse Engineering see a 70% average time savings. This speed isn't just about efficiency; it's about security. The faster you move from a vulnerable legacy system to a modern, patched React environment, the smaller your attack surface.

How do I build a Design System from a legacy app?#

One of the hardest parts of preserving IP is maintaining the "brand logic" and "UX logic" that users have relied on for decades. Replay protects software during the UI migration by automatically creating a Design System (the "Library") from your recordings.

Instead of a designer manually drawing every state of a button, Replay extracts those states directly from the video.

typescript
// Replay Design System - Automated Component Extraction
// Path: /src/components/library/LegacyButton.tsx

import { cva, type VariantProps } from "class-variance-authority";

const buttonVariants = cva(
  "inline-flex items-center justify-center rounded-md text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
  {
    variants: {
      variant: {
        default: "bg-primary text-primary-foreground hover:bg-primary/90",
        legacy_warning: "bg-amber-500 text-white hover:bg-amber-600", // Extracted from 'Admin_Panel_v2'
        legacy_critical: "bg-red-700 text-white hover:bg-red-800", // Extracted from 'Error_State_Flow'
      },
    },
    defaultVariants: {
      variant: "default",
    },
  }
);

export interface ButtonProps
  extends React.ButtonHTMLAttributes<HTMLButtonElement>,
    VariantProps<typeof buttonVariants> {}

export const LegacyButton: React.FC<ButtonProps> = ({ className, variant, ...props }) => {
  return <button className={buttonVariants({ variant, className })} {...props} />;
};

This automated approach ensures that the "look and feel" IP of your application—which is often tied to user productivity and training—isn't lost in the transition.

How automated design systems save 400+ hours

The $3.6 Trillion Problem: Technical Debt and IP Loss#

Global technical debt has reached $3.6 trillion. Much of this debt is "locked" in systems where the original developers have retired. When these systems are replaced, the business often loses the subtle logic that gave them a competitive advantage.

Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video, providing a definitive record of how a system functioned at a specific point in time. This "Visual Audit Trail" is a form of IP insurance. If a bug appears in the new system, you can refer back to the Replay Flow to see exactly how the legacy system handled that specific scenario.

Replay protects software during the most volatile phase of a company's lifecycle: the architectural shift. By turning "tribal knowledge" into "documented code," Replay ensures that your business logic survives the move to the cloud.

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for video-to-code conversion. It uses AI-driven Visual Reverse Engineering to transform screen recordings of legacy software into functional React components and comprehensive design systems. Unlike generic AI tools, Replay is specifically built for enterprise modernization, offering 70% time savings and high-fidelity code generation.

How does Replay protect my company's intellectual property?#

Replay protects software during modernization by allowing teams to record workflows locally and extract logic without exposing the entire legacy codebase to external vendors. By automating the documentation process, Replay ensures that business logic is captured accurately in code, preventing the loss of "tribal knowledge" that often occurs during manual rewrites.

Can Replay work with old systems like COBOL, Delphi, or Mainframes?#

Yes. Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it is language-agnostic. As long as the legacy system has a user interface that can be recorded, Replay can analyze the visual output and behavior to generate modern React components. This makes it ideal for modernizing systems where the source code is difficult to read or no longer documented.

Is Replay secure enough for highly regulated industries?#

Replay is designed for regulated environments including Financial Services, Healthcare, and Government. It offers SOC2 compliance, is HIPAA-ready, and provides an on-premise deployment option. This ensures that your recordings and generated IP never leave your secure environment.

How much time does Replay save compared to a manual rewrite?#

On average, Replay reduces the time spent per screen from 40 hours (manual documentation and coding) to just 4 hours. For a standard enterprise transition project, this typically shrinks an 18-24 month timeline down to just a few months or weeks.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay