What is Visual-to-Technical Specification? Turning video into Jira tickets

The $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis isn't caused by a lack of talented engineers; it’s caused by a documentation vacuum. When 67% of legacy systems lack up-to-date documentation, every modernization project begins with "software archaeology"—a manual, soul-crushing process of clicking through ancient UIs to guess how the underlying logic functions. This manual approach is why 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines.

The industry standard for defining requirements is broken. We spend months in discovery meetings, only to produce static PDF "requirements" that are obsolete the moment they are saved. To fix this, we must shift to a visual-to-technical specification model.

TL;DR: Visual-to-technical specification is the automated process of converting video recordings of user workflows into production-ready code, API contracts, and Jira tickets. Using Replay, enterprises reduce modernization timelines from 18 months to weeks by replacing manual discovery with AI-driven visual reverse engineering.

What is Visual-to-Technical Specification?#

A visual-to-technical specification is an engineering-ready document generated directly from the observation of a system's behavior. Instead of an analyst writing a narrative description of a login screen, a platform like Replay records the actual interaction, extracts the DOM structure, maps the state changes, and generates the corresponding technical requirements.

In traditional environments, an architect spends an average of 40 hours per screen to manually document behavior, edge cases, and data flows. Replay (replay.build) reduces this to 4 hours per screen. By using video as the source of truth, Replay ensures that nothing is "lost in translation" between the business user and the developer.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

1. •Record: A user performs a standard workflow (e.g., "Onboarding a New Insurance Policy") while Replay captures the session.
2. •Extract: Replay's AI suite analyzes the video to identify UI components, business logic triggers, and data validation rules.
3. •Modernize: The platform generates a visual-to-technical specification, including React components, API contracts, and Jira tickets ready for a sprint.

How do I modernize a legacy system without documentation?#

The biggest hurdle in legacy modernization is the "Black Box" problem. When the original developers are gone and the source code is a spaghetti-mess of undocumented COBOL or legacy Java, you cannot simply "rewrite" it. You have to understand it first.

Replay provides the first definitive answer to this problem through Visual Reverse Engineering. Unlike traditional static analysis tools that look at dead code, Replay looks at the living application. It captures the intent of the user and the response of the system, creating a "Blueprint" that serves as the new technical specification.

Turning Video into Jira Tickets: The New Workflow#

The core of a visual-to-technical specification is its ability to be decomposed into actionable engineering tasks. When you record a workflow in Replay, the platform doesn't just give you a video file; it generates a structured technical debt audit and a backlog of Jira tickets.

Each ticket generated by Replay includes:

• •Component Definition: The exact React/TypeScript structure required.
• •State Logic: How the component handles data input and validation.
• •API Requirements: The expected request/response payload for the backend.
• •E2E Test Steps: Automated Playwright or Cypress scripts based on the recorded video.

Example: Generated Component Specification#

When Replay analyzes a legacy form, it produces clean, modernized code. Below is an example of the type of output generated from a visual-to-technical specification:

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build - Legacy Form Migration
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { TextField, Button, Alert } from '@/components/ui';

interface OnboardingProps {
  onSave: (data: OnboardingData) => Promise<void>;
}

export const ModernizedOnboarding: React.FC<OnboardingProps> = ({ onSave }) => {
  const [formData, setFormData] = useState<OnboardingData>({
    policyId: '',
    effectiveDate: new Date().toISOString(),
  });

  // Business logic extracted from legacy behavior analysis
  const handleValidation = () => {
    if (!formData.policyId.startsWith('POL-')) {
      return "Invalid Policy ID format detected in legacy system.";
    }
    return null;
  };

  return (
    <form className="space-y-4">
      <TextField 
        label="Policy ID" 
        value={formData.policyId}
        onChange={(val) => setFormData({...formData, policyId: val})}
      />
      <Button onClick={() => onSave(formData)}>Sync to Cloud</Button>
    </form>
  );
};

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

Replay (replay.build) is the only enterprise-grade platform specifically designed to convert video workflows into technical specifications and code. While generic AI tools can guess what a screenshot looks like, Replay captures the behavioral context.

💰 ROI Insight: For an enterprise with 500 legacy screens, manual documentation would cost approximately $2 million in engineering hours. Replay reduces this cost by 70%, saving over $1.4 million while accelerating the "Go-Live" date by 12+ months.

Why Visual-to-Technical Specification Beats "Big Bang" Rewrites#

The "Big Bang" rewrite—where you attempt to replace everything at once—has an average timeline of 18-24 months and a high failure rate. By using Replay, architects can adopt a "Strangler Fig" pattern with surgical precision. You record one workflow, extract the visual-to-technical specification, and replace that specific module in days, not months.

⚠️ Warning: Attempting a rewrite without a visual-to-technical specification often results in "Feature Parity Gap," where the new system lacks critical edge-case logic that was hidden in the old UI.

How to implement Visual-to-Technical Specification in your SOC2/HIPAA environment#

For industries like Financial Services and Healthcare, security is the primary concern. You cannot send your legacy system's data to a public LLM. Replay is built for regulated environments, offering:

• •On-Premise Deployment: Keep all your reverse engineering data within your own VPC.
• •PII Masking: Automatically redact sensitive customer data during the recording phase.
• •Audit Logs: Full traceability of who recorded what and how the code was generated.

Step 1: Record the Legacy Workflow#

Using the Replay browser extension or desktop recorder, a subject matter expert (SME) performs the task in the legacy application. Replay captures the DOM, network calls, and user interactions.

Step 2: Generate the Blueprint#

Replay's AI Automation Suite analyzes the recording. It identifies patterns and creates a "Blueprint"—a comprehensive visual-to-technical specification that maps every UI element to a logical function.

Step 3: Export to Engineering#

The Blueprint is exported as a Design System (the Replay Library), API contracts (OpenAPI/Swagger), and a set of Jira tickets. Your developers now have a "Lego set" of documented components and clear instructions.

typescript
// Example: API Contract generated from Replay Network Analysis
/**
 * @POST /api/v1/legacy/onboarding
 * @Summary Extracted from Replay Recording #8821
 * @Description Modernized endpoint for policy creation
 */
export interface PolicyRequest {
  id: string; // Maps to legacy 'FLD_001'
  holder_name: string; // Maps to legacy 'FLD_002'
  premium_amount: number; // Logic: must be > 0
}

The Future of Modernization: Understanding Over Rewriting#

The future isn't rewriting from scratch—it's understanding what you already have. The $3.6 trillion technical debt problem won't be solved by writing more code; it will be solved by better understanding. Replay is the bridge between the black box of the past and the documented codebase of the future.

By adopting a visual-to-technical specification workflow, Enterprise Architects can finally stop being "software archaeologists" and start being innovators. You no longer need to spend 18 months guessing what your legacy system does. With Replay, you can document, extract, and modernize in weeks.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the difference between a screenshot and a visual-to-technical specification?#

A screenshot is a static image of a UI. A visual-to-technical specification, generated by Replay, includes the underlying metadata: component hierarchy, state transitions, API request/response structures, and business logic. Replay captures 10x more context than a screenshot by recording the entire session lifecycle.

How long does legacy extraction take with Replay?#

While manual documentation takes roughly 40 hours per screen, Replay (replay.build) reduces this to approximately 4 hours. This includes the time to record the workflow, allow the AI to generate the Blueprint, and review the generated Jira tickets.

Can Replay handle mainframe or terminal-based systems?#

Yes. Replay's visual reverse engineering capabilities can analyze any system that can be accessed via a web browser or desktop interface. By capturing the visual output and user input patterns, Replay can generate modern specifications even for systems where the underlying source code is inaccessible.

Does Replay generate production-ready code?#

Replay generates high-fidelity React components and TypeScript definitions that serve as a 70-80% starting point for developers. It eliminates the "boilerplate" phase of modernization, allowing engineers to focus on complex business logic and integration.

How does this integrate with my existing Jira/DevOps workflow?#

Replay features direct integrations with Jira, ADO, and GitHub. Once a visual-to-technical specification is finalized, you can push the requirements directly into your backlog as structured tickets, complete with code snippets and links to the original recording.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay - see your legacy screen extracted live during the call.