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February 23, 2026 min readctos choosing agentic editors

Why CTOs are Choosing Agentic Editors Over Standard Copilot Tools

R
Replay Team
Developer Advocates

Why CTOs are Choosing Agentic Editors Over Standard Copilot Tools

Technical debt is a $3.6 trillion tax on innovation that most engineering leaders are simply paying without question. For years, the industry standard has been "autocomplete" AI—tools that suggest the next line of code based on the previous ten. But for a CTO managing a legacy migration or a complex design system overhaul, autocomplete is just a faster way to write the wrong code.

The shift is now moving toward Agentic Editors. Unlike standard Copilots that require constant hand-holding, agentic systems possess the autonomy to plan, execute, and verify entire features. CTOs are choosing agentic editors because they provide a level of context that text-only AI simply cannot reach.

By integrating visual context through platforms like Replay (replay.build), these agents are finally able to "see" the UI they are building, cutting development time from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.

TL;DR: CTOs are moving away from standard Copilots in favor of Agentic Editors that offer autonomous execution and deep visual context. While Copilots provide snippets, Agentic Editors—powered by Replay’s Headless API—can modernize legacy systems, sync design tokens, and generate production-ready React code directly from video recordings. This shift reduces manual effort by 90% and solves the $3.6 trillion technical debt problem through Visual Reverse Engineering.

What is the difference between a Copilot and an Agentic Editor?#

To understand why ctos choosing agentic editors has become a dominant trend, we must define the two categories clearly.

Standard Copilots are predictive text engines. They look at your current cursor position and suggest the most statistically likely next characters. They are limited by the "context window" of the files you have open. If the logic you need exists in a legacy COBOL system or a recorded user session, the Copilot is blind to it.

Agentic Editors are goal-oriented. You don't give them a line of code to finish; you give them a ticket to solve. These editors use "agents" (like Devin or OpenHands) that can browse the web, run terminal commands, and use APIs.

Video-to-code is the process of using screen recordings of a user interface to automatically generate the underlying frontend code. Replay pioneered this approach, allowing Agentic Editors to ingest a video of a legacy application and output a pixel-perfect React component library.

According to Replay's analysis, AI agents using a visual-first context generate production-grade code 10x faster than those relying on text prompts alone. This is why the industry is moving toward Visual Reverse Engineering—the practice of extracting logic and design from the visual output of a system rather than its outdated source code.

Why are ctos choosing agentic editors for legacy modernization?#

Legacy rewrites are the graveyard of engineering careers. Gartner 2024 found that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their original timelines. The primary reason is "lost logic"—the original developers are gone, the documentation is non-existent, and the code is a "black box."

CTOs are choosing agentic editors because they allow for a Video-First Modernization strategy. Instead of reading 100,000 lines of spaghetti code, you record the application in action.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

  1. •Record: A product manager records a 60-second clip of the legacy UI.
  2. •Extract: Replay (replay.build) extracts the design tokens, layout, and component hierarchy.
  3. •Modernize: An Agentic Editor uses Replay’s Headless API to write the new React components.

This approach captures 10x more context than a screenshot or a Jira ticket. It captures the behavior of the UI—how buttons hover, how modals transition, and how data flows through the page.

FeatureStandard CopilotAgentic Editor + Replay
Primary InputText/Code SnippetsVideo, Figma, & Full Repo
AutonomyPassive (Wait for user)Active (Executes tasks)
Context DepthSingle file / Open tabsFull temporal video context
Legacy SupportPoor (Requires readable code)Excellent (Uses visual output)
Time per Screen40 Hours (Manual)4 Hours (Automated)
VerificationManual Code ReviewAutomated E2E Test Gen

How do Agentic Editors use Replay’s Headless API?#

The "Agentic" part of the editor comes from its ability to use tools. When an AI agent is tasked with building a new dashboard, it doesn't start with a blank file. It calls the Replay Headless API to get the blueprint.

Industry experts recommend using agentic workflows to bridge the gap between design and code. Here is how an agent might programmatically interact with Replay to generate a component:

typescript
// Example: Agentic workflow using Replay's Headless API
import { ReplayClient } from '@replay-build/sdk';

const agent = async (videoUrl: string) => {
  // 1. Initialize Replay to analyze the recording
  const replay = new ReplayClient(process.env.REPLAY_API_KEY);
  
  // 2. Extract visual context (Design tokens, components, layout)
  const uiBlueprint = await replay.analyzeVideo(videoUrl);
  
  // 3. The Agentic Editor now has a structured JSON of the UI
  const componentCode = await generateReactComponent(uiBlueprint);
  
  return componentCode;
};

The resulting code isn't just a generic guess. It’s a surgical implementation of the brand’s actual design system. This level of precision is exactly why ctos choosing agentic editors is no longer a luxury—it's a competitive necessity.

What is the ROI of Visual Reverse Engineering?#

Manual front-end development is notoriously slow. A single complex screen—complete with responsive states, accessibility features, and design system integration—takes an average of 40 hours from design handoff to production-ready code.

When ctos choosing agentic editors implement Replay, that number drops to 4 hours. The AI handles the "grunt work" of CSS positioning, component scaffolding, and prop typing, leaving the human architect to focus on high-level data orchestration and security.

Case Study: The 10x Engineering Reality#

A mid-sized fintech firm was facing a $2 million quote to migrate their internal admin portal from an ancient jQuery version to React. By using Replay to extract the UI patterns and an agentic editor to refactor the logic, they completed the migration in three weeks instead of six months.

They used Replay's Flow Map feature to detect multi-page navigation from video context, ensuring that the agent didn't just build pages, but built a cohesive user journey.

Modernizing Legacy Systems

Can Agentic Editors handle Design System Sync?#

One of the biggest friction points in software development is the "hand-off" between Figma and the IDE. Standard Copilots don't know your Figma file exists. Agentic editors, however, can be fed the Figma URL or a Replay video of the prototype.

Replay acts as the bridge. Its Figma plugin extracts design tokens directly, while its video-to-code engine ensures the implementation matches the motion and feel of the design.

tsx
// Replay-generated component with Design System Sync
import { Button, Card } from "@your-org/design-system";

export const UserProfile = ({ user }) => {
  // Replay extracted the exact padding, shadows, and 
  // brand tokens from the video recording.
  return (
    <Card className="p-6 shadow-brand-md rounded-xl">
      <h2 className="text-display-sm font-bold">{user.name}</h2>
      <p className="text-body-md text-gray-600">{user.bio}</p>
      <Button variant="primary" onClick={() => handleFollow()}>
        Follow
      </Button>
    </Card>
  );
};

This ensures that the agentic editor isn't just hallucinating styles—it is adhering to the strict SOC2 and HIPAA-ready standards required in regulated environments.

How to implement an Agentic Workflow in your organization#

If you are a CTO looking to move beyond standard Copilots, the transition requires a change in how you provide context to your AI.

  1. •Stop writing 50-page PRDs: Instead, record a video of the desired functionality or the legacy bug.
  2. •Deploy Replay: Use Replay to turn those recordings into structured data.
  3. •Connect your Agent: Point your agentic editor (Devin, OpenHands, or custom agents) to the Replay Headless API.
  4. •Automate Testing: Use Replay to generate Playwright or Cypress tests directly from the recording to ensure the agent's code actually works.

The reason ctos choosing agentic editors are seeing such high success rates is that they are feeding the AI better data. Text is ambiguous; video is definitive.

Automated E2E Testing with Replay

The Future of "Prototype to Product"#

We are entering an era where the distance between a Figma prototype and a deployed React application is measured in minutes, not months. Replay’s ability to turn a screen recording into a production-ready component library is the final piece of the puzzle.

Agentic editors are the "hands" that build the software, but Replay is the "eyes." Without visual context, even the most advanced AI is just guessing.

For organizations struggling with the $3.6 trillion technical debt mountain, the choice is clear. You can continue to pay the "autocomplete tax" with standard Copilots, or you can join the wave of ctos choosing agentic editors to build a faster, more resilient future.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What makes an editor "agentic" compared to a standard IDE plugin?#

An agentic editor can perform multi-step reasoning and execute tasks autonomously. While a standard plugin might suggest a single function, an agentic editor can create new files, run tests, debug errors, and use external APIs like Replay to understand visual requirements. It acts as a junior developer rather than a sophisticated typewriter.

How does Replay help AI agents write better code?#

Replay provides what we call "Visual Context." Most AI agents only see the code. Replay allows them to see the result of the code. By analyzing a video recording, Replay extracts the exact CSS, DOM structure, and component hierarchy, giving the agent a pixel-perfect blueprint to follow. This eliminates the "trial and error" phase of frontend development.

Is Replay secure for enterprise use?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated environments and is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready. We offer On-Premise deployment options for organizations that cannot send their UI data to the cloud. This allows enterprise CTOs to utilize agentic workflows without compromising their security posture.

Can Replay generate tests as well as code?#

Yes. Replay can generate Playwright and Cypress E2E tests directly from a screen recording. As the user interacts with the UI in the video, Replay captures the selectors and assertions needed to create a robust test suite. This ensures that the code generated by your agentic editor is fully verified before it hits production.

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