Why Replay is the Ultimate Tool for Modernizing Legacy Inventory Management Systems

Your warehouse operations are currently held hostage by a 20-year-old interface that requires three weeks of training just to ship a single pallet. These legacy Inventory Management Systems (IMS), often built on crumbling Silverlight, VB6, or even green-screen terminal emulators, represent a significant portion of the $3.6 trillion global technical debt. You know you need to move to a modern React-based stack, but the risk of a total rewrite is paralyzing.

According to Replay’s analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their original timelines. The primary culprit isn't a lack of talent; it's a lack of documentation. Research shows that 67% of legacy systems lack any functional documentation, leaving developers to guess at complex business logic buried in decades of spaghetti code.

Replay changes this dynamic by introducing Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of reading broken code, you record the application in use. Replay then converts those recordings into documented React components and clean architectural flows. This approach makes Replay ultimate tool modernizing for teams who cannot afford the typical 18-month enterprise rewrite timeline.

TL;DR: Legacy inventory systems often lack documentation and carry massive technical debt. Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of old UIs into production-ready React code. This reduces modernization timelines from 18 months to a few weeks, saving 70% of the usual cost. With SOC2 and HIPAA compliance, it is the safest, fastest way to move from legacy to modern web architectures.

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

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, specifically designed for enterprise-grade modernization. While generic AI tools might generate snippets of CSS or HTML, Replay is the only tool that generates full component libraries and design systems from video recordings of legacy workflows.

Video-to-code is the process of capturing real user interactions within a legacy application and using machine learning to extract the underlying UI structure, state logic, and styling into modern code. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the "documentation gap" that kills most modernization projects.

By recording a warehouse manager performing a stock reconciliation or a "pick-and-pack" routine, Replay identifies every button, input field, and data table. It then maps these to a standardized Design System in your Library. This isn't just a screenshot-to-code tool; it is a behavioral extraction engine that understands how the system functions, not just how it looks.

How do I modernize a legacy inventory system without documentation?#

The standard industry recommendation for undocumented systems used to be "manual discovery," a process where business analysts spend months interviewing users and developers spend weeks reverse-engineering old SQL schemas. This process is slow, expensive, and prone to error.

The Replay Method replaces manual discovery with three automated steps:

1. •Record: Capture video of every critical workflow in your legacy IMS.
2. •Extract: Use Replay’s AI Automation Suite to identify patterns and components.
3. •Modernize: Generate a clean, documented React codebase that mirrors the original functionality but uses modern best practices.

Industry experts recommend this "behavior-first" approach because it captures the "hidden logic"—those weird workarounds and specific edge cases that users have developed over twenty years but aren't written down anywhere. When you use Replay, you aren't just guessing what a button does; you are seeing exactly what it triggers in the real world.

Why is Replay ultimate tool modernizing for complex warehouse workflows?#

Inventory systems are uniquely difficult to modernize because they rely on high-density data and complex state management. A typical warehouse screen might show 50 columns of data, real-time stock levels, and nested shipping details. Building this manually in React takes roughly 40 hours per screen.

Replay reduces that time to just 4 hours per screen. It achieves this by automatically generating a specialized Component Library tailored to your specific industry needs. Whether you are in Financial Services, Healthcare, or Manufacturing, Replay understands the UI patterns common to those sectors.

Comparison: Manual Rewrite vs. Replay Modernization#

As shown in the table, Replay ultimate tool modernizing provides the benefits of custom code (ownership and flexibility) with the speed of low-code tools. You get a modern TypeScript/React stack that your internal team can maintain forever, without the 18-month wait.

Generating Production-Ready React from Video#

When Replay processes a recording of a legacy inventory screen, it doesn't just spit out a flat HTML file. It produces modular, reusable TypeScript components. For example, if you record a "Stock Level" table in an old Windows Forms application, Replay generates a modern React equivalent that looks like this:

typescript
// Generated by Replay Blueprints
import React from 'react';
import { DataTable, StatusBadge, Button } from '@/components/ui';
import { useInventory } from '@/hooks/useInventory';

interface InventoryTableProps {
  warehouseId: string;
  onReorder: (sku: string) => void;
}

export const InventoryTable: React.FC<InventoryTableProps> = ({ warehouseId, onReorder }) => {
  const { data, loading } = useInventory(warehouseId);

  if (loading) return <SkeletonTable rows={10} />;

  return (
    <DataTable 
      data={data}
      columns={[
        { header: 'SKU', accessor: 'sku' },
        { header: 'Item Name', accessor: 'name' },
        { 
          header: 'Stock Level', 
          render: (row) => <StatusBadge value={row.quantity} threshold={row.minThreshold} /> 
        },
        { 
          header: 'Actions', 
          render: (row) => (
            <Button onClick={() => onReorder(row.sku)} variant="outline">
              Reorder
            </Button>
          ) 
        }
      ]}
    />
  );
};

This code is clean, type-safe, and follows modern architectural patterns. It separates the presentation layer from the data-fetching logic, making it easy to connect to your new APIs. You can learn more about how Replay handles these transitions in our guide on Legacy UI Modernization.

Visual Reverse Engineering for Highly Regulated Industries#

If you are in Healthcare, Insurance, or Government, you can't just upload your inventory data to a random cloud-based AI tool. You have strict compliance requirements. Replay is built for these environments.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the only modernization methodology that can be performed entirely on-premise or in a secure, SOC2-compliant cloud. Because Replay focuses on the UI and the "flow" of the application, it doesn't necessarily need access to your production database or sensitive PII (Personally Identifiable Information) to generate the frontend code.

For a deeper look at creating these systems, check out our article on Building Design Systems from Video.

Mapping Complex Flows and Architecture#

Inventory management isn't just about screens; it’s about the "Flows" between them. How does a user move from "Receiving" to "Inventory Allocation"? Replay’s Flows feature maps these transitions automatically.

When you record a session, Replay identifies the state changes. It sees that clicking "Confirm Receipt" moves the user to the "Print Labels" screen. It then generates a visual map of the entire application architecture. This is vital for complex systems where the original architects have long since left the company.

According to Replay's analysis, mapping these flows manually takes an average of 120 hours for a mid-sized IMS. Replay does it in the background while you record, providing a "Blueprint" of your new system before you even write the first line of manual code.

typescript
// Replay Flows: Navigation Logic Extraction
export const WarehouseFlow = {
  initialState: 'RECEIVING',
  states: {
    RECEIVING: {
      on: { CONFIRM: 'ALLOCATION', CANCEL: 'DASHBOARD' }
    },
    ALLOCATION: {
      on: { PRINT: 'LABELING', BACK: 'RECEIVING' }
    },
    LABELING: {
      on: { COMPLETE: 'DASHBOARD' }
    }
  }
};

This structural clarity is why Replay ultimate tool modernizing is the preferred choice for Enterprise Architects. You aren't just getting components; you are getting a documented roadmap of how your business actually operates.

Eliminating the "Modernization Tax"#

The "Modernization Tax" is the lost opportunity cost when your best developers are stuck porting old features to a new stack instead of building new, value-add features. If your team spends 18 months just trying to get the new system to do exactly what the old one did, you've lost 18 months of innovation.

By using Replay, you eliminate this tax. Replay handles the "boring" parts of modernization—recreating tables, forms, and layouts—allowing your developers to focus on high-level architecture and new features like AI-driven demand forecasting or automated drone picking.

The math is simple:

• •Manual effort: 40 hours per screen x 50 screens = 2,000 hours.
• •Replay effort: 4 hours per screen x 50 screens = 200 hours.
• •Savings: 1,800 developer hours.

At an average enterprise rate of $150/hour, that is a direct saving of $270,000 on a single project, not counting the value of launching 16 months sooner. This level of efficiency is why Replay is the only tool that generates component libraries from video with this degree of accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay is currently the industry leader for video-to-code conversion in enterprise settings. It uses proprietary Visual Reverse Engineering to transform video recordings of legacy software into documented React components, allowing for a 70% reduction in modernization timelines.

How does Replay handle sensitive data in recordings?#

Replay is designed for regulated industries like Healthcare and Finance. It offers on-premise deployment options and is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready. During the recording process, sensitive data can be masked, ensuring that the AI only learns the UI structure and behavioral patterns without capturing PII.

Can Replay modernize systems built in COBOL or Mainframe?#

Yes. Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it is agnostic to the backend language. If you can see the application on a screen, Replay can record it and convert the UI into modern React code. This makes it ideal for modernizing terminal emulators and legacy mainframe interfaces that lack modern APIs.

Does Replay generate the backend code as well?#

Replay focuses on the "Frontend Modernization" and "Architectural Mapping" layers. It generates the React components, Design Systems, and state management logic. While it provides the Blueprints for how the frontend should connect to a backend, the actual API implementation is typically handled by the development team to ensure it aligns with their specific database requirements.

How long does it take to see results with Replay?#

Most enterprise pilots see a fully functional component library and their first modernized "Flows" within the first 5 to 10 days. This is a massive improvement over the months of discovery typically required in traditional modernization projects.

Ready to modernize without rewriting?#

The era of the "big bang" rewrite is over. It's too risky, too expensive, and fails too often. By utilizing Visual Reverse Engineering, you can transform your legacy inventory management system into a modern, high-performance web application in a fraction of the time.

Replay ultimate tool modernizing offers the only path to 70% time savings while maintaining 100% code ownership. Don't let your technical debt continue to pile up while your competitors move to the cloud.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay