Regulated systems don't get big-bang rewrites. They get phased modernization: domain by domain, with the legacy codebase running until the new backend has earned production.
The old line keeps running while the new one earns it.
Rebuild one domain at a time on Xano: readable logic, governed changes, immutable releases. Run it alongside the legacy codebase, route traffic when it's proven, and keep the audit trail for every step. The rules move out of twenty-year-old code and into a layer your team can actually see.
HIPAA-compliant appsThe strangler pattern (Martin Fowler named it after the strangler fig, a vine that grows around a tree until it can stand on its own) replaces a legacy codebase piece by piece instead of all at once. You put a routing layer in front of the old system, rebuild one domain behind it, and send that domain’s traffic to the new code once it is proven.
The legacy codebase keeps serving everything you have not moved yet. Each cutover is small, reversible and reviewed, and when the last domain moves, the old system has nothing left to do. On Xano, the routing layer is a versioned API, and every rebuilt domain ships as an immutable release with a rollback path.
Start where the risk is low and the payoff is shared, and leave the system of record for last.
Start by putting one clean API layer in front of the old system, the SaaS tools and the databases around it. Consumers call the new API; the legacy codebase answers behind it until each route moves. Secure integrations covers the mapping, versioning and auth.
Eligibility, pricing and permissions are usually copied across several systems. Moving them first gives every later domain one source of truth to call. See business logic centralization.
Copy-paste between systems, follow-up emails and spreadsheet reports are low-risk to move and show value fast: database triggers, background tasks and scheduled jobs take them over.
Move the domain that carries money, contracts or patient data once releases, reviews and rollbacks are routine for your team, not on the first cutover.
Core property-management system rebuilt in four months, running a country's operations.
Dynamics and ServiceNow replaced across 30+ countries in 13 months.
Agency Soraia rebuilt Stars Be Original’s legacy recruiting system, a PHP codebase where every change meant hiring a PHP developer, on a Xano backend in six months, with one developer, one UX designer and one product manager. Database triggers and background tasks now drive onboarding, payments and 70+ automated emails.
Read the Soraia case studyModernizing onto a platform shouldn't mean a new lock-in. Data in standard Postgres that is always exportable, and logic that stays readable and translatable.
The exportability FAQLegacy modernization is moving the business logic and data of an old system onto a current platform without stopping the business. On Xano, you rebuild one domain at a time as readable logic on managed Postgres, run it alongside the legacy codebase, and route traffic to it once it is proven.
The strangler fig pattern replaces a legacy system one piece at a time. A routing layer sits in front of the old system, each domain is rebuilt behind it, and traffic moves to the new code domain by domain. The old system keeps running until nothing is left for it to do.
Yes. Xano can aggregate several upstream systems into one endpoint, map their fields to a canonical schema, version the endpoints so consumers don’t break, and centralize auth and rate limiting in one place. That API layer is the front door you route through while the legacy codebase is replaced behind it.
No. Modernizing on Xano is phased, not big-bang. You move one domain at a time, keep the legacy codebase running for everything else, and keep an audit trail for every step. Each domain ships as an immutable release, so a cutover that misbehaves rolls back instead of becoming an incident.
Yes. Your data lives in a standard Postgres database and exports directly; at volume, we help you move it. It is always exportable, and your logic, schema and tests are readable and translatable to the language of your choice. Security and exportability has the details.
Yes. Xano runs core systems for Generali across 30+ countries and property operations for Heimstaden. Workspaces are single-tenant with encryption in transit and at rest, and Xano supports SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR and HDS, so compliance moves with each domain instead of being added after the cutover.
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