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REA: Reverse Engineer Anything
One MCP for reverse engineering across binaries, applications, and runtime behavior.
See a feature you like. Understand how it works, down to the binary level.
Website · Guides · Showcases
Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · FAQ · Documentation
npx rea-agents setup
See a feature in an app that you want in your own product? Ask your agent to investigate it with REA. It can inspect the app without its source code, explain how the feature works, show the evidence, and build a version for your project.
REA connects your agent to tools for inspecting native binaries, JavaScript and Electron apps, .NET assemblies, and websites. You can also use the same tools from your terminal. Analysis runs locally, and results include the evidence and limitations behind each conclusion.
Setup registers REA with your agent and installs matching workflow instructions. Native analysis can use an existing Hopper or Ghidra installation; setup can optionally install Hopper with approval. Static JavaScript analysis needs neither engine.
Visit the REA website for setup instructions, illustrated guides, and real case studies.
Quick start
Set up your agent
With Node.js and npm installed, run:
npx rea-agents setup
Choose your agents, review the proposed changes, and approve them. Setup adds
REA's MCP server and matching workflow instructions, with backups of existing
configuration. Restart your agent afterward.
Setup supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok Build and
other agents. See
installation and setup for provider configuration and
manual MCP registration.
Ask your agent
Understand how search works in the Notes app, show me the evidence, and build a
similar feature for my project.
Replace Notes with your target app and the feature you want to understand.
Use the terminal
Inspect an extracted JavaScript/Electron app directory or ASAR:
npx -y rea-agents@latest analyze-javascript-application /absolute/path/to/app --json
The result includes modules, imports, Electron boundaries and their evidence.
Replace the path with your target, such as "D:/apps/example" on Windows.
To install the rea command for regular use:
npm install --global rea-agents
rea --help
For native analysis, configure a provider first. See the
CLI and Evidence guide for native commands, provider selection,
snapshots and scripting.
Update REA
REA changes quickly, and new releases include frequent bug fixes. Keep your
installation up to date.
For an npm-installed CLI:
rea update
To refresh your agent registrations and skill, run the setup command printed
by the update.
If you use npx, update your agent setup with:
npx rea-agents@latest setup
Review the setup changes and restart your agent. For one-off CLI commands,
use npx rea-agents@latest followed by the command.
How REA works
Your agent calls REA through MCP to inspect the target and trace relevant code.
REA returns findings with their evidence. The agent uses them to ask follow-up
questions, explain the behavior, or write and test an implementation.
CLI commands use the same workflows.
Open the full-size figure.
What you can analyze
REA requires Node.js 22.x (>=22.19), 24.x (>=24.11), or 26+, plus npm.
Additional tools and host support depend on the target:
| Target | What REA returns | Requirements and guide |
|---|
| Native binaries | Pseudocode, assembly, strings, symbols, calls and references | Hopper, Ghidra or IDA; native analysis |
| Offline ELF layout | Sections, segments, original symbols/relocations and static mitigation candidates | Caller-supplied pwntools on Linux x64; binary diagnostics |
| EVM bytecode | Dispatch selectors, byte offsets, inferred arguments and mutability | Local raw/hex carrier; offline EVM guide |
| Recorded Linux crashes | Raw notes, every recorded thread's registers/signals and optional mapping candidates | Caller-supplied pwntools; optional GDB/pwndbg; recorded crashes |
| JavaScript / Electron | Modules, imports, source maps, routes, IPC and native add-on relationships | Node.js and npm; application analysis |
| Websites | Page structure, scripts, network observations and requested screenshots | A Chrome-family browser; browser analysis |
| Saved network captures | Requests, responses, exposed payloads and source locations | HAR; mitmdump on Linux for native mitmproxy captures; capture guide |
| .NET assemblies | Metadata, CIL instructions, declared native dependencies and build comparisons | Static inspection; managed-code guide |
Static JavaScript and .NET inspection read the supplied files without running
the application. Runtime capture runs or interacts with the selected target
using your user permissions; each runtime guide describes its effects.
Native formats and host support vary by provider. See
Hopper and Ghidra setup, the
IDA guide, and
experimental Windows Ghidra support.
Ghidra also supports 16-bit DOS analysis.
For provider selection, see the CLI guide.
Check release availability
for features added since the latest npm release.
Showcases
DX-Ball: reconstruct a sound-pan calculation
Follow a sound call into its position-to-pan helper, inspect the instructions,
and turn incomplete pseudocode into C. The reconstruction passes 3,205
original-x86 cases and reproduces all 63 compiled function bytes.
Read the case study ·
Reconstruction repository
Notion: trace the Electron clipboard bridge
Find the renderer's clipboard API, follow it through preload and IPC into the
main process, and inspect the rich clipboard format.
Read the case study
TH04: recover a DOS bullet-ring calculation
Inspect the original PC-98 game's 16-bit instructions, recover the fixed and
aimed angle calculations, and compare the reconstructed C++ with the
historical compiler output.
Read the case study ·
Reconstruction repository
If you've used REA on something interesting, we'd love to see it. Share your
case in an issue or a
pull request, including the target,
your question, how REA helped, and what you found.
FAQ
Any agent that supports local MCP servers. Setup configures the
supported agents; other clients can use
manual MCP registration.
Deep native analysis uses one of them. Static JavaScript and .NET inspection
work without a native analysis engine. Setup can install Hopper after approval;
Ghidra and IDA use your existing installations. See provider setup.
REA starts Hopper when an operation needs it. On macOS, a first-run dialog may
ask you to choose demo mode or activate your license. See
Hopper startup and troubleshooting.
The skill supplies investigation instructions for your agent. Use rea setup
to register REA's MCP server and install the matching instructions, then restart
your agent. See skill-only installation.
Native analysis returns pseudocode and assembly. JavaScript/Electron analysis
recovers modules and their relationships. Your agent uses these findings to
write and test an implementation; the showcases give worked examples.
REA analyzes targets locally. Your agent receives the tool results, and its
model provider has its own data policy.
Update first; a recent release may already fix it.
For an npm-installed CLI:
rea update
For agent setup through npx:
npx rea-agents@latest setup
If you're using an agent, complete the setup refresh and restart
it. Retry the same task. If the problem persists, open an issue
with your REA version, target type, steps to reproduce and error output.
Documentation
Start with the website's worked guides.
For exact options, prerequisites and result contracts:
Report vulnerabilities through SECURITY.md.
Contributing
We'd love your help with REA! Open an issue to
report a bug or suggest a feature, or send a pull request
to improve the code or docs.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and checks,
testing for verification lanes, and the
architecture map for the project structure.
Project links
Website · npm · skills.sh · Issues · Security
Star history
🎉 20,000 GitHub stars — thank you!
Thanks to everyone using REA, reporting bugs, testing builds, and contributing fixes.
Disclaimer
REA provides tools for lawful reverse-engineering research, analysis, and reconstruction. You are responsible for obtaining any required authorization and complying with applicable laws. The project does not endorse illegal or unauthorized use.
License
MIT
