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REA: Reverse Engineer Anything

An MCP server that lets your AI agent reverse engineer apps, binaries and websites locally. What it is, its 324k stars, its skills and how to install it.

Monday, October 19, 2026 · 5 min read · by Cyrus Bitangcol

See a feature in an app and want to know how it really works? REA (Reverse Engineer Anything) gives your AI coding agent the tools to open the app without its source code, trace the feature down to the binary, show you the evidence, and then build a version of it for your own project.

What is this repo

REA is an open-source MCP server and CLI that connects agents like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI to real reverse-engineering tools. You ask your agent a plain question, such as "how does search work in the Notes app?", and it calls REA to inspect the target, follow the relevant code and return findings with the evidence and limits behind each conclusion.

Everything runs locally: REA does not upload your app. Your agent only receives the tool results.

What it can look inside:

TargetWhat you get back
Native binariesPseudocode, assembly, strings, symbols, calls and references (via Hopper, Ghidra or IDA)
JavaScript / Electron appsModules, imports, source maps, routes, IPC and native add-ons
WebsitesPage structure, scripts, network activity and screenshots
Android APKsManifest, classes, decompiled methods and references (via JADX)
.NET assembliesMetadata, CIL instructions and native dependencies
Go / Rust binariesCompiler version, modules and dependency trees
Firmware, WASM, EVM, SQLiteRegions, sections, selectors, tables and more
Network & signal capturesRequests, payloads, DNS/TLS summaries and decoder output

REA is built for lawful research, education, interoperability and analysis of software you own or are authorised to examine. Commercial tools like IDA, Hopper and JEB need your own valid licence.

How many stars

At the time of writing (19 October 2026) REA has 324,128 GitHub stars and 82,115 forks, which makes it one of the most-starred developer tools on GitHub. The project celebrated passing 300,000 stars in its README.

  • Language: TypeScript
  • License: MIT
  • Latest release: rea-agents 6.7.0 (18 October 2026)
  • Website: rea.tools

The skills

REA ships agent skills: instruction packs that teach your agent how to investigate, not just which tools exist.

For users

  • reverse-engineer-anything: the main skill. It routes each target to the right first tool (Electron app → analyze_javascript_application, APK → inspect_android_package, native binary → open_binary, and so on), keeps every claim tied to evidence, and covers recovery when tools or engines are missing. It bundles reference guides for Android, JavaScript apps, native artifacts, runtime observation and evidence workflows.

For contributors

These live in the repo for people working on REA itself:

  • rea-tool-design: design or change investigation tools, CLI/MCP contracts and evidence rules.
  • rea-analysis-optimization: speed up providers and analysis workflows (context, latency, CPU, memory) without losing correctness.
  • rea-ci-tests-audit: audit CI and test suites for false passes, fixture drift and slow runs.
  • rea-changelog-update: write release changelogs and GitHub release notes from Git history.

How to install it

1. Check the requirements

  • To do: Node.js 22.x (22.19+), 24.x (24.11+) or 26+, plus npm. Node 23 and 25 are not supported.
  • To do: An AI agent that supports local MCP servers (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf and about 20 more).
  • To do: Optional, for native binaries: Hopper, Ghidra or IDA. Setup can install Hopper for you after you approve it.
  • To do: Linux only: a procps-compatible ps on your PATH for JavaScript, Ghidra and JADX analysis.

Static JavaScript/Electron and .NET analysis need no native engine, so you can start without Hopper or Ghidra.

2. Run guided setup

bash
npx rea-agents setup

Setup will:

  1. Ask which agents to configure (existing REA registrations are pre-selected).
  2. Show you the exact files it will change, with backups of your current config.
  3. Offer to install Hopper as a separate yes/no choice.
  4. Wait for your approval before writing anything. Declining or pressing Ctrl-C changes nothing.

On Claude Desktop, quit the app fully before approving, or it can overwrite the new registration.

3. Restart your agent

Restart every agent named in the completion message. Then ask it something like:

text
Understand how search works in the Notes app, show me the evidence, and build a
similar feature for my project.

Configure one agent from a script

Pick exact clients with --client, preview with --dry-run, then apply with --yes:

bash
npx rea-agents setup --client claude_code --dry-run
npx rea-agents setup --client claude_code --yes

Install the `rea` command globally

Useful if you run many agent sessions or want REA in your terminal:

bash
npm install --global rea-agents
rea setup
rea --help

Or use the official install script, which installs the same npm package:

bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morluto/rea/main/install.sh | bash

Install only the skill

This adds the agent instructions from skills.sh but not the MCP server or analysis engines:

bash
npx skills add morluto/rea --skill reverse-engineer-anything

Try it without setup

Analyse an extracted Electron app or .asar straight from the terminal:

bash
npx -y rea-agents@latest analyze-javascript-application /absolute/path/to/app --json

Check, update and remove

bash
rea doctor --json              # read-only health check
rea update                     # update a global install
npx rea-agents@latest setup    # refresh an npx-based setup
rea uninstall                  # remove REA registrations and skill files
rea uninstall --purge-data     # also clear ~/.rea cache and state

REA releases often and fixes bugs quickly. If something breaks, update first, restart your agent and retry before opening an issue.

Worth a look

The showcases are the best way to see it in action: rebuilding DX-Ball's sound-pan maths byte for byte, tracing Notion's Electron clipboard bridge, and recovering a 16-bit DOS bullet pattern from Touhou 4. Source and docs are on GitHub.