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REA: let your agent reverse-engineer how an app feature works

Added New⧉ Copyable prompt below

Our verdict

Useful when you want to understand how a feature works in software you are authorised to examine, then build your own version from evidence rather than guesswork. One setup command registers the MCP server and workflow instructions with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and others, and static JavaScript/Electron and .NET analysis need no extra engine. Deeper native work needs Hopper, Ghidra or IDA, and you must hold proper licences for commercial tools. Reverse engineering has legal limits: stick to software you own or are allowed to analyse, and install only from the official repo, site or npm package, because copycat repos exist.

Who it's for
Developers and security-minded builders who use a coding agent and need to understand software they don't have the source for
Leverage
Evidence-backed answers about how a feature works, without the source
Effort
Medium
Date added

What it does

REA (rea-agents on npm) connects your agent through MCP to analysis tools for native binaries (via Hopper, Ghidra or IDA), JavaScript/Electron apps and ASARs, .NET assemblies, Android APKs (JADX), websites (Chrome-family browser), HAR captures, SQLite databases, firmware and more. Results include the evidence and stated limitations behind each conclusion; the same workflows are available from the rea CLI. Analysis runs locally, but your agent's model provider still receives the tool results. Runtime capture runs the target with your user permissions. Needs Node.js 22.19+, 24.11+ or 26+. Release history: the first commit in morluto/rea (14 April 2026) began as betterBinaryMCP, an MCP server for Hopper; the first tagged release, rea-0.2.0, and the first rea-agents npm publish both landed on 12 July 2026.

How builders use it

  • Run npx rea-agents setup, choose your agents, review the proposed config changes and restart the agent.
  • Ask the agent to explain how a specific feature works in an app you are allowed to inspect, show the evidence, and sketch an implementation for your project.
  • Inspect an extracted Electron app or ASAR from the terminal with analyze-javascript-application --json.
  • Keep it current with rea update (or re-run npx rea-agents@latest setup), since releases are frequent.

What to expect

A written explanation of a feature's behaviour with the code references behind it, and a first implementation you can test.

Copy this: Setup + first investigation

# Official sources only: github.com/morluto/rea, rea.tools, npm rea-agents
npx rea-agents setup        # pick agents, review changes, restart agent

# Static JS/Electron analysis from the terminal:
npx -y rea-agents@latest analyze-javascript-application /absolute/path/to/app --json

# Regular CLI use:
npm install --global rea-agents
rea --help
rea update

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 an app you own or are authorised to examine.)

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