morluto
63b0426e40
* fix(plist): rethrow internal invariant violations from plist consumers KeyedArchiveReader reported any non-limit decode failure as a format failure, InterfaceBuilderAnalysis listed it as an invalid archive, ReleaseExposureReader fell back to scanning raw bytes, and the native plist parser reported it as provider output. An InternalInvariantError is a REA defect, not evidence about the input, so each consumer now rethrows it. The native parser's binary path now shares its one cause projection instead of a duplicate. * fix(native): rethrow internal invariant violations from the native output projection nativeOutputFailure wrapped any producer failure as AnalysisOutputError, so a REA defect thrown while reading a plist or dispatching a command was reported as native output parsing. It now rethrows InternalInvariantError, which reaches the provider's adapter-failure path with the invariant as its cause. * fix(artifacts): rethrow internal invariant violations from the shared artifact failure mapper translateArtifactFailure turned every unrecognised cause into an ArtifactOperationError with reason io, so the keyed-archive and Interface Builder rethrows still reached users as artifact read failures. The shared mapper now rethrows InternalInvariantError, and the deferred client reports it as a ProviderAdapterError. Provider-level tests drive both operations through that client. * refactor(dotnet): report managed reader defects through invariantViolation (#11030) * refactor(dotnet): report managed reader defects through invariantViolation The managed readers threw plain TypeError and RangeError for states their callers rule out: an allowance or method page outside the input schema, a missing snapshot after identity admission, and a missing CLI header after the caller already returned for it. These are REA defects, not malformed targets, so they throw invariantViolation. The two CLI re-checks are gone: the callers pass the CLI header they already narrowed. The dotnet parser-plain-throw baseline drops from 6 to 0. * refactor(providers): refuse unusable tool paths and record marker mismatches without throwing to their own catch (#11031) * refactor(firmware): refuse unusable tool paths without throwing to its own catch resolveFirmwareCommand threw a plain TypeError for a configured engine or limiter path that is not a regular file, only to catch it in the next line and wrap it as an unavailable capability. A helper now returns why a path cannot run, and each caller builds the one refusal directly. Refusal reasons are unchanged; the directory tests now pin them exactly. The firmware parser-plain-throw baseline drops from 2 to 0. * refactor(pwndbg): refuse unusable debugger paths without throwing to its own catch inspectPwndbgCore threw plain Errors for a relative or wrong-kind configured path only to catch them and wrap them as an unavailable capability. A helper now returns why a path cannot be used, with any host error as its cause, and the loop builds the one refusal. Cancellation between host checks still propagates. Refusal reasons are unchanged. The PwndbgCoreContext parser-plain-throw baseline entry is removed. * refactor(pwntools): record a mismatched failure marker without throwing to its own catch readPwntoolsFailureEvidence threw a plain Error when the private bridge marker disagreed with the exit status, only to catch it and record its message as the marker failure. The mismatch is now recorded directly. The recorded evidence is unchanged; a unit test pins both the matching and the mismatched marker. The PwntoolsResourceLimits parser-plain-throw baseline entry is removed. * fix(android): report an unobserved Java probe as a REA defect, not a Java refusal (#11032) * fix(android): report an unobserved Java probe as a REA defect, not a Java refusal When runOwnedCommand resolved without observing the completed run, the probe threw a plain Error that its catch then classified as a Java runtime refusal, telling the caller to review their launcher. The state is a broken internal assumption, so the probe throws invariantViolation and projects it as a jadx adapter failure. The JadxJavaProbe parser-plain-throw baseline entry is removed. * refactor(native): report native provider defects through invariantViolation (#11033) * refactor(native): report native provider defects through invariantViolation Native providers threw plain Error and TypeError for states their own earlier steps rule out: a client with no target, a measured slice with no selection, a read longer than requested, a decoder command without its runtime, an LLDB root released before its children, and an IPS integer fact from another reader. These are REA defects, so they throw invariantViolation. NativeUiInterruptionControl no longer needs a throw: recording the deadline interruption returns the interruption its error is built from. Six native parser-plain-throw baseline entries drop. * refactor(native): report malformed lipo, swift-demangle and UI helper output through ParseFailure (#11034) * refactor(native): report malformed lipo and swift-demangle output through ParseFailure The lipo and swift-demangle output parsers threw plain TypeError for output that breaks their framing, and the lipo result classifier caught every TypeError as malformed output, so a host TypeError from a REA defect was reported as lipo output. Both parsers now throw malformedInput with their own format, and the lipo classifier accepts ParseFailureError instead of TypeError. Messages and the consumers' output and format failure categories are unchanged. Four native parser-plain-throw baseline entries drop. * refactor(native): report the UI helper's non-JSON output through ParseFailure The native UI helper runtime threw a plain Error when the helper's stdout was not JSON. It now throws malformedInput with its own format and the JSON failure as cause. The observation boundary still reports it as a native-macos adapter failure with the same reason. The NativeUiHelperRuntime parser-plain-throw baseline entry is removed. * refactor(verify): keep process-lifecycle owners out of the parser plain-throw guard (#11035) * refactor(verify): keep process-lifecycle owners out of the parser plain-throw guard JadxWorkspaceRoot and PwntoolsDecoder sit in parser folders but own a private helper process; their remaining plain throws report the helper's startup, handshake and cleanup outcomes, not parse faults. The guard now names them as process-lifecycle owners and leaves them out, so their five baseline entries drop without inventing parse errors for process failures. * refactor(parsers): report the remaining artifact, il2cpp, model and domain defects through invariantViolation (#11036) * refactor(parsers): report the remaining artifact, il2cpp, model and domain defects through invariantViolation Nine plain Error, TypeError and RangeError throws in parser folders reported broken internal assumptions or caller contracts (an uninitialized ZIP or DMG reader, a missing scan result, a non-byte stream chunk, an invalid traversal or marshal limit, a header count or linking fact the reader itself should have produced, a misordered Safetensors budget, an append after fingerprinting). None is an input fault, and no catch site depends on their class. They now throw invariantViolation with the same messages, and their parser-plain-throw baseline entries drop. * refactor(evidence): refuse an earlier Evidence format through ParseFailure (#11037) * refactor(evidence): refuse an earlier Evidence format through ParseFailure UnsupportedEvidenceFormatError restated the ParseFailure algebra as its own TypeError subclass. The format owner now throws unsupportedInput for the evidence-bundle format at the evidence_format field and exports the predicate its consumers use. The bundle reader's unsupported-format kind and message are unchanged. The snapshot reader surfaced only TypeError messages, so it now also surfaces the format refusal and keeps its recreate guidance; a boundary test pins that. * refactor(native): report Mach-O reader and inspection defects through invariantViolation (#11042) The Mach-O inspection plan reads the lipo, nm and dyld_info captures it just ran, the dispatch metadata reader is called only for Mach-O executables, and the command-name reader takes limits its callers derive. A missing capture, a non-Mach-O target or a malformed limit is a REA defect, not an input fault, so these six sites throw invariantViolation with their existing messages instead of TypeError. No catch site depends on their class. Their parser-plain-throw baseline entries drop. * fix(artifacts): join the Interface Builder cleanup failure to a catalog defect When catalog work failed while the concurrent Interface Builder reader failed to close, analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs built the primary through translateArtifactFailure before joining cleanup. That mapper now rethrows an InternalInvariantError, so a defect skipped the join and the reader's retained resources were lost. The defect now becomes the artifact graph provider's adapter failure at that site and joins the cleanup failure as before.
English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Türkçe · Русский · Tiếng Việt · ไทย · Deutsch · Español · Français · Українська · Polski · Português (Brasil) · العربية · فارسی · Bahasa Indonesia · Italiano · Ελληνικά · മലയാളം · Roman Urdu · Română · Български
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.
Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · Build RL environments · FAQ · Documentation
npx rea-agents setup
Important
Get REA from morluto/rea, rea.tools, or the rea-agents npm package. Follow the installation and release links from these official sources. A similar repository name or copied README does not establish that a download is official.
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, Ghidra, IDA or Kuna installation; setup can optionally install Hopper with approval. Static JavaScript analysis needs no native analysis engine.
Visit the REA website for setup instructions, illustrated guides, and real case studies.
Quick start
On Linux, Ghidra, JADX, firmware tool launches and static JavaScript/Electron
analysis require a procps-compatible system ps for process ownership
checks. Recovery steps are in docs/getting-started/installation.md under
"Linux owned-process prerequisite".
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 records the selected runtime and REA entry script directly. If acquired through a package runner, keep its cache entry available. Run package acquisition from a trusted directory outside the target project. Installation and recovery details are in the setup guide below.
Setup supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok Build and other agents. See installation and setup for provider configuration, manual MCP registration, Claude Code/Codex plugins, and the Cursor Marketplace plugin.
MCP uses compact input schemas by default to reduce context overhead. Set
REA_MCP_INPUT_SCHEMA_PROFILE=full in your MCP registration when you need the
complete advertised field guidance and nested validation details. Both profiles
keep the full tool set and canonical server validation. See
"Compact input schema profile" in the MCP contracts guide.
Output schemas are omitted from tools/list by default: no model API reads
them, and REA validates every result itself. Set
REA_MCP_OUTPUT_SCHEMA_PROFILE=compact to advertise each output schema within
a 4,096-byte budget, or full for complete output schemas (for MCP clients
that validate results). All settings keep canonical server-side validation and
complete structured results. See "Output schemas" in the MCP contracts guide.
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 a CLI installed with npm install --global or bun add --global:
rea update
rea --update is an alias for this verified workflow and accepts the same global
output flags. Use rea update when combining it with other command controls.
Updater commands retain at most 4 MiB of stdout and stderr combined. Oversized metadata replies are rejected after the command exits; verbose installs continue with bounded diagnostics. Human progress output respects terminal backpressure and waits for submitted writes to finish.
Bun global updates require Bun 1.2.17 or later. With an older Bun release,
upgrade Bun manually before running 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. With Bun, use
bunx rea-agents@latest in place of npx rea-agents@latest.
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.
What you can analyze
REA requires Node.js 22.x (>=22.23.4), 24.x (>=24.22.1), or 26.12.1+, plus npm. Additional tools and host support depend on the target:
| Target | What REA returns | Requirements and guide |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop installations | Runtime candidates, supporting files, component markers and next probes | Built-in bounded directory/header inspection; desktop applications |
| Native binaries | Pseudocode, assembly, strings, symbols, calls and references | Hopper, Ghidra, IDA or Kuna; native analysis |
| Offline ELF layout | Sections, segments, original symbols/relocations and static mitigation candidates | Caller-supplied pwntools on Linux x64; binary diagnostics |
| Go binaries | Embedded compiler version, modules, replacements and build settings | Built-in static ELF/PE/thin Mach-O inspection; no Go installation required |
| GPU code objects | CUDA/HIP targets, selected kernel parameters and resources, retained PTX text | Built-in static ELF/PE/fatbin/CUBIN/PTX inspection; GPU code objects |
| Model artifacts | GGUF / safetensors metadata, tensor declarations and derived totals | Built-in header inspection; optional full-file hash; model files |
| IL2CPP metadata | Unity global-metadata.dat assembly images, type and method names and index ranges | Built-in static decoding of versions 24, 27, 29, 31 and 39; no Unity required |
| Godot PCK | Archive inventory and extraction, original header/directory facts and selected content identities | Built-in static formats 2, 3 and 4; no Godot required |
| Rust binaries | Embedded cargo-auditable crate names, versions, sources and dependency edges | Built-in static ELF/PE/thin Mach-O inspection; Rust binaries |
| PE certificates | Authenticode WIN_CERTIFICATE entries and PKCS#7 signer/X.509 identity fields | Built-in static PE inspection; PE certificates |
| PE imports | Import and delay-load DLL names, ordinals, IAT RVAs and pefile import hash | Built-in static PE inspection; PE imports |
| Windows shortcuts | Shell Link target, arguments, working dir, ExtraData and Tracker droid facts | Built-in static LNK inspection; Windows shortcuts |
| ELF notes | PT_NOTE/SHT_NOTE owners, types, GNU build-id and ABI-tag fields | Built-in static ELF inspection; ELF notes |
| Binary hardening | PIE, NX, RELRO, CFG and related header flags for ELF, PE and Mach-O | Built-in static header inspection; binary hardening |
| Apple IPS crashes | .ips metadata, threads, images, registers and documented crash classes | Built-in static JSON inspection; Apple IPS |
| Linux kernel modules | .modinfo keys, __versions CRCs, this_module presence, and signature trailer | Built-in static ELF inspection; kernel modules |
| Erlang BEAM | IFF chunks, atoms, exports, imports, lambdas and the Code header | Built-in static BEAM inspection; Erlang BEAM |
| WASM artifact | Validation, sections, exact import/export WAT forms and decoded WAT | Caller-supplied WABT 1.0.42; inspect_wasm_artifact |
| EVM bytecode | Dispatch selectors, byte offsets, inferred arguments and mutability | Local raw/hex carrier on Linux x64; offline EVM guide |
| SQLite databases | Tables, columns, indexes, views, triggers and selected ordinary-table rows | Local database/WAL snapshot; Node.js 24.x >=24.15 or 26+ with native SQLite limits |
| Recorded Linux crashes | Raw notes, every recorded thread's registers/signals and optional mapping candidates | Caller-supplied pwntools on Linux x64; optional GDB/pwndbg; recorded crashes |
| JavaScript / Electron | Modules, imports, source maps, routes, IPC, native add-ons, rea audit-release-exposure |
Node.js and npm; Linux: procps-compatible ps; 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 or Fiddler Everywhere SAZ; mitmdump on Linux for native mitmproxy; capture guide |
| .NET assemblies | Metadata, CIL instructions, declared native dependencies and build comparisons | None (static only); managed-code guide |
| Android APKs | Manifest declarations, classes, decompiled methods and references | Headless JADX and a full JDK on Linux/macOS/Windows x64; Android guide |
| APK signatures | v1/v2/v3/v3.1 signers, certificate fingerprints, key rotation and digest self-consistency | None (static only); inspect_apk_signature |
| Android devices | Devices, packages, processes, logs, dumps, screen captures, and APK/file transfers | Caller-supplied adb (emulator or hardware); ADB guide |
| JEB projects | Engine-backed project units, artifact digests and type/method pseudo-code | A caller-started JEB client serving MCP, selected with REA_JEB_MCP_URL; JEB guide |
| Android resources | Decoded manifest, string tables, locales and version facts | Caller-supplied Apktool launcher; resource guide |
| Flutter apps | Dart snapshot hash, per-ABI library digests and engine build provenance | None (static APK parsing); Flutter guide |
| Firmware | Regions, extraction results and native-analysis handoffs | Binwalk / Unblob on Linux; firmware guide |
| Recorded packets | Selected fields, repeated values, filters and decode-as rules | Linux: TShark 4.x + prlimit; capture guide |
| Packet summaries | Endpoints, DNS, TLS SNI, protocol distribution and HTTP requests | Caller-supplied tshark and capinfos (Linux-verified); pcap guide |
| Recorded logic signals | Decoder annotations, sample ranges and diagnostics | Linux: sigrok-cli 0.7.2 + prlimit; signal recordings |
| Packages and resources | File inventories, digests, plists, Apple bundle anatomy and extracted resources | Artifact and JavaScript guide, Apple applications |
| Process behavior | Terminal output, interactions, exit and filesystem observations, and run comparisons | Linux/macOS with a native PTY; process capture |
| PyInstaller executables | CArchive members, Python version, entry scripts and extracted bytecode | None (static only); Python packaged applications |
| Deno compile binaries | Virtual files, entry point, recorded options, npm snapshot length | None (static only); Deno compile executables |
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.
For offline native-binary inspection, REA also supports caller-supplied GNU objdump and Rizin. See the reverse-engineering tools guide for provider setup, CLI commands, and Evidence limitations. REA does not install or update either provider.
Native formats and host support vary by provider. See
Hopper and Ghidra setup, the
IDA guide (including an optional native MCP bridge), the
Kuna decompiler guide, and
experimental Windows Ghidra support.
Ghidra also supports 16-bit DOS analysis.
For large binaries, raise the provider's startup deadline with
REA_GHIDRA_STARTUP_TIMEOUT_MS or REA_HOPPER_STARTUP_TIMEOUT_MS.
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.
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
Build RL environments with REA
Record a web app session, turn its API into tools, and export an environment an AI agent can use. Run it with AgentEnv, then add tasks and reward checks for RL training or evaluation.
Read the guide · Watch the video
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.
Build RL environments
Give an AI agent a local environment to practice tasks such as finding an issue or creating a folder, without running the original app. Use it for reinforcement learning (RL) or to test how well an agent completes tasks.
REA turns recorded API requests and responses into tools the agent can call. The environment uses the recorded data and supports changes only when the recording confirms their effects.
With REA set up in your agent, replace the example URL and folder tasks below with your own:
Use REA to build an RL environment from my test web app at
http://127.0.0.1:3000.
Cover listing, creating, renaming, and deleting folders. You may create and
remove test folders. Leave existing data unchanged.
Save it in a folder named my-env. Check which operations work and tell me
how to run it.
Use the command line instead
Use these commands if you already have a file containing the app’s recorded browser requests and responses. Running the result also requires AgentEnv and Docker.
rea environment-build ./session.har ./my-env --name my-env --json
agent-env run ./my-env
REA exports a runnable environment with a basic test to check that it starts and responds. Use it with your RL framework to define task goals, add reward checks, and run training.
Build an environment · Environment reference · Watch the demo on X
Desktop app environments
REA can also build an environment of a Linux desktop app, which an agent uses through screenshots, the mouse and the keyboard. From a one-line request, such as "Build me a Gnote environment where the agent adds olive oil to the shopping list note", your agent installs the app on a local build computer, writes the task, exports the environment and checks the task in a fresh computer. The machine that builds it needs Linux on amd64 or arm64, Docker and the agentenv framework version the guide pins.
Set up desktop app environments
FAQ
Which agents can use REA?
Any agent that supports local MCP servers. Setup configures the supported agents; other clients can use manual MCP registration.
Do I need a native analysis engine?
Deep native analysis uses Hopper, Ghidra, IDA or Kuna, depending on the target and operation. Static JavaScript and .NET inspection work without a native analysis engine. Setup can install Hopper after approval; Ghidra, IDA and Kuna use your existing installations. See provider setup for the options and their supported targets.
Do I need to start Hopper first?
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. Complete that prompt in the same user session before your first CLI/MCP operation or unattended job. Open Hopper manually if needed. See Hopper startup and troubleshooting.
What does installing the skill from skills.sh do?
The skill supplies investigation instructions for your agent. Use npx rea-agents setup
to register REA's MCP server and install the matching instructions, then restart
your agent. See skill-only installation.
What code does REA return?
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.
Does REA upload my app?
REA analyzes targets locally. Your agent receives the tool results, and its model provider has its own data policy.
What should I do if I hit a bug?
Update first; a recent release may already fix it.
For a CLI installed with npm install --global or bun add --global:
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:
- Installation and setup: agent registration, provider configuration, updates and uninstall.
- Readiness and troubleshooting: diagnose one agent or analysis engine.
- CLI and Evidence: commands, provider selection, snapshots, import/export and exit statuses.
- MCP contracts and agent prompts: tool results, sessions and guided investigations.
- Tool catalog: generated inventory of tools, providers and CLI commands.
- Roadmap: planned work and capability trackers.
Report vulnerabilities through SECURITY.md.
Star history
🎉 400,000 GitHub stars — thank you!
Thanks to everyone using REA, reporting bugs, requesting features, testing builds, and contributing fixes.
Disclaimer
See DISCLAIMER.md for responsible-use guidance.
The project's position on illegal or unauthorized use covers all REA versions, distribution channels, and platforms; each copy retains its applicable licenses.
REA is for lawful research, education, interoperability, software preservation, and analysis of software you own or are authorized to examine.
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 selected layers and dependency paths.
License
REA-authored code is licensed under MIT. Third-party material retains its own licenses and copyright notices; see Third-party notices for the dependency inventory, preserved license texts, and external-tool terms.
You must legally obtain and be authorized to use commercial tools, including IDA Pro / Hex-Rays decompilers, Hopper, and JEB, under their applicable licenses. REA grants no tool license, key, or activation entitlement. Trials and demos remain subject to vendor terms, including user, feature, automation, and output sharing restrictions. Cracked copies, stolen keys, unauthorized key sharing, and bypassing license restrictions are not authorized. This guidance does not amend MIT or third-party licenses.