ezan 69a2faa120 feat: add FreeBuff agent support for REA setup (#2736)
* feat: add FreeBuff agent support for REA setup

Register FreeBuff as a supported setup client using the shared user
agents directory (~/.agents/mcp.json with mcpServers, skills in
~/.agents/skills), which matches what FreeBuff Desktop loads. Adds the
client definition, boundary tests, supported-agent docs, and the skill
reference client list.

* fix(freebuff): detect FreeBuff from its profile directory, not shared .agents

The ~/.agents marker made FreeBuff appear installed for any home where
REA had installed shared skills (the default skill destination, also
Gemini CLI's), producing false doctor failures. Detect FreeBuff from
its own fixed profile directory ~/.config/freebuff-desktop instead,
and add a regression test covering a home with only the shared agents
skill directory.

* fix(setup): require product evidence for FreeBuff discovery

Address review findings at their producing boundaries and preserve directly affected consumers. Source inspection and git diff --check completed. Tests and automated checks were not run at the user’s explicit request.

* fix(uninstall): retain unverified shared client configuration

* fix(clients): preserve scoped removal evidence

* fix(doctor): omit undefined selectedClientIds under exactOptionalPropertyTypes

Passing selectedClientIds explicitly as undefined fails typecheck on this
branch (TS2379), which blocks the focused test workflow before any test
can run. Spread the option only when defined.

* fix(update): separate ownership evidence from product applicability

rea update's maintenance scope inspected only product applicability
evidence, so when a FreeBuff profile was absent but REA already owned a
version-pinned row in the shared ~/.agents/mcp.json, the plan omitted
freebuff and left the integration stale. FreeBuff now declares its
registration storage as shared, which proves ownership of an owned row
but never product applicability, and maintenance requests ownership
evidence through that declaration instead of reinterpreting the shared
paths. Doctor and setup keep readiness evidence, foreign rows stay out
of maintenance, and the Doctor exactOptionalPropertyTypes fix makes the
focused test workflow runnable.

* test(dotnet): split oversized operand extent diagnostics describe

The describe callback reached 162 lines (max 150), failing
max-lines-per-function and blocking the pre-push check for this branch.
Move the single-case extent scenarios into their own describe; no test
content or order changes.

* fix(update): preserve ZCode's disabled shared registration during maintenance

The shared user agents file doubles as ZCode's fallback, where
`enable: false` disables the registration. Ownership-based maintenance
read that row as a FreeBuff registration, whose format does not
recognize the flag, so the row was selected and the emitted setup
command rewrote it, dropping the flag and silently re-enabling a
registration the user had disabled.

registrationActivation now honors `enable: false` for any client whose
registration storage is shared, because the activation fact binds every
reader of that storage. Maintenance leaves such rows out; doctor
reports them as stale, matching ZCode's own treatment.

* fix(doctor): let explicit client selection authorize the config read

When an ACL or an inaccessible shared parent made every access probe
fail, a client selected by name was omitted before the configuration
read could return its unreadable-config detail, so doctor reported it
as not detected with installation remediation: an unresolved selected
path collapsed to absence.

An explicit selection now authorizes the read outright and the probes
serve automatic discovery only. A selected client with an unreadable
config reports invalid with the read failure; one with no config
reports missing; automatic discovery still probes before inspecting.

* fix(uninstall): share shared-storage checks between ZCode and FreeBuff

clients() queued ~/.agents/mcp.json twice: once as zcode_fallback and once
as freebuff. ZCode has no discoveryPaths, so its strict read still blocked
uninstall on malformed shared text, despite FreeBuff's new retain-and-continue
behavior. For a valid owned entry, ZCode removed it first, so FreeBuff reported
skipped rather than removed.

Make the shared file's checks and removal one shared decision:
- Add zcodeDiscoveryPaths to ZCode so it has its own applicability evidence.
- Gate zcode_fallback push on applicable, not just zcodeFallbackPath presence.
- Report shared storage ownership as one decision for both clients:
  FreeBuff and ZCode now use clientOwnershipEvidencePaths together, so a
  recognizable REA-owned row proves ownership once for the shared storage, and
  both clients report the same result consistently.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(uninstall): merge duplicated host and prove shared ownership from owned rows

Uninstall.ts declared systemUninstallHost twice, preventing module load,
with the exported copy returning only clients and the second copy missing
clientWriteBlocker. Merge into one exported host carrying both blockers.

hasOwnershipEvidence used access() existence, so an unrelated malformed
~/.agents/mcp.json established ownership and blocked every removal.
Ownership now requires a readable, recognizable REA-owned row via the
injected filesystem, so unrelated shared data stays retained.

Also cover ZCode discoveryPaths in its path test.

* fix(uninstall): keep denied product-local configurations fail-closed

Unproven product applicability marked every configuration path of that client unverified, so a denied ZCode profile turned an unreadable product-local config into a retained item: uninstall continued and could report complete with REA still registered. The retain-and-continue exception now applies only to storage REA does not own, classified once by clientSharedRegistrationPaths (shared configuration plus another product's same-scope fallback).

Covers the Greptile P1 on Uninstall.ts. Validation: the new test fails on the pre-fix Uninstall and passes after it; freebuff/zcode/updateMaintenance/bom/dsh suites green; clientLifecycle, clientRegistrationStatus and claudeDesktop keep the same 8 host failures as the pre-merge baseline (symlink EPERM, stale-vs-aligned on Windows).

* fix(update): retain FreeBuff when ZCode reads the shared fallback

Maintenance deduplicated clients on the path each inspection read, so ZCode's fallback view of ~/.agents/mcp.json marked that file "covered" and dropped FreeBuff from the scope. ZCode setup writes ~/.zcode/cli/config.json and deliberately leaves the fallback untouched (docs/client-configuration.md), so the emitted command refreshed only ZCode while the shared row both products load stayed pinned to the old package version. Each setup action rewrites only its own configuration path and no other action rewrites the shared row, so every selected client keeps its own maintenance action; the read-path covered/deduped filter is removed.

Covers the Codex P2 on UpdateMaintenance.ts:104. Validation: the new regression fails on e2fdec384 with {clients:["zcode"]} and passes with {clients:["freebuff","zcode"]}; updateMaintenance 31/31, setupClientConfigCleanupOwnership, cliUpdateAlias, updateOutput, cliStartupImports green; tsc --noEmit, oxlint (0 errors) and oxfmt --check clean; clientRegistrationStatus keeps the same 4 symlink/stale-vs-aligned failures this Windows host has on base e2fdec384 (verified by stashing the change).

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* fix(uninstall): preserve completed reads as shared ownership evidence

hasOwnershipEvidence caught every read failure and kept scanning, so a handle-close failure after a successful read — a RegularFileCleanupFailure whose completed outcome still contains the exact shared-file text — was discarded as "no proof". FreeBuff's applicability-unverified storage therefore never got its ownership fact, and once the retained handle blocked later reads, readClientConfiguration downgraded them to retained: inspection passed, removals soft-failed, and runUninstall(true) could purge REA data while the active shared registration remained. The catch now parses the completed outcome for the ownership text while missing or unreadable storage and malformed data keep their proves-nothing semantics, so ownership holds and every later read failure stays blocking.

Covers the Codex P2 on Uninstall.ts:252. Validation: the new regression fails on 4dbfdf1a9 (freebuff reports no blocking failure while the poisoned-scope error lands on claude_code) and passes after; setupClientConfigCleanupOwnership 25/25; the other 21 Uninstall-consumer suites are byte-identical to base 4dbfdf1a9 (61 pre-existing Windows-host failures: symlink EPERM, stale-vs-aligned); tsc --noEmit, oxlint (0 errors, same 6 warnings) and oxfmt --check clean.

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* fix(uninstall): keep owned-row proof through removal refusals

hasOwnershipEvidence treated any clientRegistrationRemoval refusal as no ownership: an effective REA-owned rea member shadowed by an earlier foreign duplicate (shadowed_unowned_member), or an owned native row beside a foreign V1 fallback (foreign_legacy_fallback), discarded the already-parsed positive row fact. With FreeBuff unverified and close failures recurring on the preflight/removal rereads, those failures were then downgraded to retained, so runUninstall(true) removed the skill and purged REA data while the active owned row remained. The refusal now carries the owned rows that motivated it — the refusal only refuses the edit — and hasOwnershipEvidence evaluates that fact on both paths; preflight and removal keep refusing the unsafe edit exactly as before.

Covers the Codex P2 on Uninstall.ts:269. Validation: the new regression fails on 225cb214a (freebuff reports no blocking failure while the poisoned-scope error lands on claude_code) and passes after; setupClientConfigCleanupOwnership 26/26; the 21 Uninstall-consumer suites are byte-identical to the recorded 225cb214a baseline (61 pre-existing Windows-host failures: symlink EPERM, stale-vs-aligned); tsc --noEmit, oxlint (0 errors, same 6 warnings) and oxfmt --check clean.

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* fix(uninstall): keep unresolved discovery probes from softening shared failures

The discovery probe swallowed every stat failure, so a FreeBuff profile denied with EACCES/EIO was indistinguishable from an absent profile: shared storage was marked applicability-unverified and, when ~/.agents/mcp.json also remained unreadable, the ownership and removal reads softened to retained. runUninstall(true) then removed the skill and purged REA data while an installed FreeBuff could still hold an active registration — the regression even reports complete. Absence (ENOENT) is now the only state that leaves shared paths unverified; any other probe failure leaves applicability unresolved, and shared-config failures stay blocking.

Covers the Codex P2 on Uninstall.ts:318. Validation: the new regression fails on 7572a7082 with status complete and purged data and passes after; freebuffClientConfiguration 13/13; the Uninstall-consumer batches are byte-identical to the recorded baselines (61 pre-existing Windows-host failures: symlink EPERM, stale-vs-aligned); tsc --noEmit, oxlint (0 errors, same warning rules) and oxfmt --check clean.

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* fix(uninstall): retain completed configuration reads as removal evidence

A close failure after a completed read discarded the text that read
produced, so an owned registration row the text proves softened to
retained. The completed text now drives removal, keeping shared-config
failures blocking when ownership evidence exists.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(uninstall): stop removal when a cleanup retry leaves a handle unreleased

A completed reread whose handle the cleanup retry cannot release now fails
blockingly instead of serving the text: with no owned row, the soft path
let removeAll purge managed data before close() reported the incomplete
cleanup. The completed text is served only after the retry releases the
handle; an unreleased handle is REA's own failure, never applicability
uncertainty, so it bypasses the retained softening.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(uninstall): keep the ZCode fallback when its profile probe is unresolved

A denied or failed profile probe leaves ZCode's applicability unresolved,
never absent, but the fallback branch dropped the shared row on
applicability alone: with the native config and FreeBuff's profile both
absent, an installed ZCode kept its uninspected registration while
uninstall purged skill and data. Unresolved probes now keep the fallback
in scope with the same fail-closed treatment as other unresolved shared
paths; definitive absence still keeps ZCode out of another product's
primary storage.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(setup): preserve a shared row's enable:false during FreeBuff repair

The shared agents file doubles as ZCode's fallback, so its `enable: false`
binds every reader: doctor now reports the disabled row as stale for
FreeBuff, but following that remediation rebuilt the generic JSON entry
without the flag and silently re-enabled a registration ZCode disabled.
Repairs of shared storage now carry the activation fact forward, while a
client's own native storage keeps its established single-reader repair
contract; the denied-profile uninstall regression also pins the
fallback's new fail-closed inspection beside the denied read.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test(uninstall): retarget the completed-reread regression to a released retry

The concurrent-writer regression held the reread handle open forever,
which the fail-closed path now serves: it duplicated the unreleased-handle
regression while documenting the opposite contract. The fixture's close
spy gains a failure limit so the cleanup retry releases the handle, and
the test again proves the completed text drives removal of the
concurrently added owned row, with purge verified against the cache
layout purge actually removes.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(doctor): report a preserved shared disable as a manual conflict

Preserving a shared row's enable:false left doctor recommending a setup
run that registrationCurrent correctly treats as already current, so the
scoped doctor returned needs_human forever. The shared-enable
interpretation now has one owner, sharedEnableFlagBinds, used by both
the activation rule and the remediation: a row disabled through the
shared flag reports the manual conflict and states that rea setup will
not change it, instead of an endlessly ineffective repair.

Co-Authored-By: Anthropic <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(doctor): keep a native ZCode disable on the setup repair path

The manual-conflict remediation matched a native zcode row through
sharedEnableFlagBinds, but setup drops enable:false on single-reader
storage, so a native disabled registration was told setup would not
change it. The remediation now reads setup's own writer rule,
exported as setupPreservesDisabledActivation: shared storage and the
zcode fallback view keep the manual-conflict message, while a native
row keeps the working rea setup instruction. Regressions pin both
remediations.

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* revert: drop the unrelated managed-CIL describe split

The split does not belong to FreeBuff client support and only widens this
PR's diff.

🤖 Generated with Codebuff
Co-Authored-By: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>

* fix(uninstall): remove the shared agent registration once for both clients

ZCode's ~/.agents/mcp.json fallback and FreeBuff's own configuration queued the
same physical file twice, so ZCode removed the row and FreeBuff then reported
it absent, losing the outcome for the client that owns the file.

Resolve every configuration path to one owner -- the client whose
configuration it is -- and project that single inspection and removal to each
client that loads it. A fallback reader still contributes its discovery probe,
so an installed or unresolved reader keeps the shared file fail-closed.

Discovery also accepted a dangling ~/.config/freebuff-desktop link, which setup
and doctor reject because they follow the target, so an unrelated malformed
shared file blocked every other removal. Resolve the link before treating the
profile as installation evidence, keeping lstat for removal safety.

Also date the FreeBuff release wording against the published 6.7.0 package.

* fix(uninstall): keep a row per client when two clients own one file

OPENCODE_CONFIG can point OpenCode at FreeBuff's configuration file, where
OpenCode writes `mcp.rea` and FreeBuff writes `mcpServers.rea`. Grouping by
filename gave that path a single owner, so uninstall removed only OpenCode's
row, reported that removal for FreeBuff, and could purge managed data with
FreeBuff's registration still active.

Share the decision only through a fallback view of another client's row: every
client that declares the path as its own configuration keeps its own
inspection and removal, and the fallback reader reports each of them.

* fix(clients): preserve discovery and fallback registration identity

Follow product discovery link targets without losing configuration entry
presence or explicitly selected inspections. Associate fallback readers with
the format owner's registration table and project outcomes by owner and path,
so OpenCode removal cannot be reported as a ZCode fallback removal.

All three new boundary regressions fail against the previous source and pass
with the fixes. Validation: check:fast; 217 focused tests passed; the two
changed test files were rerun with 50 passing tests. No installed FreeBuff
client was launched.

---------

Co-authored-by: morluto <76467478+morluto@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Kaoru0822 <208281322+kaoru0822-kitauji@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Codebuff <noreply@codebuff.com>
2026-10-25 11:29:17 +08:00

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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.

npm version MCP tool catalog Node.js requirements skills.sh MIT license Discord

morluto%2Frea | Trendshift

Website · Guides · Showcases

Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · 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.


REA launching its analysis bridge inside Hopper while inspecting a native binary



Discord
Join the Reverse Engineering Community

Discord · Q&A · Show and Tell


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, or IDA 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 ps on REA's PATH for process ownership checks. Recovery steps are in docs/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 supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok Build and other agents. See installation and setup for provider configuration and manual MCP registration.

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.

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.

REA investigation flow: your agent asks about a local target, REA inspects and traces it using analysis tools, and the agent uses the returned code, references and unknowns to explain, implement and test.

Open the full-size figure.

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 or IDA; 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
ELF notes PT_NOTE/SHT_NOTE owners, types, GNU build-id and ABI-tag fields Built-in static ELF inspection; ELF notes
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 and native add-on relationships 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

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

Illustrations of the DX-Ball sound-pan, Notion clipboard-bridge, and TH04 bullet-ring 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

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 Hopper, Ghidra or IDA?

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.

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:

Report vulnerabilities through SECURITY.md.

Star history

🎉 300,000 GitHub stars — thank you!

Thanks to everyone using REA, reporting bugs, requesting features, testing builds, and contributing fixes.

REA GitHub star history

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

MIT

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.

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