AI meets reverse engineering: REA hits 130,000 GitHub stars
REA is an MCP with over 130,000 stars on GitHub that connects Claude Code with Ghidra, IDA and Hopper. Here's how to install it and what its legal limits are.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
REA is an open-source MCP server, MIT-licensed, that connects AI agents like Claude Code, Codex or Cursor with classic reverse engineering tools such as Ghidra, IDA and Hopper. Its most striking antiestéticat: replicating OBS, the recording program, in under two minutes and working on the first try.
Reverse engineering means taking a program apart to understand how it's built. It's not magic or espionage: it's the technique security teams use to audit software, manufacturers use to interoperate with other vendors' devices, and curious minds use to learn from working code. What's new is who's doing it. Until recently you needed a specialist with years of Ghidra experience. Now an AI agent can do the heavy lifting if you give it the right tools.
## What REA is and what the agent receives
REA is an AI-assisted reverse engineering repository that has gone viral on GitHub with more than **130,000 stars**. It's distributed under the **MIT** license and works as an MCP: a protocol that connects your AI agent with external programs. In this case, with **Ghidra**, **IDA** and **Hopper**, three of the most widely used disassemblers in the industry.
The agent doesn't receive an unreadable dump. It receives pseudocode, the evidence behind each conclusion, and an explicit list of what it still doesn't know. That traceability is what separates a useful tool from a black box that hallucinates.
## Installing it in Claude Code and the OBS test
The official installation is done with a single command: **npx rea-agents@latest setup**. The official repository is **morluto/rea**. Any ZIP downloaded from elsewhere is not the official version and should be treated with suspicion.
The test that has spread across social media: asking the agent to replicate **OBS**, the recording and streaming program. Scenes, camera, screen capture, microphone and **4K** recording, working on the first try in under two minutes. The result isn't OBS: it's a functional recreation of its basic antiestéticatures.
## Where the business is and where the risk lies
Copying and selling what you've cloned is the fast track, and the one that lands you in court. The real opportunity lies elsewhere: recreating the tools you use every day to adapt them to your way of working and monetizing that knowledge. The value isn't the clone, it's the process.
REA is meant for researching, learning and analyzing your own software or software you have permission to work with. Other people's code, designs and licenses must be respected. Intellectual property and reverse engineering laws vary by country: if you plan to sell anything derived from it, consult a lawyer first.
Reverse engineering means taking a program apart to understand how it's built. It's not magic or espionage: it's the technique security teams use to audit software, manufacturers use to interoperate with other vendors' devices, and curious minds use to learn from working code. What's new is who's doing it. Until recently you needed a specialist with years of Ghidra experience. Now an AI agent can do the heavy lifting if you give it the right tools.
## What REA is and what the agent receives
REA is an AI-assisted reverse engineering repository that has gone viral on GitHub with more than **130,000 stars**. It's distributed under the **MIT** license and works as an MCP: a protocol that connects your AI agent with external programs. In this case, with **Ghidra**, **IDA** and **Hopper**, three of the most widely used disassemblers in the industry.
The agent doesn't receive an unreadable dump. It receives pseudocode, the evidence behind each conclusion, and an explicit list of what it still doesn't know. That traceability is what separates a useful tool from a black box that hallucinates.
## Installing it in Claude Code and the OBS test
The official installation is done with a single command: **npx rea-agents@latest setup**. The official repository is **morluto/rea**. Any ZIP downloaded from elsewhere is not the official version and should be treated with suspicion.
The test that has spread across social media: asking the agent to replicate **OBS**, the recording and streaming program. Scenes, camera, screen capture, microphone and **4K** recording, working on the first try in under two minutes. The result isn't OBS: it's a functional recreation of its basic antiestéticatures.
## Where the business is and where the risk lies
Copying and selling what you've cloned is the fast track, and the one that lands you in court. The real opportunity lies elsewhere: recreating the tools you use every day to adapt them to your way of working and monetizing that knowledge. The value isn't the clone, it's the process.
REA is meant for researching, learning and analyzing your own software or software you have permission to work with. Other people's code, designs and licenses must be respected. Intellectual property and reverse engineering laws vary by country: if you plan to sell anything derived from it, consult a lawyer first.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (2 replies).
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