REA Reverse – Engineer Anything(rea.tools)
768 points by modinfo 4 days ago | 327 comments
tl;dr: REA is a tool that connects to coding agents (via `npx rea-agents@latest setup`) to let them reverse-engineer software by inspecting binaries, scripts, and runtime behavior. The agent can read disassembly, decompiled code, and loaded scripts, then explain or rebuild functionality in plain English. Demos include recovering Chrome's dinosaur game acceleration rule (0.001 per update, max 13) and Windows Calculator's percentage logic (which differs between +/− and ×/÷ operations).
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Quality of REA's output (e.g., Touhou decomp) is impressive compared to typical AI decompilation efforts
  • ~Frontier models already handle reverse engineering well without specialized tooling like REA
  • •This tool/trend is driving the wave of AI-generated clones and game mashups we're seeing online
  • ↑AI reverse engineering heralds a future of 'liquid software' where programs are manifested on demand
  • ↓REA has significant technical limitations (e.g., jadx-based Android reversing doesn't scale)