---
title: "How to Use REA to Reverse Engineer Any App — Free Claude Code + Ghidra Setup"
url: "https://reamcp.dev/en/cases/how-to-use-rea-to-reverse-engineer-any-app-free-claude-code--8d3cf5"
source: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFKJ85U6T94"
source_type: "resource"
author: "Sumit Paul"
author_handle: "wdf_ai"
stars: 0
category: "Tools & integrations"
categories: ["tools-integrations"]
tags: ["claude-code", "decompiler", "ghidra", "macos", "mcp"]
added: "2026-10-13T04:18:15.458Z"
updated: "2026-10-13T04:18:15.458Z"
locale: "en"
content_locale: "en"
---

# How to Use REA to Reverse Engineer Any App — Free Claude Code + Ghidra Setup

A step-by-step tutorial on setting up REA (Reverse Engineer Anything, an MCP server + CLI) with Ghidra and Claude Code on macOS, including commands to install Ghidra, build the missing Mac decompiler, register REA, verify it with rea doctor, and use it to decompile a self-written locked binary.

## Description

The video explains what REA is (an MCP server and CLI that connects Claude Code to Ghidra, Hopper or IDA locally), then walks through the free Mac setup: downloading Ghidra 12.1.4, building the native decompiler macOS is missing, installing rea-agents via npx, and verifying the Ghidra provider with rea doctor. It shows Claude decompiling a stripped binary, finding the check and recovering the passphrase, then notes the honest limits — REA returns pseudocode and assembly, not original source, and should only be used on software you are allowed to analyse. Links to the REA GitHub repository and Ghidra releases are provided, and the demo target is a program the author wrote and compiled himself.

## Original README

How to Use REA to Reverse Engineer Any App — Free Claude Code + Ghidra Setup