How to Use REA to Reverse Engineer Any App in Minutes

How to Use REA to Reverse Engineer Any App in Minutes

REA (Reverse Engineer Anything) is the GitHub repo of the moment: an open-source MCP server that connects your AI agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI) to reverse-engineering tools like Ghidra, IDA and Hopper, plus its own readers for JavaScript/Electron apps, .NET programs, Android apps and websites. I explain what reverse engineering is, how REA works, and whether it's legal. Then I install it in Claude Code and put it to a real test on ShareX, the open-source screenshot tool for Windows. REA reads ShareX's .NET libraries and maps how its Image Beautifier works, and Claude builds a small web version: MiniShot. Including what REA admitted it couldn't see.

Chapters 0:00 REA: the viral GitHub repo 0:48 What reverse engineering is 1:40 How REA works (an MCP for Ghidra, IDA, Hopper) 3:16 Is it legal? Inspired yes, copying no 4:26 Step 1: find the official repo 5:15 Step 2: open Claude Code 5:31 Step 3: install REA in one command 6:25 Step 4: the test, ShareX 8:36 The result: MiniShot 9:42 The opportunity isn't copying

⭐ Official REA repository (MIT license): https://github.com/morluto/rea ⚠️ Watch out for copies: the official one is morluto/rea, and it installs with one command from npm (npx rea-agents setup), not by downloading a ZIP. 📸 ShareX (free and open source, GPL-3.0): https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX

REA is for lawful research, education, interoperability, preservation, and analyzing software you own or are authorized to examine. Get inspired by how things work, but respect other people's code, designs and licenses. Laws vary by country: if you're going to sell something, check first. I'm not a lawyer.

What's real in this video: REA 6.4.0 was installed in Claude Code and run on ShareX 21.0.0 portable (downloaded from its official GitHub page, never executed). The findings, limits and render order shown on screen are REA's actual output. MiniShot was written by Claude Code in about three minutes after about four minutes of analysis; the demo is a real recording of the app. The "screen" handed to its region capture is a real capture of the REA repo page.

Sources • github.com/morluto/rea: README, DISCLAIMER.md, star history (October 2026) • npm: rea-agents 6.4.0 • github.com/ShareX/ShareX: release 21.0.0, GPL-3.0 license • REA showcases: DX-Ball, Notion, TH04 (from the REA README)

Disclosure: researched and written with help from Claude, a model made by Anthropic. The demo uses Claude Code. The narrator is a synthetic text-to-speech voice. Original score, made for this video. Not affiliated with REA, GitHub, ShareX or Anthropic.

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#reverseengineering #claudecode #github