| Compare approaches | Mechanism | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| REA | An open-source MCP server: your agent calls REA to inspect a local target (native binaries, JavaScript and Electron apps, .NET, websites and more) and gets findings with their evidence. | Choose REA when you want your agent to investigate software you own or may examine and explain it with evidence. |
| radare2 MCP (r2mcp) | An MCP server for radare2 (MIT), written in C on the native r2 APIs. It runs from the CLI, as an r2 plugin or as an MCP server over stdio or HTTP, can connect to local or remote r2 and iaito sessions, and offers a read-only mode, a sandbox lock and per-tool restrictions. Install it with r2pm. | Choose r2mcp when you already use radare2 and want your agent to drive it, locally or through a remote r2 session, with its read-only and sandbox options. |
Practical setup notes for running REA on Fedora-based Linux, with the problems hit along the way and a queue of tests.
How to run REA with local models on a single 12 GB GPU, and how five models compared.
A show-and-tell thread on keeping token use down in REA workflows and what other people are using.
Often yes, but check each tool's documentation for supported targets and setup, and analyse only software you own or are authorised to examine.