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# REA hit 120K stars in a week, and nobody's asking permission

**[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

REA (Reverse Engineer Anything), an MIT-licensed MCP server from developer morluto, lets coding agents reverse engineer apps without source code, covering native binaries, Electron/JS apps, Android APKs, .NET assemblies and websites, using Ghidra, Hopper and IDA under the hood, and working with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI. Social media tracked its growth to roughly 120K GitHub stars in about a week, with various observers citing different snapshots (29K, 32K, 80K, 86.7K) along the way, reportedly the third fastest repo to reach 100K stars. Commentary splits between excitement about using it to deconstruct impressive app features (like one developer's LG TV reverse engineering turned Plex client) and unease that the same capability now lets anyone dissect a shipped app, with some noting it surfaces how something works without granting rights to copy it.

## Content

A repo called REA (Reverse Engineer Anything) went from zero to 120K GitHub stars in seven days. @Hesamation ranks it the 3rd fastest to reach 100K from repo creation, behind DeepSeek Harness (2 days) and OpenClaw (67 days). Nobody can say the hype isn't real.

## What it does

REA is an MIT-licensed MCP server and CLI. You point Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI or OpenCode at an app, ask how a feature works, and it digs in. It handles native binaries, Electron and JavaScript apps, Android APKs, .NET assemblies and websites, and it hands off to Ghidra, Hopper or IDA. Analysis runs locally and nothing gets uploaded.

## The cheerleaders

@sanjaygpts is the loudest: "we spent years teaching AI to write software. now we're teaching it to take software apart." He adds that engineers are "going to have some very interesting conversations with their competitors. 💀"

@VaibhavSisinty points to the dev who built a Plex client by reverse engineering his LG TV, and says REA makes that possible for anyone. @celineodier's pitch is to ask how Discord does real-time typing indicators, get proof, and build something similar.

## The skeptics

@Joshua_WD says a real test is "narrower than the hype." He thinks the flip side matters more: anyone's agent can now read your shipped app. If you ship a client-side binary or bundle, assume it's being read.

@bryantardal is blunter. He sees people cloning apps with AI and says the better move is building your own small tools: they cost less, fit how you work, and teach a skill clients pay for.

Even the fans hedge. @celineodier's own caveat: it won't hand you the original code, and "knowing how something works doesn't mean you're allowed to copy it."

## The less glamorous reality

A hands-on tutorial shows a more careful tool than the viral threads suggest. It builds a static, AST-only map of an Electron app. It pairs IPC channels only when they're exact string literals and marks dynamic or ambiguous links as unresolved. Every result is logged as evidence with stated confidence and limitations. Setup needs Node.js 22.19+ or 24.11+, macOS or Linux, and Windows is experimental.

The tool is cautious about what it claims. The star-count discourse is not. Whether REA becomes a daily debugging aid or a copyright lawyer's retainer depends on what people do with those traces.

## Questions this post answers

### What is REA and what does it let AI coding agents do?

REA, short for Reverse Engineer Anything, is an MIT-licensed MCP server built by developer morluto that lets coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Gemini CLI reverse engineer apps without access to source code. It analyzes native binaries, Electron and JavaScript apps, Android APKs, .NET assemblies, and websites, integrating with tools like Ghidra, Hopper, and IDA, and runs entirely locally.

_Developers tracking AI tooling that changes how shipped apps can be inspected follow tools like REA on daily.dev._

### How fast did the REA GitHub repository gain stars compared to other viral projects?

REA reached roughly 120,000 GitHub stars within about a week, making it the third fastest repository to hit 100,000 stars from creation by one tracked comparison, behind DeepSeek Harness at 2 days and OpenClaw at 67 days, and ahead of OpenAI Codex which took 465 days. Observers posted varying intermediate counts, including 29K, 32K, 80K, and 86.7K stars, as the number climbed.

_Anyone evaluating whether a trending AI tool is worth adopting can watch adoption signals like this on daily.dev._

### Can REA give you the actual source code of a reverse-engineered app?

No, REA does not give you an app's original code or let you clone it; it only produces evidence of how something works by digging through the binary. Knowing how a feature works through this evidence does not mean you are allowed to copy it, a distinction raised even by enthusiastic early users of the tool.

_Teams weighing reverse engineering tools against legal and ethical lines can keep up with this debate on daily.dev._

## Community take

How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 87 comments across x (as of 2026-10-14).

**TL;DR:** Reactions mix genuine excitement about an agent that can explain any app's internals without source code with recurring skepticism about whether the star count reflects real usage, plus concerns about legitimacy, security, and the ethics of exposing proprietary app internals.

**Sentiment:** 45% positive · 30% mixed · 25% skeptical

**The case for**

- Many find it exciting that the tool works with no source code and runs fully locally.
- Some see it as a fast way to learn how existing apps work under the hood.
- Several note its broad platform coverage (Mac, Linux, Windows, Android, Electron, websites) while keeping analysis local.

**The pushback**

- Several question whether the star count reflects real usage versus bookmark hype, asking for proof it works past demos.
- Some worry explaining how an app works edges into copying proprietary implementation or violating terms of service.
- Concerns raised about auditing the codebase for hidden malicious behavior and an unusual contributor pattern.
- Doubts about whether the fastest-to-100K comparison is fair given differences in pre-launch repo age.

**By community**

- x (mixed): Casual hype and amazement dominate early reactions, but more substantive replies raise doubts about real-world usage, security auditing, and permission/ethics concerns.

**Hottest debate:** Whether the surge in stars reflects genuine adoption and capability, or just hype, with some questioning the tool's legitimacy and security.

**Open questions**

- Does the tool produce reproducible evidence for dynamic behavior without privileged access?
- How many of the 120K stargazers have actually run the tool versus just bookmarked it?
- Has anyone audited the codebase for malicious activity given the unusual contributor pattern?
- Where is the line between interoperability research and copying proprietary implementation?

**Highlights**

> @celineodier 86.7K stars show interest, not reverse-engineering accuracy. The real test is whether REA can produce reproducible evidence for dynamic behavior without privileged access—and where the line falls between interoperability research and copying proprietary implementation.
> — [Aaarhii on x](https://x.com/Aaarhii/status/2109395074216026221)

> @celineodier Have you actually run it on a real app yet, or just starred it?  86K stars in a few days looks like bookmark hype to me. I'm still not sure it works past a demo like the Discord typing indicator.  What did you point it at, and did the proof hold up?
> — [dambuildshit on x](https://x.com/dambuildshit/status/2109339599684469012)

> @Hesamation Stars per day is a noisy signal now, since agent repos get starred by people who never run them. The better test is whether those 120K stars turn into forks, issues and merged PRs a month from now. Have you seen any real usage numbers for REA yet?
> — [viral\_warden on x](https://x.com/viral_warden/status/2109686130320752954)

> @Hesamation why is there 100+ contributors with only 1 to 2 contributions and theyre all from china or privated accounts?
> — [showxlate on x](https://x.com/showxlate/status/2109674624497996084)

> @celineodier 86.7K stars, but reverse engineering apps at scale just turned every ToS violation into a one-line agent prompt.
> — [1688shops on x](https://x.com/1688shops/status/2109459980755910986)

**Source threads**

- [x](https://x.com/celineodier/status/2109281121749856655) · 33 points · 65 comments
- [x](https://x.com/Hesamation/status/2109632050672390236) · 1 points · 22 comments

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [The Claude Code Source Leak: fake tools, frustration regexes, undercover mode, and more](https://daily.dev/posts/the-claude-code-source-leak-fake-tools-frustration-regexes-undercover-mode-and-more-gmkbbnzuj) · Hacker News · 8 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp), [#reverse-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/reverse-engineering)

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