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Did it use REA? Checking viral AI reverse-engineering demos

An audit of 39 cases described as "built with REA" found 26 confirmed uses of the reverse-engineering tool, 3 partial uses, 4 unverified claims and 6 cases that did not use REA at all, according to the awesome-reverse-engineer-anything project's check against each linked repository's README, agent instructions (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md) or official showcase, first checked on 2026-10-14 and re-checked on 2026-11-10 with no changes. The same list reports that the two controlled comparisons it tracks, rea-lab (482 preregistered runs) and leanrea (36 runs), found no significant gain in solve rate from REA, at higher time and cost, though both are small. The 6 non-REA cases used other AI tools, mostly Claude Code or Codex with Ghidra or IDA, or manual reverse engineering.

read5 min views3 publishedNov 12, 2026
Did it use REA? Checking viral AI reverse-engineering demos
Image: Michielbdejong (auto-discovered)

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Many cases are described as "built with REA". This page checks each one against the project's own README, the author's post, or the official showcase, and records what we found. First checked on 2026-10-14; the "README says REA?" column was re-checked against every linked repository's current README and agent files on 2026-11-10, with no changes. X posts could not be opened from our environment, so for them we rely on the third-party case records named in the table.

Summary (39 rows, 2026-11-10):

  • 26 confirmed: the README, the agent instructions (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md) or the official showcase says REA was used.
  • 3 partial: REA was used for part of the work only.
  • 4 not verified: 2 claimed only in the author's post, 2 with no source naming the tool.
  • 6 not REA: other AI tools (mostly Claude Code or Codex with Ghidra or IDA) or manual reverse engineering.

Whether REA helps is a separate question. The two controlled comparisons in this list, rea-lab (482 preregistered runs) and leanrea (36 runs), found no significant gain in solve rate from REA, at higher time and cost. Both are small. See Does REA help? The evidence.

| Case | README says REA? | Other source | Result |

|---|---|---|---|
| [DX-Ball](https://github.com/N0zoM1z0/dx-ball) | Yes | Official showcase | **Confirmed.** One function is byte-matched; the full game is not finished. | 

| TH04 | No | Official showcase | REA only for the showcase inspection. The reconstruction is agent-produced with ReC98 as a base. | | Other Touhou repos (th08, th09, th10, th095, th105, th08-web, factory) | No | Author's AGENTS.md uses IDA MCP / Ghidra | Not REA. Tagged AI-RE. |

| [rec-rs](https://github.com/michaelshimeles/rec-rs) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** OBS is GPL; the README says only the architecture was studied. | 
| [paper-rs](https://github.com/michaelshimeles/paper-rs) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [terminal-rs](https://github.com/michaelshimeles/terminal-rs) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** Public TradingView pages only. | 
| [wispr-flow-rea-teardown](https://github.com/az9713/wispr-flow-rea-teardown) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** It follows a tutorial video. | 
| [ledger-reborn](https://github.com/lxistired/ledger-reborn) | Yes | Discussion #2198 | **Confirmed.** | 
| [AdamTerm](https://github.com/AdamLinCodes/AdamTerm) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [hexgrab](https://github.com/iammukeshm/hexgrab) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 

| baocut | No | Author's X post; commit b8585e0 | Claimed by the author, not in the README. The REA part is one commit, not the whole repo. | | zee-rp | No | Author's reply on X | Claimed by the author. Validated only on macOS. | | cameo | No | Follow-up X post | Not confirmed. The linked repo is the original app, not REA output. |

| [vd-streamer-linux](https://github.com/cudanexus/vd-streamer-linux) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** Not yet tested on a real headset. | 
| [GunZRs](https://github.com/OpenRsG/GunZRs) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** REA's role in the port is limited (the executable is packed). | 

| OpenBattlefield2 | No (in CLAUDE.md and tools/rea.sh ) | — | REA is used, but not in the README. |

| [desktop-games-nostalgia](https://github.com/ucodia/desktop-games-nostalgia) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [rea-ski-or-die-reconstruction](https://github.com/tuunanet/rea-ski-or-die-reconstruction) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [netcat-openbsd analysis](https://github.com/NullLabTests/OpenBSD_netcat_REA) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [REA-demo](https://github.com/az9713/REA-demo) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 
| [rea-groundtruth](https://github.com/UnknownHacker1/rea-groundtruth) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** | 

| rea-safe-agents | Yes | — | Confirmed. Pins REA 6.7.0 and ships it inside a restricted container. The contribution is the containment, not the analysis. | | blender-agent-sdk | Yes | — | Confirmed. REA with the Ghidra provider over the stripped Blender 5.2.2 binary; the write-up and its stated limits are in the repo. | | calendar-reconstruction | Yes | — | Confirmed. REA (rea-agents 6.5.0) for static analysis and UI capture of Calendar.app; summaries inevidence/rea/ . | | mucrab | Yes | — | Partial. REA inventories the JARs and checks class fingerprints; method recovery uses CFR andjavap . | | feature-heist | Yes | — | Confirmed. Each rebuild names the REA command it used; the REA records are stored with SHA-256 pins. | | bla | Yes | — | Confirmed, as a target. BLA is not built with REA; its red-team script runs real REA against hardened samples. | | quicken-2002-dumper | Yes | — | Confirmed, unlinked. README and format note creditreverse-engineer-anything without linking morluto/rea. |

| [agent-sandbox](https://github.com/lalbers/agent-sandbox) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** REA is the MCP server it sandboxes. | 
| [papertrade-research](https://github.com/KoNit-K/papertrade-research) | Yes | — | **Confirmed.** A research note documents the REA frontend and contract cross-check. | 

| xid8300-linux | Yes | — | Confirmed. README's "How it was made" says Claude Code drove REA over the Windows driver. |

| [a6000-fw-decomp](https://github.com/nicolvus/a6000-fw-decomp) | Agent instructions only | — | **Confirmed in AGENTS.md.** "REA first", with Ghidra as backup; the README does not say. | 
| [VSL-DSP](https://github.com/grisuno/VSL-DSP) | Yes | — | **Partly.** REA helped with some vendor findings only; the repo predates REA. | 
| [plx-native](https://github.com/GLinnik21/plx-native) | No | Relayed post says Ghidra + Claude Code | **Not REA.** Tagged AI-RE. | 
| [rea-video](https://github.com/JuneYaooo/rea-video) | No | — | **Not REA.** Same prefix, unrelated project: it breaks down videos, not software. Tagged AI-RE. | 
| [open-appleremote](https://github.com/a-funk/open-appleremote) | No | Author's post does not say which tool | **Not confirmed.** | 
| [universal-modder](https://github.com/rehan-remade/universal-modder) | No | Post predates REA 4.0 | **Not REA.** Tagged AI-RE. | 

| OpenGHub | No | No AI or REA mention anywhere | Not REA. Manual RE from captures. | | Firefighter (X) | — | Relayed record | Not REA. Tagged AI-RE. | | Modern Warfare 2 decompilation (X) | — | Relayed record | Not REA. Tagged AI-RE. |

If you find a case that is wrong here, open an issue using the case form.

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