# I Tested The Viral Github Repo To Reverse Engineer Anything ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0015.webp]] **Creator:** Nick Saraev · **Published:** 2026-10-10 · **Length:** 10:46 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAzs_rU6080) > Caption source: YouTube English auto-captions via youtube-transcript-api (yt-dlp subtitle downloads hit HTTP 429 across clients). Chapters from the video description. ## Outline ### 0:00 REA Is Trending - **0:00** REA ("Reverse Engineer Anything") is an MCP that lets you virtually rebuild any software: it decompiles the source app and hands your AI agent instructions for recreating its features. - **0:12** Viral demos: alex funk reverse engineering a gen-1 Apple TV remote in ~45 minutes; someone on X reproducing the Photoshop suite. - **0:25** Nick's plan: how REA works, why people are "missing the point", and what it means for software. - **0:40** Reactions: Matthew Berman ("software is done"), "software is dead, long live software", Amjad Masad of Replit ("pretty much all software will soon be open source"), Jaden Williams ("God help us all"). ### 1:08 How REA Works ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0120.webp]] - **1:08** Flow: you ask your agent how a feature works → the agent calls the **REA MCP** → REA drives a tool suite of **Ghidra** (2019), **Hopper** (~2011) and **IDA** (1990s). - **1:40** The agent can also use **Chrome DevTools** and other services to poke around the app. - **1:50** Results come back as pseudocode (high-level descriptions), proof of what's happening, and unknowns; the agent loops "like a fat merry-go-round" until the app is rebuilt. - **2:05** Setup: just tell the agent "go download reverse engineer anything, REA, and let me know when you're done." ### 2:44 Rebuilding Preview ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0220.webp]] - **2:15** Nick works in **Orca**, a terminal manager that splits panes so he can run Claude in one and Codex in another. - **2:45** New Claude session: "Use REA to rebuild the Preview app on my Mac." Preview's features: info button, zoom, markup (boxes, handwriting). - **3:35** Control test in parallel: Claude rebuilds Preview *without* REA. - **4:00** The REA run decompiles with Ghidra; the two race. Opus without REA finishes first, but its version feels laggy. ### 4:46 Matching the App ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0450.webp]] - **4:45** After 3–4 more minutes the REA version launches, self-testing by opening and closing tabs. - **4:55** Side by side with the real Preview it's "virtually the same thing": info, zoom, share, drawing (faster than the non-REA build), rotate, annotate, save. ### 5:26 Not Exactly New ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0540.webp]] - **5:26** Not a new technology: Ghidra was released by the **NSA** in 2019, Hopper Disassembler's site "looks like it crawled out of the Stone Ages", IDA is older still. - **5:55** REA's real contribution is a simple interface that gives agents access to these tools. - **6:10** He hasn't seen strong demos; "the internet has probably gotten a little bit ahead of itself." Mashup game demos (Tony Hawk × Halo 3 × Modern Warfare × RuneScape; his own Minecraft × Attack on Titan game) are more a memetic moment than a breakthrough. ### 6:50 GitHub star hype ![[images/I-Tested-The-Viral-Github-Repo-To-Reverse-Engineer-Anything-t0650.webp]] - **6:50** Nearly every REA video opens with a GitHub-stars-per-day graph: steady a week ago, explosive the last few days. - **7:10** If all a video can show is stars, it probably lacks a better demo. ### 7:27 What It Means Next - **7:35** Most software becomes effectively open source: we've moved up an abstraction layer to general intelligence (Claude, Codex) that rebuilds software on the fly. - **7:55** Front ends and back ends become highly commoditized; the trend closes many business doors. - **8:25** Wrapper apps around Claude/Codex (including his own explainer app) get swallowed by model updates; the value ladder has moved. - **8:45** Selling reverse-engineered clones runs into IP problems; the real change is a lower barrier to recombining ideas (and to trending on X). - **9:05** You don't need REA: an agent can study a feature from screenshots and replicate it, possibly more efficiently than the human original. - **9:55** Within a month or two, Claude Code post-training will likely absorb most of this; REA's decompilers mainly add speed, while vanilla agents reach visual parity in maybe 2/3 the time or less. - **10:30** "Get ready for the reverse engineer era." ## Tool Links | Tool | URL | Source | |---|---|---| | REA – Reverse Engineer Anything (GitHub) | https://github.com/morluto/rea | Verified repo | | REA site / docs | https://rea.run | Verified official site | | rea-agents (npm package / installer) | https://www.npmjs.com/package/rea-agents | Verified | | Ghidra (NSA) | https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · https://ghidra-sre.org | Official (shown on screen) | | Hopper Disassembler | https://www.hopperapp.com | Official site | | IDA Pro (Hex-Rays) | https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro | Official site | | Chrome DevTools | https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools | Official docs | | Orca (agent terminal manager) | https://www.onorca.dev · https://github.com/stablyai/orca | Verified | | Claude Code (Anthropic) | https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code | Official site | | Codex (OpenAI) | https://openai.com/codex | Official site | | macOS Preview | https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/welcome/mac | Official Apple guide | | alex funk's open Apple TV remote repo | github.com/a-funk/open-ap… (truncated on screen) | **Unconfirmed: full URL not visible** | | Antigravity (IDE, description boilerplate) | https://antigravity.google | Official site, not opened | | Modal (description boilerplate) | https://modal.com | Official site, not opened | | Maker School (description) | https://skool.com/makerschool/about | From description | | Maker Zero course resources (description) | https://skool.com/maker-zero/about | From description | ## Things mentioned - REA MCP, Model Context Protocol - Ghidra, Hopper Disassembler, IDA, Chrome DevTools - Orca, Claude Code, Codex, Claude Opus - macOS Preview app; Apple TV remote demo; Photoshop suite clone - Games mashups: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Halo 3, Modern Warfare, RuneScape, Minecraft, Attack on Titan - GitHub stars trend graph; X (Twitter) - Description: Maker School, Maker Zero, LeftClick, 1SecondCopy, Clairvo, Dental Connect ## Bios - **Nick Saraev** – Runs LeftClick, an AI growth agency (clients cited include MrBeast, Anthropic, OpenAI); self-taught builder, co-founded 1SecondCopy (scaled to $90K+/mo); invests in and advises AI-era businesses; runs the Maker School community on Skool. - **Matthew Berman** – AI YouTuber/commentator quoted on REA. - **Amjad Masad** – CEO of Replit. - **Jaden Williams** – Creator quoted reacting to REA. - **alex funk (@alexfunk)** – X user who reverse engineered a gen-1 Apple TV remote with REA.