REA: AI-powered reverse engineering project fuels debate over rebuilding software
An analysis piece examines the GitHub open-source project REA (Reverse Engineer Anything), whose star count passed 110,000 as of October 12. Developer Brandon Thomas says he used AI to build seven Adobe alternatives and declared "Software is over"; REA connects to analysis tools such as Ghidra, Hopper and IDA, handles JavaScript, Electron apps and websites, and can work with agents like Claude Code and Codex to trace data flows and rewrite code. Cited cases include an Aegis verification-code reimplementation whose output matched the original in 133 tests, and a DX-Ball sound function that matched across 3,205 tests and produced 63 bytes of matching machine code under a specified old compiler. The article also covers browser ports of games such as Halo and GTA: Vice City, and VibeOffice, which brings an Office 2003-style interface to the browser.
If AI sharply lowers the cost of reverse-engineering and rebuilding features, vendors charging for locked-away functionality face pricing pressure sooner — though enterprise software still demands compatibility, migration and support.