Open-source REA rockets from 30K to 120K stars in 3 days as people reverse-engineer AC protocols with Claude
anselm · x · 2026-10-12
REA (Reverse Engineer Anything), an MIT-licensed open-source project, surged from 30K to 120K+ GitHub stars in three days, gaining 25K+ per day. Beyond software, it's being used to reverse-engineer communication protocols of appliances like air conditioners and water heaters locked behind vendor apps.
The workflow: connect adb to a device/emulator to capture the official app, analyze HAR or mitmproxy captures and map requests to source code, unpack firmware with Binwalk/Unblob and analyze in Ghidra, then hand the evidence to Claude Code or Codex to reconstruct the protocol and build your own controller. One user reverse-engineered their AC into a Mac menu bar app, then ported it to AR glasses in 15 minutes.
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