REA use cases you'll love

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Andrew Warner tests what Reverse Engineer Anything can actually do by reacting to real software-cloning demos.

Andrew Warner looks at REA, or Reverse Engineer Anything, through a series of YouTube demos showing how coding agents can inspect closed-source apps, understand how features work, and rebuild or adapt them. The episode covers cloning QuickTime Player, TickTick, WhisperFlow, a video editor inspired by CapCut, and Loom, plus using REA to find bugs in your own software. Andrew also digs into the bigger question behind all of this: when does reverse engineering become a legitimate way to learn, customize, or improve software, and when does it cross the line into copying?

00:00 - Reverse Engineer Anything: See how REA lets coding agents inspect closed-source software and rebuild features from it.
01:12 - REA Setup: Install the MCP server and skill that teaches your coding agent how to investigate applications.
01:39 - QuickTime Player Clone: Rebuild QuickTime with more granular playback speed controls and extra features.
03:27 - How REA Works: Use tools like Ghidra, Hopper, and IDA Pro through plain-language agent commands.
04:30 - TickTick Clone: Reverse engineer a task manager and rebuild its task lists, calendar, tags, and workflows.
06:54 - Premium Features: See REA recreate functionality that was hidden behind TickTick’s paid plan.
07:39 - Where the Clone Fails: Look at missing features, UI differences, and the extra prompting still needed.
09:54 - WhisperFlow Clone: Rebuild a voice-to-text desktop app with local transcription and multilingual input.
13:39 - Bug Testing: Use REA on your own app to uncover issues that might not be obvious from reading the code.
16:03 - CapCut-Inspired Video Editor: Build a simpler editor with timeline controls, splitting, captions, and export.
19:21 - Inspiration vs Copying: Andrew explores whether using an existing app as a starting point becomes legitimate once you change the product.
19:48 - Loom Clone: Recreate Loom-style recording, movable camera bubbles, and local file storage without copying the exact UI.
21:00 - Final Take: Andrew weighs the practical value of REA against the ethical questions around cloning software.

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