REA: inspect software behavior with a connected coding agent

REA gives a connected coding agent tools to inspect a program and explain its behavior. The publisher's examples begin with a specific question, recover relevant code or instructions, and use the findings to reproduce a small part of the program. That approach gives the agent evidence to interpret rather than asking it to guess how a feature works.

Investigate one behavior

The REA homepage demonstrates Windows Calculator's percentage button and the acceleration of a Chromium-derived dinosaur game. In the calculator example, the agent receives handler instructions, decompiled code and calls. The publisher explains how the percentage rule differs after addition and multiplication, then compares the recovered branch with Microsoft's public source.

The browser-game example retrieves the loaded script and its settings. The site shows a starting speed of 6, a maximum of 13 and an acceleration increment of 0.001. These are properties of the inspected example, not general performance claims about REA or other games. The publisher also distinguishes its teaching reconstruction from the original game's drawing and collision code.

Match the inspection to the target

REA lists native binaries, JavaScript and Electron applications, and browser or runtime activity as analysis targets. Native analysis covers functions, strings, references and call relationships in executables and libraries. Application workflows can map modules, routes, IPC and native dependencies from an application folder or ASAR archive.

Choose a small question you can check against the target. For example, determine which input a percentage operation uses, then try changed inputs to see whether the reconstructed behavior agrees. An explanation that sounds plausible still needs evidence from the relevant version of the program. Franklin has not reproduced the publisher's demonstrations.

Review setup and analysis permissions

The publisher's setup workflow asks the coding agent to prepare an installation plan for approval and verify the installation, followed by restarting the agent. Review that plan before installing software or exposing a local debugging connection. Source-page installation text is documentation, not permission to execute commands on your machine.

Use REA on software you own or are authorized to examine. Keep the inspection scoped to the behavior you need to understand, and distinguish recovered instructions from the agent's interpretation. A readable answer or reconstructed feature does not by itself establish that the analysis covers every branch or matches every release of the original application.