REA Tool Reverse-Engineers a Notion-Style Editor From Public Code

At a glance

REA is an open-source tool that lets AI coding agents analyze the compressed code of apps. The author used it to study the slash menu and block-moving features of the open-source app AFFiNE and then rebuilt them.

Key points

1. 1

   REA finds where functions related to a feature sit in compressed JavaScript, but it does not guarantee the results are correct.

2. 2

   Of 18 behavior rules the author extracted, 16 matched the original source code.

3. 3

   AI can misread code, so results need checking, and compression is not security, so keys and addresses in bundles should be checked before release.

Why it matters

It shows how easily AI can help copy an app's features, along with the limits of that process and the legal risks involved.