| name | reverse-engineer |
| description | Reverse-engineer an authorized repo, binary, or product into a verifiable feature inventory and adoption map. Triggers: "reverse-engineer X", "tear down Y", "what should we steal from Z", "evaluate competitor/upstream", "should we fork/adopt/build-native". |
| practices | ["legacy-code-seams","ddd-bounded-context","adr"] |
| hexagonal_role | supporting |
| consumes | [] |
| produces | [".agents/scratch/reverse-engineer/*.md"] |
| context_rel | [] |
| skill_api_version | 1 |
| context | {"window":"fork","intent":{"mode":"task"},"sections":{"exclude":["HISTORY"]},"intel_scope":"topic"} |
| metadata | {"dependencies":[],"capabilities":["reverse_engineer"],"effects":["clone_upstream_repo","authorized_binary_execution","write_teardown_artifacts"],"canonical_status":"canonical","disposition":"keep_specialist","tier":"execution","internal":false} |
| output_contract | feature inventory, feature-registry.yaml, spec set, steal-map.md |
Reverse Engineer
Reverse-engineer an external system into two things: a mechanically-verifiable teardown (feature inventory + registry + specs, optionally a security audit) and a steal-map — what to adopt into our surfaces, what to leave behind. The teardown is the evidence; the steal-map is the decision. Separating them works because a decision row that must cite a registry entry can be re-checked by anyone, while a decision made from impressions cannot be re-checked by its own author. The original failure mode this skill exists to prevent: reading a competitor's README and "deciding" from vibes.
Triggers: "reverse-engineer X", "tear down Y", "what should we steal from Z", "evaluate competitor/upstream", "should we fork/adopt/build-native".
⚠️ Constraints — Hard Guardrails (MANDATORY)
- Only operate on code/binaries you own or have explicit written authorization to analyze — this matters because unauthorized teardown is the legal/IP line.
- Do not provide steps to bypass protections/ToS or to extract proprietary source/system prompts.
- Do not output reconstructed proprietary source or embedded prompts (index only; redact in reports) — to prevent reproducing protected IP.
- Redact secrets/tokens/keys if encountered; run the secret-scan gate over outputs to prevent credential leakage.
- Always separate docs say vs code proves vs hosted/control-plane.
Phase 1 — Mechanical teardown (the script)
Produce evidence, not vibes. The script clones (pinned), scans CLI/config/artifact surface, and writes a feature inventory + machine-checkable registry + spec set.
python3 skills/reverse-engineer/scripts/reverse_engineer.py <product> --mode=repo \
--upstream-repo="https://github.com/org/repo.git" --upstream-ref=v1.0.0 \
--output-dir=".agents/scratch/reverse-engineer/<product>/"
Binary mode requires --authorized (see Invocation Contract + Self-Test). Use the bundled demo fixture if you lack authorization for a real binary.
Phase 2 — The steal-map (the decision)
Map each capability the teardown found onto our surfaces. This is the part that turns research into a decision. Emit .agents/scratch/reverse-engineer/<product>/steal-map.md with a table; every row cites the teardown evidence and the matching surface in our repo.
| Their capability | Our surface today | Verdict |
|---|
