# Read Your Own Build Back — the route

**The situation this pack is for:** your project's source is lost, stranded on a
dead account, or stuck inside a half-finished session — but the *compiled build*
survives: the `.exe`, the `.jar`, the game download, the `.wasm` on your site.
The build still contains your program's logic. This pack reads it back into
readable code, then turns that into a plain-language map and a reconstruction
your AI can continue the project from.

**Tools in this pack are free and permissively licensed** (MIT / Apache-2.0;
two BSD tools flagged honestly), each license read at the source on 2026-10-23.
The commercial seat this shelf replaces: IDA Pro Expert with local decompilers,
€4,999/year list (hex-rays.com/pricing, read 2026-10-23), or Binary Ninja
Commercial at $1,799. Your price: $0.

## Step 1 — Pick the route for your build

| Your build is… | Use | Get it |
|---|---|---|
| A Windows/Mac/Linux program, firmware, or a native game build | **Ghidra** (Apache-2.0) | github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/releases |
| A native program Ghidra struggles with, or you want a second opinion | **RetDec** (MIT) | github.com/avast/retdec/releases |
| An Android APK or a Java program (.jar/.class) | **jadx** (Apache-2.0) for APKs; **CFR** or **Vineflower** (MIT / Apache-2.0) for jars | github.com/skylot/jadx · github.com/leibnitz27/cfr · github.com/Vineflower/vineflower |
| A .NET program, or a Unity game build | **ILSpy** (MIT) — open `Assembly-CSharp.dll` | github.com/icsharpcode/ILSpy/releases |
| A WebAssembly build (.wasm, e.g. a web game) | **WABT** (Apache-2.0) — `wasm-decompile` (1.0.34 release line), `wasm2wat`, `wasm2c` | github.com/WebAssembly/wabt/releases |
| A Java program you need to inspect *and* poke at | **Recaf** (MIT) | github.com/Col-E/Recaf/releases |

Full tool notes, licenses, and friction warnings: **tool-routes.md**.

## Step 2 — Decompile

Open the build in the tool (or run it from the command line) and export the
recovered code to a folder, e.g. `recovered/`. Expect readable logic with
generic names — see **what-you-get-back.md** for exactly what survives and
what doesn't, graded from a measured proof.

## Step 3 — Hand it to your AI with the workflow

Open **recover-and-document.md**, copy the whole prompt into your AI chat
together with the recovered code, and let it produce the two documents that
make your project continuable again:

1. `program-map.md` — what the program does, in plain language.
2. `reconstruction.md` — a spec/state document a fresh build session can
   continue from (it slots straight into a continuation/rescue flow).

**The fence, stated once and binding everywhere in this pack:** these tools
and prompts are for software **you own or are authorized to analyze** — your
builds, your employer's with permission, open-source, or security research
you're entitled to do. Reading someone else's program to clone it, strip its
licensing, or lift its assets is not what this shelf is for.