# avast/retdec

RetDec is a retargetable machine-code decompiler based on LLVM.

Repository: https://github.com/avast/retdec
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/retdec
Homepage: https://retdec.com/
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-05-26T09:04:25+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 61/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 84, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3186, "days_push": 99, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8612, forks 998 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:23.814754+00:00)

## What it is
RetDec is a retargetable machine-code decompiler based on LLVM that converts native binaries back into readable C or Python-like source code. It supports many architectures (x86, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, x86-64, ARM64) and file formats (ELF, PE, Mach-O, COFF), and includes static analysis, disassembly, and call/control-flow graph generation.

## Use cases
- decompile a native binary back to C source code
- analyze malware samples without running them
- recover source from a stripped executable
- disassemble and statically analyze an ELF or PE file
- detect compiler and packer used to build a binary
- generate call graphs and control-flow graphs from a binary
- demangle C++ symbols from GCC or MSVC binaries

## When to choose
- you need a free, open-source decompiler supporting many architectures and file formats
- you want scriptable, command-line binary analysis or integration into a reverse-engineering pipeline
- you need to recover high-level code from binaries without IDA Pro or Ghidra
- you want static analysis features like packer detection and library-code removal

## When to avoid
- you need actively developed features or fast issue resolution - the project is in limited maintenance mode
- you need a polished interactive GUI decompiler experience
- you only target a single architecture where a specialized decompiler may perform better
- you need decompilation of modern obfuscated or heavily optimized code with best-in-class output quality

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: reverse-engineering, parser, static-site-generator
- domain: reverse-engineering, security, developer-tools, compilers
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: decompiler, disassembler, llvm, binary-analysis, malware-analysis, static-analysis, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- avast/retdec (main) score 61

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.814754+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:25:53.672652+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/avast/retdec (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.814754+00:00, sha b9c1464f5a0b)
  - homepage: https://retdec.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:26:16.705699+00:00, sha 3547be5d4a9f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.