# intelxed/xed

The X86 Encoder Decoder (XED), is a software library for encoding and decoding X86 (IA32 and Intel64) instructions

Repository: https://github.com/intelxed/xed
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/xed
Homepage: https://intelxed.github.io/
Language: Python
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: encoder, decoder, x86, intel
Last push: 2026-08-24T11:47:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3555, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 9, "gap_med": 54, "n_releases_24m": 12}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1613, forks 172 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:11.248156+00:00)

## What it is
Intel XED is a C library for encoding and decoding X86 (IA32 and Intel64) machine instructions, converting between byte sequences and structured descriptions of opcodes, operands, and flags. It also serves as the basis for a disassembler and command-line tool, and powers tools like Intel Pin, SDE, and VTune.

## Use cases
- decode x86 instruction bytes into structured form
- assemble/encode x86 instructions programmatically
- build a custom disassembler for binaries
- analyze instruction operands and register dependencies
- static analysis of x86 machine code
- instrumentation tooling needing instruction decoding

## When to choose
- you need a fast, accurate, Intel-maintained x86 encoder/decoder
- you're building disassemblers, profilers, emulators, or binary analysis tools
- you need support for the latest Intel instruction set extensions

## When to avoid
- you need ARM, RISC-V, or other non-x86 architectures
- you want a high-level assembler with macro/directive support (use NASM/GAS instead)
- you need a lightweight scripting-only solution

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: parser, compiler, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, compilers, operating-systems, performance
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cpp, python
- tags: x86, disassembler, instruction-encoding, binary-analysis, reverse-engineering, assembly, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- intelxed/xed (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:11.248156+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 2026-08-30T03:51:06.231462+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/intelxed/xed (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:11.248156+00:00, sha ed7d726201e2)
  - homepage: https://intelxed.github.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:22:50.630049+00:00, sha 834b5ef4881e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.