# Replica Recon

Reverse-engineers any app into a recon map: screen inventory, user flows, component...

- Repository: https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/replica-skill (6967 stars)
- Category: Mobile
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-03
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add Jakeschincariol/replica-skill --skill replica-recon -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add Jakeschincariol/replica-skill --skill replica-recon -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add Jakeschincariol/replica-skill --skill replica-recon -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add Jakeschincariol/replica-skill --skill replica-recon -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add Jakeschincariol/replica-skill`

## Description

Reverse-engineers any app into a recon map: screen inventory, user flows, component list, inferred data model and a feature matrix, from public pages, screenshots, app store listings, help docs and the user's own account. The first step of the Replica pack. Use when the user says "clone this app", "reverse engineer X", "how does X work", "map out X", "what screens does X have", "I want to build my own version of X", "copy this app", or pastes an app's URL or App Store link and wants to rebuild it.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# replica-recon

Everything else in the pack builds from what this skill writes. A bad recon
map means a bad clone, so take the time here.

Output goes in the user's project:

```
replica/recon.md        the recon map (template: recon-map.md in this folder)
replica/features.csv    the feature matrix (template: features.csv in this folder)
replica/screens/        reference screenshots of the original. Never shipped.
```

## The rules, before anything else

This skill rebuilds **functionality and UX patterns**, clean-room style. It
studies what the app does and how a user moves through it. It does not take
anything the app owns.

- **Public sources and the user's own account only.** Never log into an
  account that is not the user's, never ask for a password, never get past a
  paywall or a login by any trick.
- **Reading, not scraping.** No crawlers, no bulk downloads, no loops. If a
  browser tool is connected to the user's own browser, read pages at human
  speed with the user present.
- **No source code, no private APIs.** Do not read or save the app's
  JavaScript bundles, decompile its binary, or log its network calls to copy
  endpoints. Public API docs are fine to read.
- **Check the terms.** Some products' terms forbid using an account to build a
  competing product. If the user's account is under terms like that, say so
  and work from public sources only.
- **Screenshots are reference.** They live in `replica/screens/`, are used to
  compare layouts, and never go into the clone.

## Step 1: scope

Ask three things, or propose answers and get a yes:

1. **Which app, which platform.** Web, iOS, Android, desktop.
2. **Which slice.** "All of Notion" is not a project. "Notion's pages, blocks
   and sharing" is. Default to the core loop: the one flow users pay for.
3. **Who it is for.** The user's own business, a niche, a product to sell.

## Step 2: list the sources

Build a sources table first, with a URL on every row. In order of value:

The rest: https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/replica-skill/blob/HEAD/replica-recon/SKILL.md