Skip to content
Hydra Engine
Menu

Docs

Documentation

Hydra Engine is Ghidra run as one long-lived daemon that many clients use at once. These pages are short on purpose: how to run it, why it behaves the way it does when two agents meet, and a reference to look things up. Start with Install and Quick start.

  1. 01InstallDownload the Windows x64 headless install, check its SHA-256, give it a JDK 25, and start the daemon. Linux and macOS build from source for now.Download and check the zip · Give it a JDK · Start the daemon · Linux and macOS · The client on its own
  2. 02Quick startFrom an unzipped install to decompiled C in three steps, then a second client joining the same warm daemon and running into the first one's program.1. Make a project · 2. Ask a question · 3. Add a second client · Next
  3. 03The shared daemonOne JVM per user serves every client: how clients find it, the quick and long lanes, per-program locks, request labels, and what a dying client costs.How a client finds it · Two lanes · Locks are per program · Labels: who is asking · When a client dies
  4. 04Projects and revisionsRead-only views that take no lock, writable projects shared inside the daemon, revisions and refresh, and what happens to projects saved by an older Ghidra.A read-only view takes no lock · A writable project is shared inside the daemon · Revisions, stale views and refresh · Projects saved by an older Ghidra · What a project view does not do
  5. 05Several writersWhen two agents want to change one program, Hydra Engine offers a private overlay, a copy-on-write fork, or shared writing with an author journal.Pick one · Overlays: private annotations · Forks: a working copy · Shared mode: several writers, one program · Limits
  6. 06ImportsImporting binaries through the daemon. SHA-256 deduplication, parallel imports with maxImports, a visible import queue, cancelling, and what a crash leaves.Never twice · Several at once · The queue · Cancelling and crashes · Limits
  7. 07Scripts and exportsRun any GhidraScript through the daemon, as owner or contained and rolled back, and write large exports with progress, cancel and an inspectable partial file.Owner or contained · Where scripts come from · Exports: a script that writes a large file · What scripts can reach
  8. 08IntegrateA checklist for tools that drive the daemon. One connection, a label per agent, adopting projects by hash, handling refusals, the wire, and pinning a release.One connection per process · One label per agent · Adopt a project, do not import · Handle refusals by code · Long work
  9. 09ReferenceLookup reference for the Hydra Engine daemon. The JSON-lines wire format, every command and its fields, error codes, launcher commands and configuration keys.Wire format · Commands: session · Commands: projects · Commands: programs · Commands: reading

Every measurement with its method, the test suites and the module's design notes are in the module README on GitHub.