Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.11+ — python.org or your system package manager
uv — Python package manager (Install uv)
Ghidra — NSA’s reverse engineering framework (Install Ghidra)
JDK 21+ — Required by Ghidra (Adoptium)
LLM API key — At least one of:
- Anthropic (Claude)
- OpenAI (GPT-4o)

Install Kong

From PyPI (recommended)
From source

uv pip install kong-re

This installs the kong CLI and all dependencies, including PyGhidra, the Anthropic SDK, the OpenAI SDK, and z3-solver.

git clone https://github.com/amruth-sn/kong.git
cd kong
uv sync

When running from source, prefix commands with uv run:

uv run kong setup
uv run kong analyze ./path/to/binary

Environment Variables

Kong uses environment variables for API keys and optional path overrides. Set at least one API key before running analysis.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	At least one API key	—	Anthropic API key for Claude models
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	At least one API key	—	OpenAI API key for GPT-4o models
`GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR`	No	Auto-detected	Path to Ghidra installation directory
`JAVA_HOME`	No	Auto-detected	Path to JDK installation
`KONG_CONFIG_DIR`	No	`~/.config/kong`	Override config directory location

Set your API key in your shell profile so it persists across sessions:

# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
# and/or
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

You only need one API key. Kong’s smart routing will use whichever provider has a valid key configured. If you have both, the setup wizard lets you pick a default.

Verify Installation

Confirm that Kong is installed and accessible:

kong --version

You should see output like:

kong, version 0.2.2

Ghidra Auto-Detection

Kong automatically searches for Ghidra in common installation locations. If auto-detection fails (for example, if you installed Ghidra to a non-standard path), set the GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR environment variable:

export GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR="/opt/ghidra_11.3.1_PUBLIC"

The same applies to the JDK — Kong will find it automatically in most cases, but you can set JAVA_HOME explicitly if needed.

Next Steps

Once installed, run the setup wizard to configure your LLM providers, or jump straight to the Quickstart to analyze your first binary.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Usage

Configuration

Installation

Prerequisites

Install Kong

Environment Variables

Verify Installation

Ghidra Auto-Detection

Next Steps

​Prerequisites

​Install Kong

​Environment Variables

​Verify Installation

​Ghidra Auto-Detection

​Next Steps

Prerequisites

Install Kong

Environment Variables

Verify Installation

Ghidra Auto-Detection

Next Steps