HexCore Capstone

Modern Node.js bindings for Capstone disassembler engine using N-API.

Features

• Async API: Non-blocking disasmAsync() for large binaries
• Modern N-API: Binary compatible across Node.js 18+
• Zero Dependencies: Capstone is bundled - just npm install
• Full TypeScript: Complete type definitions with JSDoc
• Multi-Architecture: x86, ARM, ARM64, MIPS, PPC, SPARC, M68K, and more
• Detail Mode: Access operands, registers, groups, and flags
• ESM + CommonJS: Works with import and require

Installation

npm install hexcore-capstone

No system dependencies required! Capstone is compiled from source automatically.

Quick Start

Basic Example

const { Capstone, ARCH, MODE } = require('hexcore-capstone');

// Create a disassembler for x86-64
const cs = new Capstone(ARCH.X86, MODE.MODE_64);

// Machine code to disassemble
const code = Buffer.from([
    0x55,                         // push rbp
    0x48, 0x89, 0xe5,             // mov rbp, rsp
    0x48, 0x83, 0xec, 0x20,       // sub rsp, 0x20
    0xc3                          // ret
]);

// Disassemble
const instructions = cs.disasm(code, 0x401000);

for (const insn of instructions) {
    console.log(`0x${insn.address.toString(16)}: ${insn.mnemonic} ${insn.opStr}`);
}

// Output:
// 0x401000: push rbp
// 0x401001: mov rbp, rsp
// 0x401004: sub rsp, 0x20
// 0x401008: ret

cs.close();

Async Disassembly (Recommended for large files)

const { Capstone, ARCH, MODE } = require('hexcore-capstone');
const fs = require('fs');

const cs = new Capstone(ARCH.X86, MODE.MODE_64);

// Load a large binary
const largeCode = fs.readFileSync('large_binary.bin');

// Disassemble without blocking the event loop
const instructions = await cs.disasmAsync(largeCode, 0x401000);

console.log(`Disassembled ${instructions.length} instructions`);

cs.close();

ESM Import

import { Capstone, ARCH, MODE, OPT, OPT_VALUE } from 'hexcore-capstone';

const cs = new Capstone(ARCH.ARM64, MODE.ARM);
// ...

Detail Mode

const { Capstone, ARCH, MODE, OPT, OPT_VALUE } = require('hexcore-capstone');

const cs = new Capstone(ARCH.X86, MODE.MODE_64);

// Enable detail mode for operand info
cs.setOption(OPT.DETAIL, OPT_VALUE.ON);

const code = Buffer.from([0x48, 0x89, 0xc3]); // mov rbx, rax
const insns = cs.disasm(code, 0x1000);

for (const insn of insns) {
    console.log(`${insn.mnemonic} ${insn.opStr}`);

    if (insn.detail) {
        console.log('  Registers read:', insn.detail.regsRead.map(r => cs.regName(r)));
        console.log('  Registers written:', insn.detail.regsWrite.map(r => cs.regName(r)));
        console.log('  Groups:', insn.detail.groups.map(g => cs.groupName(g)));
    }
}

cs.close();

Supported Architectures

Architecture	Constant	Detail Mode
x86/x64	ARCH.X86	✅ Full
ARM	ARCH.ARM	✅ Full
ARM64	ARCH.ARM64	✅ Full
MIPS	ARCH.MIPS	✅ Full
PowerPC	ARCH.PPC	✅ Full
SPARC	ARCH.SPARC	✅ Full
SystemZ	ARCH.SYSZ	✅ Full
XCore	ARCH.XCORE	✅ Full
M68K	ARCH.M68K	✅ Full

API Reference

Class: Capstone

new Capstone(arch, mode)

Create a new disassembler instance.

cs.disasm(code, address, [count])

Disassemble code buffer synchronously. Returns Instruction[].

cs.disasmAsync(code, address, [count])

Disassemble code buffer asynchronously. Returns Promise<Instruction[]>.

⚡ Use disasmAsync() for buffers >1MB to avoid blocking the event loop.

cs.setOption(type, value)

Set a disassembler option (e.g., enable detail mode).

cs.close()

Close the handle and free resources.

cs.regName(regId), cs.insnName(insnId), cs.groupName(groupId)

Get human-readable names.

Helper Functions

const { version, support, ARCH } = require('hexcore-capstone');

console.log(`Capstone version: ${version().string}`);  // "5.0"
console.log(`ARM supported: ${support(ARCH.ARM)}`);    // true

Building from Source

git clone --recursive https://github.com/LXrdKnowkill/hexcore-capstone.git
cd hexcore-capstone
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Note: Use --recursive to clone the vendored Capstone submodule.

Changelog

v1.1.0

• Add disasmAsync() for non-blocking disassembly
• Add ESM support via index.mjs
• Add detail mode for PPC, SPARC, SYSZ, XCORE, M68K
• Enhanced TypeScript definitions with JSDoc

v1.0.0

• Initial release with sync API

License

MIT License - Copyright (c) HikariSystem

Acknowledgments

• Capstone Engine by Nguyen Anh Quynh
• The Node.js N-API team