Launch HN: Kampala (YC W26) – Reverse-Engineer Apps into APIs
YC-backed Kampala intercepts every HTTP/S request from any app to automate workflows.
Zatanna, a Y Combinator-backed startup, has launched Kampala (YC W26), a desktop application designed to give developers and automation engineers unprecedented visibility into application traffic. The tool acts as a universal proxy, intercepting every HTTP and HTTPS request from any source—including browsers, mobile apps, and desktop software—in real time. Its core promise is to instantly reverse-engineer these applications into functional APIs, a process that traditionally requires manual packet inspection or decompilation. Kampala automates the tedious work of mapping authentication chains, tracing tokens, cookies, and sessions across multi-step sequences.
Beyond simple observation, Kampala enables users to capture entire user flows and replay them as stable automations. A key technical feature is its preservation of the original HTTP and TLS fingerprint, ensuring intercepted traffic behaves identically to the source app and avoids detection blocks. This makes the captured sequences reliable for production use. Currently available for macOS with a Windows version in development, Kampala is positioned as a powerful tool for workflow automation, competitive analysis, and integration building where official APIs are limited, slow to develop, or non-existent.
- Intercepts all HTTP/S traffic from any app or browser in real time for complete visibility.
- Automatically maps complex authentication chains (tokens, cookies, sessions) across multi-step sequences.
- Exports captured flows as stable automations while preserving the original HTTP/TLS fingerprint to avoid detection.
Why It Matters
It enables rapid integration and automation where no official API exists, unlocking legacy or closed systems for developers.