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thank you so much GaM1ngN0tDev for making the flutter ui for hackmate!

hackmate automates the whole process of making a bootable opencore hackintosh usb. no manual config.plist editing, no hunting down kexts urself, no macrecovery commands, none of that.

works on linux, windows, and macos as the host os — doesn't matter what ur running it from.

full release notes moved to CHANGELOG.md so this section doesn't keep growing forever — check there for the "what changed recently" rundown. quick version: recent work fixed rocket lake getting mislabeled as tiger lake, audited the whole kext db against live github data (fixed ~11 silently-broken kexts, added 6, yanked 3 dead ones), and squashed a batch of quietly-broken-but-still-booted EFI generation bugs in v2.0.0.

efi health check. point hackmate at any opencore efi, even one u built by hand, and it'll tell u whats actually wrong: orphaned acpi renames, kexts that'll never inject, usb ports that aren't really mapped, sip decoded flag by flag, deprecated kexts, missing -no_compat_check. it's on the welcome screen, or run it from terminal:

sudo .venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate.py --doctor            # finds your mounted EFI
.venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate.py --doctor /Volumes/EFI/EFI

read-only, no root needed, safe to run on a booted system.

new — kext sources get checked before your usb even gets formatted, so a dead download source shows up as a warning u can actually do something about instead of a kext just silently going missing.

v1.3.0 — windows users can just download one HackMate.exe from the releases page, no python, no venv, no setup.py needed. also fixed the amd config.plist crash, windows ssl error, macos lspci error. config.plist editor added to welcome screen too.

if u cloned before june 25th (running from hackmate-linux/): just run ur usual command, hackmate auto-migrates itself to the new src/ layout and relaunches. no manual steps.

if ur on macos and got a lspci not found error: macos is fully supported now. pull latest and rerun.

if usb formatting fails on windows: fixed in latest update, pull and try again. still failing? use the new already formatted button — format the usb as fat32 (gpt) in disk management urself first, then pick that option in hackmate.

if u got sudo: uv: command not found: don't use sudo uv run. always run w/ sudo .venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate.py after setup.

kaby lake (7th gen) users: tahoe shows up as an option for ur hardware now. pull latest and rerun.

git clone https://github.com/riftaway7-code/hackmate.git
cd hackmate
python3 setup.py
sudo .venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate.py

always use the full path to the venv python (.venv/bin/python3) w/ sudo — not python3 or uv run. sudo doesn't inherit ur PATH so it won't find uv or ur user-installed packages.

download HackMate.exe from the latest release and run it as administrator.

antivirus false positives: some avs (bkav, gridinsoft, zillya) flag the exe as malware. it's a known false positive w/ pyinstaller-built executables — every major av (defender, kaspersky, eset, crowdstrike, sophos) reports it clean. the exe is built transparently from source on github actions if u wanna check: build logs.

has to be run as administrator. right-click powershell → run as administrator before any of this.

git clone https://github.com/riftaway7-code/hackmate.git
cd hackmate
python setup.py
.venv\Scripts\python.exe src\hackmate.py

always use .venv\Scripts\python.exe to run hackmate — not python or uv run. the venv is what makes sure all the deps are actually there.

prefer a windowed app over the terminal ui? hackmate_gui.py is the exact same backend just w/ a tkinter frontend instead of textual — no extra deps, tkinter ships w/ python already.

sudo .venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate_gui.py      # linux / macos
.venv\Scripts\python.exe src\hackmate_gui.py    # windows, run powershell as administrator

a separate windowed frontend built in flutter (shoutout GaM1ngN0tDev again) — same python backend underneath, talking to it thru a json-rpc bridge (src/bridge.py). build history, log checker, efi health check, disk map, restore, usb mapping, config editor, and the full guided/manual build efi wizard all work. not distributed as a prebuilt exe yet, so u build it urself.

needs the flutter sdk + platform build tools (visual studio build tools w/ the "desktop development w/ c++" workload on windows, xcode on macos, gtk3/clang/cmake/ninja on linux — see flutter's linux setup docs).

git clone https://github.com/riftaway7-code/hackmate.git
cd hackmate/gui-flutter
flutter pub get
flutter run                # dev mode, picks up connected/desktop targets automatically
# or build a standalone release:
flutter build windows      # -> build/windows/x64/runner/Release/gui_flutter.exe
flutter build macos        # -> build/macos/Build/Products/Release/gui_flutter.app
flutter build linux        # -> build/linux/x64/release/bundle/gui_flutter

windows: just run the built exe — it prompts for admin (uac) on launch, and the python backend it spawns inherits that automatically, no separate elevation step.

linux / macos: the app doesn't self-elevate, so launch it w/ sudo from a terminal same as the tkinter gui:

sudo ./build/linux/x64/release/bundle/gui_flutter                                    # linux
sudo ./build/macos/Build/Products/Release/gui_flutter.app/Contents/MacOS/gui_flutter  # macos

linux and macos support was just added and hasn't actually been run on either platform yet — this was built and tested on windows only so far. if u hit something broken on linux/macos, open an issue.

1. scans ur hardware (cpu, gpu, audio, ethernet, wifi, touchpad, nvme, thunderbolt)
2. shows u which macos versions are compatible w/ ur exact hardware
3. u pick a usb drive (internal disks are hidden so u can't nuke urself)
4. fully automated from there:
   • formats usb as fat32 + creates the efi structure
   • downloads macos recovery straight from apple
   • generates smbios (serial, mlb, uuid, rom)
   • generates config.plist w/ the correct quirks for ur exact hardware
   • downloads kexts from github releases
   • downloads the latest opencore release
   • generates ssdts from ur actual dsdt using ssdttime

new EFI builds boot into a graphical picker instead of opencore's black-and-white text menu: the hackmate banner over a blurred macos tahoe backdrop, mouse support, readable entry names, and a short legend for what safe mode / recovery / reset nvram do. first launch shows a one-time notice; the build screen's classic-picker option turns it back off.

it's not a fork — opencore itself is unchanged. it's opencore's own opencanopy picker (ships with every release) plus a hackmate theme and a few config.plist keys. proven on a real thinkpad t480s. details in docs/HACKMATE_CORE.md.

cpu generations: sandy bridge · ivy bridge · haswell · broadwell · skylake · kaby lake · coffee lake · comet lake / ice lake · rocket lake and newer desktops with a supported amd dgpu · amd ryzen / threadripper desktops

laptops tested: thinkpad t480s, t480, t470, x1 carbon · dell xps 13/15 · hp elitebook · asus zenbook · acer aspire

platforms: laptops, desktops, mini-pcs

macos versions: ventura · sonoma · sequoia · tahoe (macos 16)

• run usbtoolbox (saved to EFI/HackMate-Extras/) inside macos to map ur usb ports
• swap out the placeholder USBMap.kext w/ the one u generate — or just use hackmate's usb mapping screen

do i need a mac to use hackmate? nah. hackmate runs on linux, windows, and macos. u can make the usb from any computer u have lying around.

will this work on my laptop/desktop? intel 2nd–10th gen is the normal range. 11th gen and newer intel xe graphics have no macos driver, so those desktops need a supported amd dgpu and those laptops usually arent viable. amd ryzen desktops work w/ the amd vanilla patches. run hackmate and it'll flag dead ends before it builds.

is this the same as following the dortania opencore guide by hand? hackmate uses the exact same tools (macrecovery, ssdttime, opencore) that dortania recommends, just automates every single step of it. the output efi is equivalent to what u'd build by hand — minus the hours of pain.

can i hackintosh a thinkpad? yeah — hackmate was literally built and tested on a thinkpad t480s. intel wifi (itlwm + heliport), trackpad (voodooi2c), all the common thinkpad hardware is supported.

does it work on windows without python? yep. grab HackMate.exe from the releases page, no python or deps needed at all.

does hackmate download the full macos installer for offline installation? not currently. hackmate downloads apple's recovery image (about 600 mb), which still downloads the full macos payload from apple after u boot it. if recovery shows PKDownloadError 8 or ur network blocks apple's installer servers, try a different connection or prepare a full installer separately on a mac. hackmate cannot bypass filtering inside recovery.

does intel wifi show up as native (built-in) wifi on tahoe? not with the onboard intel chip — opensource's AirportItlwm (the kext that makes intel wifi appear as real apple wifi in the menu bar) hasn't had a build past sonoma since mid-2024, so sequoia and tahoe are stuck with itlwm + heliport, which works for internet access but isn't apple-native (no menu bar icon, no airdrop/handoff over wifi). if u want actual native wifi on tahoe — menu bar, airdrop, handoff, all of it — swap in a genuine apple-supported broadcom card (bcm94360cd, dw1560, etc). those use macos's built-in airport driver, same as a real mac, so there's no version-pinned kext to break on any future macos release. hackmate will warn u about this and offer the broadcom-card path when it detects intel-only wifi.

my antivirus is flagging hackmate.exe known false positive w/ pyinstaller-built exes. every major av (defender, kaspersky, eset) reports it clean. built from source on github actions if u wanna verify — build logs.

hackmate is free and open source. if it saved u hours of config.plist hell, consider sponsoring:

• macos is sourced directly from apple's servers
• uses the same tools the dortania guide recommends (macrecovery, ssdttime, opencore)
• tested on thinkpad t480s (i5-8350u, intel 8265 wifi, kaby lake-r)
• auto-updates itself on launch via github

• also heres proof @theghostrdr