HackMate

Automates the entire process of creating a bootable OpenCore hackintosh USB. No manual config.plist editing, no hunting down kexts, no macrecovery commands.

Supports Linux, Windows, and macOS as host operating systems.

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📢 Announcements

v1.3.0 is out — Windows users can now download a single HackMate.exe from the releases page — no Python, no venv, no setup.py. Also fixes AMD config.plist crash, Windows SSL error, and macOS lspci error. Config.plist editor added to welcome screen.

If you cloned before June 25th (running from hackmate-linux/): Just run your usual command — HackMate will auto-migrate itself to the new src/ layout and relaunch. No manual steps needed.

If you're on macOS and got a lspci not found error: macOS is now fully supported. Pull the latest and re-run.

If USB formatting fails on Windows: Fixed in latest update. Pull and try again. If it still fails, use the new Already Formatted button — format your USB as FAT32 (GPT) in Disk Management first, then pick that option in HackMate.

If you got sudo: uv: command not found: Don't use sudo uv run. Always run with sudo .venv/bin/python3 src/hackmate.py after setup.

Kaby Lake (7th gen) users: Tahoe now shows as an option for your hardware. Pull the latest and rerun.

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Install

Linux / macOS

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) with sudo — not python3 or uv run. sudo does not inherit your PATH so it won't find uv or your user-installed packages.

Windows (EXE)

Download HackMate.exe from the latest release and run as Administrator.

Antivirus false positives: Some AVs (Bkav, Gridinsoft, Zillya) flag the EXE as malware. This is a known false positive with PyInstaller-built executables — every major AV (Defender, Kaspersky, ESET, CrowdStrike, Sophos) reports clean. The EXE is built transparently from source on GitHub Actions: view build logs.

Windows (from source)

Must be run as Administrator. Right-click PowerShell and select "Run as administrator" before running any of these commands.

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 ensures all dependencies are available.

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What it does

1. Scans your hardware (CPU, GPU, audio, ethernet, WiFi, touchpad, NVMe, Thunderbolt)
2. Shows compatible macOS versions based on your hardware
3. You pick a USB drive (internal disks are hidden)
4. Fully automated from there:
   • Formats USB as FAT32 and creates EFI structure
   • Downloads macOS recovery directly from Apple
   • Generates SMBIOS (serial, MLB, UUID, ROM)
   • Generates config.plist
   • Downloads kexts from GitHub releases
   • Downloads latest OpenCore release
   • Generates SSDTs using SSDTTime from your actual DSDT

After install

• Run USBToolBox inside macOS to map USB ports
• Replace the placeholder USBMap.kext with your generated one

Support

HackMate is free and open source. If it saved you hours of config.plist hell, consider sponsoring:

Notes

• macOS is sourced directly from Apple
• Uses the same tools recommended by the Dortania guide (macrecovery, SSDTTime)
• Tested on ThinkPad T480s (i5-8350U, Intel 8265 WiFi)
• Auto-updates itself on launch via GitHub