HackMate-Core

A branded graphical boot picker for OpenCore.

Instead of OpenCore's black-and-white text menu, you boot into this:

I'm looking at this and i'm thinking how did i do this.. It's crazy how far hackmate has gotten.

The HackMate banner over a blurred macOS Tahoe backdrop, a short legend for what Safe Mode / Recovery / Reset NVRAM actually do, mouse support, readable entry names.

It's not a fork

OpenCore is unmodified. HackMate-Core is two things:

1. An OpenCanopy theme — a Resources/ folder (background, icons, fonts, labels). OpenCanopy is Acidanthera's own graphical picker; it ships with every OpenCore release as OpenCanopy.efi.
2. A few config.plist keys that switch the picker on and point it at the theme.

Nothing about the boot chain, security model, or update path changes. Proven on a real ThinkPad T480s (macOS 26.5.2): graphical picker at native 1920×1080, trackpad cursor, all boot entries, macOS boots through it.

Install

You need an existing, working OpenCore EFI.

Automatic (patches config.plist + merges the theme in):

python hackmate_core.py install /Volumes/EFI/EFI/OC

Add --minimal for no shutdown/restart buttons, --resolution 2560x1440 to pick the matching background, --oc-release /path/to/OpenCore-1.0.7-RELEASE if OpenCanopy.efi isn't already in your Drivers/ folder.

Manual:

1. Copy Resources/Image/HackMate/ into EFI/OC/Resources/Image/. If your Resources/ has no Font/ or Label/, copy those from this repo too.

2. Put OpenCanopy.efi (from your OpenCore release, matching your OpenCore.efi version) in EFI/OC/Drivers/ and add it to UEFI > Drivers with Enabled = true.

3. In config.plist > Misc > Boot:

   key	value
   PickerMode	External
   PickerVariant	HackMate\Core
   PickerAttributes	145 (or 209 for minimal)

   and UEFI > Output > ProvideConsoleGop = true.

Then reboot.

Styles

• full (PickerAttributes 145) — banner, legend, shutdown/restart buttons
• minimal (209) — same, no shutdown/restart buttons

Resolution

Background.icns is centred, not stretched. Three variants ship: Background.icns (1080p), Background_1440p.icns, Background_2160p.icns. The install command with --resolution swaps in the right one; otherwise rename the file yourself, or regenerate (below). A mismatch just letterboxes against DefaultBackgroundColor (black).

For a 4K panel also set NVRAM UIScale to 02.

Rebuild the theme

tools/build_theme.py regenerates Resources/ — composites the BANNER over a wallpaper (blurred, darkened), redraws Apple.icns, tints the selection chrome, and pulls Font/ + Label/ from OcBinaryData:

python tools/build_theme.py \
  --wallpaper /path/to/wallpaper.jpg \
  --ocbinary  /path/to/OcBinaryData \
  --goldengate /path/to/OcBinaryData/Resources/Image/Acidanthera/GoldenGate

--blur, --brightness, --dark tune the backdrop. Edit BANNER, SUBTITLE, LEGEND at the top of the file for different text.

tools/preview.py renders a mockup PNG without booting anything. tools/build_test_efi.py + tools/qemu_shot.py build a throwaway ESP and boot it in QEMU + OVMF.

Notes

• OpenCanopy's layout (icon size, row position, spacing) is fixed — a theme controls colours, images, and labels only. The banner and legend live inside Background.icns, positioned to sit clear of the entry row.
• The .icns files are the Apple ICNS container wrapping a PNG (ic07 + ic13 chunks). For the background both chunks hold the full-resolution image.
• The auto-detected macOS entry currently shows the generic drive icon rather than the Apple logo — a flavour-resolution quirk, cosmetic.

Licence

MIT — see LICENSE. Third-party assets and their licences are listed in THIRD_PARTY.md.