# SciresM/hactool

hactool is a tool to view information about, decrypt, and extract common file formats for the Nintendo Switch, especially Nintendo Content Archives.

Repository: https://github.com/SciresM/hactool
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hactool
Language: C
License: ISC
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2023-12-04T13:39:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3143, "days_push": 1003, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1179, forks 181 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:53.239302+00:00)

## What it is
hactool is a C command-line tool for inspecting, decrypting, and extracting common Nintendo Switch file formats such as NCA, XCI, PFS0, RomFS, and HFS0 archives. It supports hash/signature verification, development and retail keys, and per-section extraction of Switch content archives.

## Use cases
- extract romfs contents from a switch nca file
- decrypt nintendo content archives
- view info about an xci or nsp file
- verify hashes and signatures of switch files
- unpack exefs and pfs0 archives
- dump program permissions from npdm or kip1 to json
- decrypt with development keys for switch research

## When to choose
- you need to inspect or extract Nintendo Switch file formats from the command line
- you want a scriptable tool for NCA, RomFS, ExeFS, or XCI decryption
- you are doing Switch reverse engineering or homebrew development

## When to avoid
- you need a graphical interface for browsing Switch files
- you want to build or run Switch software rather than analyze its files
- you need support for other consoles' formats

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, parser, cryptography, file-system, reverse-engineering
- domain: reverse-engineering, gaming-tools, files
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: nintendo-switch, nca, romfs, exefs, xci, homebrew, decryption, firmware-tools, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- SciresM/hactool (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:53.239302+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:25:26.977898+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/SciresM/hactool (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:53.239302+00:00, sha e29eb74b1e65)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.