# HexFiend/HexFiend

A fast and clever hex editor for macOS

Repository: https://github.com/HexFiend/HexFiend
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hexfiend
Homepage: https://hexfiend.com
Language: Objective-C
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-06-29T18:26:33+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 39/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 29, release rhythm 16, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5384, "days_push": 430, "days_rel": 535, "gap_med": 156, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5884, forks 452 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:31.919938+00:00)

## What it is
Hex Fiend is a fast, open-source hex editor for macOS that supports inserting, deleting, and rearranging bytes in files of virtually any size without loading them into memory. It also offers binary diffing, a data inspector, scriptable binary templates, and an embeddable framework for adding hex views to other apps.

## Use cases
- edit binary files on macOS
- inspect raw bytes of a large file
- compare two binary files for differences
- interpret bytes as integers or floats with different endianness
- visualize binary file structure with templates
- embed a hex editor view in my own macOS app
- open a 100 GB file without running out of RAM

## When to choose
- you need a fast hex editor on macOS that handles huge files
- you want binary diffing that accounts for insertions and deletions
- you need an embeddable hex/data view framework with a permissive BSD license
- you work on low-RAM machines and need a small-footprint editor

## When to avoid
- you need a hex editor on Windows or Linux
- you need a cross-platform or terminal-based hex editor
- you need disk forensics or advanced reverse-engineering suites beyond hex editing

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: editor, file-system, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, files, apple-ecosystem
- platform: -
- tags: hex-editor, binary-editing, binary-diff, binary-templates, data-inspector, embeddable-framework, large-files, macos

## Member repositories
- HexFiend/HexFiend (main) score 39

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:31.919938+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 2026-08-29T17:51:33.633121+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/HexFiend/HexFiend (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:31.919938+00:00, sha e7c8d29ecb21)
  - homepage: https://hexfiend.com (fetched 2026-08-29T08:46:54.548571+00:00, sha 6890a597c75a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.