# hxhb/HotPatcher

Unreal Engine hot update manage and package plugin.

Repository: https://github.com/hxhb/HotPatcher
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hotpatcher
Homepage: https://imzlp.com/posts/17590/
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: unreal-engine, hotupdate, unrealengine, ue4, ue5
Last push: 2026-01-26T12:51:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 52/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 64, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2477, "days_push": 219, "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 1506, forks 388 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:55.072321+00:00)

## What it is
HotPatcher is an Unreal Engine (UE4.21–UE5) editor plugin for managing hot update versions and packaging resource patches. It tracks asset changes against a base release, supports multi-platform Cook and Pak patch generation, chunking, dependency analysis, and CI/CD integration via commandlets.

## Use cases
- create hot update patches for unreal engine games
- package UE4/UE5 asset patches for multiple platforms
- diff asset versions and build incremental patches
- bundle non-asset files like lua scripts into pak files
- automate UE patch builds in CI/CD pipelines
- audit and optimize game package size
- split base package and manage chunks in Unreal Engine

## When to choose
- you need a mature, battle-tested hot update solution for Unreal Engine used by shipped commercial games
- you want version tracking, diffing, and multi-platform patch packaging in one tool
- you need commandlet support to integrate patching into automated build pipelines
- your project is blueprint-based or uses a C++ architecture designed for content-only hot updates

## When to avoid
- you need to hot-update C++ code itself, which this tool cannot do
- you are not using Unreal Engine
- you need a full client-side patch download and application runtime, which you must build separately
- you plan to resell or repackage the plugin commercially, which its license forbids

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: build-tool, deployment, developer-tools, file-system, ci-cd
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: unreal-engine, hot-update, patching, asset-management, pak, ue4, ue5, game-patching, game-development, automation, macos

## Member repositories
- hxhb/HotPatcher (main) score 52

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:55.072321+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 2026-08-30T04:32:39.034993+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hxhb/HotPatcher (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:55.072321+00:00, sha a1f7d0a2232a)
  - homepage: https://imzlp.com/posts/17590/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:37:05.832628+00:00, sha f8ebda416a23)
  - site_page: https://imzlp.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T11:37:05.837507+00:00, sha 43ef7420b3b1)
  - site_page: https://imzlp.com/changelog (fetched 2026-08-29T11:37:05.839381+00:00, sha 3aab3b3eb36b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.