ps5upload/README.md

ps5upload

Fast, reliable transfers from your computer to your PS5.
Transfer · Install · Convert · Mount · Browse — designed to live alongside your PS5-side tools.

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Highlights

• One way to install any package. PS4 .pkg and PS5 fake packages — base games, updates and DLC — install through ps5upload's own on-console installer, whether you Stream & install straight from your PC (nothing copied to the PS5), Upload & install (copied first, kept for reinstalls), or install from a NAS, a USB drive or a download link. Every route shows the same live progress, only says "installed" once the console has the whole package, checks that an update really raised the game's version, and never wipes your base game.
• Turn a game into an installable PS5 package. Convert to FPKG builds a fake package from a decrypted game folder or an .exfat / .ffpkg image, on your computer, compressed the way Sony's own packages are — then installs it with Stream & install or Upload & install in one click.
• Sleep, wake and power from your desk. Put the PS5 in rest mode, reboot or shut it down, and wake it back up over the network — even straight into your signed-in user with Wake & sign in. The app keeps the console and your computer awake while a transfer runs.
• Fast, resumable transfers of games, folders, disk images and .zip / .7z / .rar archives, with an upload queue and live speed.
• Mount, browse and manage disk images, files, installed games, saves, screenshots and video clips; register, launch and uninstall games.
• Backport tools, payload sender, FTP server, hardware view and more.
• Runs everywhere: macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, or any web browser via the self-hosted engine / Docker image — in 21 languages.

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What it does

• Fast transfer — the AVA1 protocol (Adaptive Verified Assembly): several connections per transfer, every file verified end to end with BLAKE3, tiny files bundled and applied in parallel, and resume after any interruption — Wi-Fi drops, console rest mode, app restarts. Uses your LAN flat-out. Pack worker absorbs transient EIO/EMFILE hiccups so a 200k-file game upload doesn't get killed by one unlucky syscall.
• Upload queue — line up multiple games or images, hit Start, walk away. Every running row shows live MiB/s and ETA; done rows show the wall-clock-average rate so you can spot a slow destination. Queue state survives app restarts.
• Compressed archive uploads (.zip / .7z / .rar) — keep a game dump as a single archive on your PC (less disk, easier to move) and upload it directly. ps5upload decompresses on the host and streams the files into the same AVA1 pipeline, so they land already extracted on the PS5 — no manual unpack, no temp copy of the whole game. The Upload screen previews the expansion (zipped → extracted, file count, space saved) and detects the embedded game. Decompresses one file at a time, so a 100 GB archive doesn't need 100 GB of RAM. .7z and .rar stream straight into the pipeline and write nothing to your disk at all; .zip spills large entries to a temp file because its format needs random access. .rar is desktop-only (the UnRAR C dep is excluded from the Android build).
• Native image mount — attach .exfat and .ffpkg images on the PS5 (MDIOCATTACH + nmount) with no third-party helper. Every mount survives payload restarts and auto-reconciles on startup. Mount read-write to edit an image in place — add DLC, swap assets, or apply a backport patch to a game that ships as an image rather than a folder. Edits go straight into the image file, so the app warns before you start. When ShadowMount+ owns the image (it mounts everything read-only and re-adopts anything it finds), Edit files… checks the image out — moving it out of ShadowMount+'s scan folder, mounting it read-write where you choose, and putting it back when you finish. The checkout is journalled on the console, so an edit interrupted by a crash or a reboot can still be finished later, from any machine.
• Browse everything — list games anywhere on the PS5 (including inside mounted images), disk images, files, and volumes. Run FS ops (add files, replace a file, chmod, delete, move, copy, mkdir) with a real directory tree. Bulk delete of a 200k-file folder shows live progress with a working Stop button.
• NAS / SMB upload — browse a Windows share or Samba NAS from the app, download to this computer, or upload a file or folder straight to the PS5 in one step (streamed from the share over AVA1, resuming where it left off — no 2 GiB memory cap on that path).
• FTP server on the PS5 — optional built-in FTP for FileZilla and other clients (default port 2122, so it coexists with ftpsrv on 2121). Not a replacement for the Upload tab.
• Backport helpers — Fakelib folder manager, BPS patch apply, and SDK Version Changer for folder dumps that need newer system libs. Runtime mount is still BackPork or ShadowMount+ (don’t run both).
• Stay-in-the-loop notifications — in-app alerts mirror to your computer's notification center (macOS / Windows / Linux, plus the Android shade) when a transfer finishes or fails in the background, and the PS5 itself shows a toast when an upload starts and completes. Your machine is kept awake automatically while a transfer runs.
• Hardware view — model, serial, uptime, storage and RAM, refreshed live; plus a fan-threshold control that rings through to /dev/icc_fan for quieter operation. Temperatures (CPU, SoC, M.2) and CPU frequency are read on demand (a button), not auto-polled — each read briefly pauses the system UI, so polling them could destabilize the console. Some readings on that panel are simply not available on retail firmware and show —: SoC clock, SoC power, CPU usage, fan duty, and the per-drive sensor list. Storage totals and temperatures do work.
• Power control & wake — reboot, rest mode, or shut down the PS5 from the app, and wake it from standby over the network (Sony's discovery protocol — a PS5 does not respond to Wake-on-LAN). With the console's Remote Play session keys stored, Wake & sign in brings it up straight on your user's home screen instead of the user-select screen, the way the PS Remote Play app does. Waking needs three console settings enabled (Remote Play, plus Stay Connected to the Internet and Enable Turning On PS5 from Network under Rest Mode) — the app spells them out, since without them the wake fails silently.
• Send any payload — push .elf, .bin, .js, .lua, or .jar files to the PS5's loader port (typical defaults: .elf → 9021 elfldr, .js → 50000 WebKit-stage, .lua → 9026, .jar → 9025 BD-JB / BDJ; custom loaders may listen anywhere). Recent-sends history with click-to-replay and per-row success/fail badges. Curated payload catalogue (kstuff, ShadowMount+, etaHEN, …) fetches releases on demand — or add your own GitHub/Gitea repo and it tracks + caches that too. Payload playlists run a scripted boot sequence, and a playlist step can pull straight from a repo at run time so you don't keep a pile of .elf files on your PC.
• Install packages — install a PS4 .pkg or PS5 fake package two ways: Stream & install sends it straight from your PC (nothing is copied to the PS5 first — handy when console storage is tight), and Upload & install copies it to the PS5's package library first, where it stays so you can Install, Reinstall or Delete it later without re-uploading. Install all does a whole set in base → update → DLC order. Packages on a NAS/SMB share or behind an HTTP(S) link install the same way. Everything goes through ps5upload's own on-console installer, and an install is only marked done once the console has pulled the whole package and the result checks out — an update that didn't raise the game's version is reported, not called a success. Base, update and DLC installs verified on FW 5.10.
• Convert to FPKG — turn a decrypted game folder or an .exfat / .ffpkg image into an installable fake package on your computer, with the same compression Sony's packages use, then install it with Stream & install or Upload & install.
• Web browser access — run the engine (or the official Docker image) and manage your PS5 from any browser on the LAN, the full app served over HTTP. No desktop install needed on that machine. Unauthenticated — keep it on a trusted LAN. See the self-hosted-engine FAQ below.
• Screenshots & video clips — browse the PS5's Capture Gallery, preview, and download screenshots (HDR .jxr auto-converted to PNG) or gameplay video clips to your computer.
• Register + launch — Library row's Play button always registers first (idempotent if already registered), retries with DRM-type patch on rejection, then launches. Unmount unregisters every title inside the image first so the dashboard stays clean — no ghost tiles after unmount.
• Speaks your language — the whole UI, including error messages and troubleshooting hints, is available in 21 languages: English, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, German, French, Korean, Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Italian, Thai, Polish, Hungarian, and Persian.

What it doesn't do

• System pkg patches. sceAppInstUtilInstallByPackage is built for game pkgs; NPXS-prefix system pkgs (Store updates, Settings app patches) register but the install path freezes Sony's mgmt service mid-flight on most firmwares. Use the on-PS5 Settings → Debug Settings → Game → Package Installer for those.
• Insecure pkg signing keys. The engine only installs pkgs signed with keys already in the PS5's trust store. It does not generate or inject fake signing keys.

A quick look

Install

Pre-built downloads land on the Releases page:

Platform	File	How to install
macOS (Apple Silicon / Intel)	PS5Upload-<ver>-mac-{arm64,x64}.dmg	Open the .dmg, drag PS5Upload into Applications. See First launch on macOS below — Gatekeeper blocks downloaded apps the first time.
Windows (x64 / ARM64)	PS5Upload-<ver>-win-{x64,arm64}.zip	Unzip, double-click PS5Upload.exe — portable, no installer. See First launch on Windows — SmartScreen warns on first run.
Linux — Debian / Ubuntu (x64 / ARM64)	PS5Upload-<ver>-linux-{x64,arm64}.deb	sudo apt install ./PS5Upload-<ver>-linux-<arch>.deb — installs a normal app with a menu entry; pulls in the WebKitGTK deps automatically.
Linux — Fedora / RHEL / Bazzite (x64 / ARM64)	PS5Upload-<ver>-linux-{x64,arm64}.rpm	sudo dnf install ./PS5Upload-<ver>-linux-<arch>.rpm (Bazzite/Silverblue: rpm-ostree install) — menu entry + auto deps.
Linux — any distro (x64 / ARM64)	PS5Upload-<ver>-linux-{x64,arm64}.zip	Universal fallback (no install). Unzip, then chmod +x PS5Upload.sh PS5Upload.AppImage and run ./PS5Upload.sh (the wrapper — handles the FUSE-less and WebKit white-screen cases for you). Running ./PS5Upload.AppImage directly also works if your system has libfuse2 and a happy WebKitGTK.
Linux — NixOS (x64 / ARM64)	no release artifact	Packaged in NUR as ps5upload — see NixOS below.
Android	PS5Upload-<ver>-android.apk	Enable "install unknown apps" for your browser/file manager, then open the .apk. Same interface, mobile-friendly; connects to and manages your PS5 over Wi-Fi.

NixOS

No NixOS artifact is published on the Releases page, but ps5upload is packaged in GriefNorth's NUR as ps5upload (x64 and ARM64) — it wraps the same .AppImage and needs no FUSE. With flakes:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    nur.url = "github:GriefNorth/nur-packages";
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, nur, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        ({ pkgs, ... }: {
          environment.systemPackages = [
            nur.packages.${pkgs.system}.ps5upload
          ];
        })
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#myhost and launch ps5upload from your app menu. Without flakes, call the package straight out of the repo — and note that ps5upload bundles UnRAR for .rar support, so nixpkgs needs config.allowUnfree = true:

{ pkgs, ... }:
{
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;

  environment.systemPackages = [
    (pkgs.callPackage
      ((builtins.fetchTarball
        "https://github.com/GriefNorth/nur-packages/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz")
        + "/pkgs/ps5upload")
      { })
  ];
}

Or try it without installing anything:

nix run github:GriefNorth/nur-packages#ps5upload

The Nix expression pins one release version, so bump it there when a new ps5upload comes out. Prefer to run the AppImage yourself? Prefer the ./PS5Upload.sh wrapper from the zip above — on NixOS the bare .AppImage usually renders an empty window, because its bundled libwayland-client shadows the host one and WebKitGTK then fails to create an EGL display. The Nix package works around that for you.

First-launch warnings (and why they're there)

ps5upload is not code-signed with paid OS certificates — same as every other PS5 scene tool. The OS's verification layers (Gatekeeper on macOS, SmartScreen on Windows) treat unsigned downloads as suspicious until you allow them once. The one-time bypass:

macOS — "App is damaged" or "cannot be opened":

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/PS5Upload.app

That removes the quarantine attribute macOS slaps on every file downloaded from a browser. Alternatively, right-click PS5Upload in Applications → Open → click Open in the prompt. Either method only needs to be done once per install.

Windows — "Windows protected your PC" SmartScreen prompt:

• Click More info → Run anyway.
• Only shown until SmartScreen builds reputation for the binary; subsequent launches are silent.
• If your IT policy blocks "Run anyway", unzip + right-click PS5Upload.exe → Properties → check Unblock → OK.

Linux — no equivalent warning. Just chmod +x and launch.

System requirements

• macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer. No dependencies — ad-hoc signed, see First launch above for the one-line quarantine bypass.
• Windows 10 (build 19041+) or Windows 11. Ships with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime by default; LTSC / stripped installs may need WebView2 installed once.
• Linux — the .deb and .rpm packages pull in their dependencies automatically (WebKitGTK 4.1, gtk3, libsoup3, etc.) via the package manager, so they're the easiest route on Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora/RHEL/Bazzite. The universal .AppImage instead expects those libraries already on the host (libfuse2, gtk3, webkit2gtk 4.1, libsoup3, libappindicator, librsvg2); install commands for Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/RHEL/Arch are in the FAQ. Minimum distro version: all three Linux artifacts are built against glibc 2.39, so they need a reasonably recent distro — Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13+ (trixie), Fedora 40+, or equivalent. (This is a glibc floor, not a package dependency — the .deb/.rpm install fine on older releases but the app won't launch, and the AppImage bundles WebKitGTK yet still uses the host's glibc.) On an older distro, build from source with make dist-linux on that machine.

The app checks GitHub for updates once per launch (Settings → Updates) and downloads a fresh archive to your Downloads folder when you click Download — replace the old app manually and relaunch.

Building from source:

git clone https://github.com/phantomptr/ps5upload.git
cd ps5upload
make install       # bootstrap dev env (auto-detects host OS)
make build         # payload ELF + engine + client UI
make run-client    # launch the Tauri dev app

make install auto-detects your OS and runs one of:

• make install-ubuntu — Debian / Ubuntu / WSL2: apt deps for Tauri (libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev, libgtk-3-dev, librsvg2-dev, libayatana-appindicator3-dev, libxdo-dev, libssl-dev, build-essential), Node.js 22 LTS via NodeSource (only if missing), Rust via rustup, and checksum-verified PS5 Payload SDK v0.43 → ~/ps5-payload-sdk.
• make install-macos — macOS: Xcode CLT, Homebrew, node, current llvm (LLVM 22 at this release), Rust via rustup, and checksum-verified PS5 Payload SDK v0.43.
• make install-windows — Windows 11: Node.js LTS, Rust, VS 2022 Build Tools (C++ workload), WebView2 Runtime, 7-Zip, and PS5 Payload SDK via winget. Run from an elevated PowerShell (or any shell with pwsh / powershell.exe on PATH).

All three install scripts are idempotent — re-running them after a partial setup is safe. A stale or unmarked SDK is upgraded to the repository pin and moved to a timestamped backup instead of being deleted. Local and GitHub Actions builds read the same tag and official release checksum from scripts/ps5-sdk.env.

For per-platform bundles only (no full dev env): make dist-mac, make dist-mac-x64, make dist-linux, make dist-linux-arm, make dist-win, and make dist-win-arm.

Quick start

1. Launch ps5upload on your computer.
2. Open the Connection tab and enter your PS5's IP address.
3. Click Check, then Send payload.
4. Once the third step turns green, go to any other tab — you're connected.

The payload stays loaded until the PS5 reboots or goes into rest mode.

Architecture

client/ (Tauri 2 · React · TypeScript)
   │
   └── spawns ── ps5upload-engine (HTTP :19113)
                          │
                          ▼  AVA1 (Noise-encrypted, port 9120)
                payload/ps5upload.elf  (PS5 C payload)

Three layers:

• payload/ — C payload that runs on the PS5 (FreeBSD 11). Port 9120 (AVA1). Handles transfers, BLAKE3 verification, mount pipelines, FS ops and every management call. The protocol spec is protocol/ava1/SPEC.md.
• engine/ — Rust workspace with the AVA1 protocol, transfer logic, HTTP service, lab CLI (with its benchmarks), and the loopback test console.
• client/ — Tauri 2 desktop app. Tauri IPC commands proxy to the sidecar HTTP engine, keeping the engine usable from CLI / CI too.

Build

All workflows go through the root Makefile (see make help).

Target	What it does
make build	Payload + engine + client
make payload	PS5 ELF at payload/ps5upload.elf (requires PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK env var)
make engine	cargo build --workspace
make client	vite build in client/
make run-client	Tauri dev (vite + Rust main process)
make run-engine	ps5upload-engine on localhost:19113
make send-payload	Send the built ELF to PS5_HOST:PS5_LOADER_PORT
npm run validate	Full non-hardware quality gate
make quality	Same full non-hardware quality gate via Make
npm run coverage	Generate frontend + Rust coverage reports
make coverage	Same coverage reports via Make
make test	Script syntax + engine tests + payload validation + client build
make test-engine	cargo test --workspace (no hardware needed)
make dist	Tauri bundle under client/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

Test

Unit and integration tests run entirely on your computer — the AVA1 protocol is tested against loopback peers and the console-side C code is compiled and run on the host. No PS5 needed:

make test-engine

Full local quality gate and coverage reports:

npm run validate
npm run coverage

Real-hardware smoke test (requires payload already loaded):

npm run smoke:hardware

See TESTING.md for the complete loopback-test, coverage, cross-platform, and live-PS5 validation workflow.

Tech stack

• Payload — C (FreeBSD 11), prospero-clang toolchain
• Engine — Rust (edition 2021), tokio + axum 0.8
• Desktop client — Tauri 2, React, TypeScript, Zustand, Tailwind CSS v4, Vite
• Protocol — AVA1 (binary frames generated from one schema for C and Rust; Noise XX handshake, ChaCha20-Poly1305, BLAKE3 file verification)

Supported platforms

Desktop client

	x64	arm64
macOS	✓	✓
Linux	✓	✓
Windows	✓	✓

PS5 payload — every firmware the PS5 Payload SDK supports, currently 1.00 through 13.60 on every console model (original CFI-1xxx, Slim CFI-2xxx, Pro CFI-7xxx, Digital). Built against SDK v0.43, which ships per-firmware kernel offsets and resolves them at payload startup via kernel_get_fw_version() — the same binary runs on every supported firmware without per-release rebuilds.

Ceiling	Range	Meaning
Payload binary	1.00 – 13.60	Same ELF runs on every FW the SDK has offsets for
Practical jailbreak	~1.00 – 12.70	Limited by the public ELF loader / exploit chain, not by our payload
Hardware-tested here	5.10 and 9.60	Core transfer, mount, browse, install, FTP, metadata

Fake/debug package install depends on the console's jailbreak having live kernel patches (kstuff / fpkg-enable). On builds where those aren't active the installer reports it honestly rather than claiming a false success — see the FAQ on install firmware support. .ffpkg / .ffpfs are UFS images for the mount flow, not install-package filename variants.

The process-list feature (Hardware tab's process snapshot) reads kinfo_proc via sysctl(KERN_PROC_PROC) with field offsets that have been stable across every SDK-supported firmware — pid at byte 72, thread name at byte 447. No firmware-specific fallback table required; real command names appear across the full 1.00 – 13.60 range. Transfer, mount, file browse, hardware monitor and FS ops work identically across all supported firmwares. The Hardware tab's blank readings (SoC clock, SoC power, CPU usage, fan duty, date/time) are values retail firmware doesn't expose at all, not a firmware-version difference — temperatures and CPU frequency read fine on 5.10 and 9.60 alike.

What actually gates users in practice is the ELF loader on port 9021 — a third-party component, not part of ps5upload.

FAQ

Q: "Connection Refused" or it won't connect?

• Did you load the payload first? The PS5 stops listening after a reboot or rest-mode cycle — send the payload again from the Connection tab.
• Is your computer's firewall blocking outbound connections to port 9120 / 9021 on your PS5?
• Your computer and PS5 don't have to be on the same subnet, but there has to be a route to the IP.

Q: It connects, then drops within seconds?

• If you load ps5upload with an autoloader or PLDMGR, put elfldr first in its list, before ps5upload.elf. Without elfldr loaded first, ps5upload connects and then drops after a few seconds. Loading elfldr once from PLDMGR and then sending ps5upload again also fixes it.

Q: Stream & install fails before the PS5 downloads anything?

• The PS5 pulls the package from your computer, so it has to be able to reach it. Allow ps5upload through your computer's firewall (on Windows, for both Private and Public networks), keep the computer and the PS5 on the same network with any VPN off, and set the PS5's Proxy Server to "Do Not Use". Upload & install works without this connection.

Q: Resume gets stuck on "Checking what's already on your PS5…"?

• Reconcile scoped to the local tree's parent directories, so a single-file upload into a folder that already holds other games is now one FS_LIST_DIR call instead of a recursive walk of the whole destination. Update to the latest build.
• Safe-mode reconcile still hashes every same-size remote file via BLAKE3 — that's ~2–3 s per GiB on PS5 UFS. Use Fast mode for single-file or large-file transfers.

Q: Do I need a LAN cable?

• Not strictly, but Wi-Fi caps throughput well below what the PS5 NIC can actually do. Plug in an Ethernet cable for the best experience.

Q: Can I use this over the Internet?

• Technically yes — AVA1 (port 9120) encrypts and authenticates every byte and only talks to paired devices. We still don't recommend exposing an exploited PS5 to the open Internet; use a VPN to reach your home network instead.

Q: How do I install / launch a game from the Library tab?

• The Library row exposes Mount for .exfat / .ffpkg / .ffpfs images plus Register / Register (patch DRM) / Launch / Unregister buttons on the games inside.
• Mount is hardware-validated on FW 9.60 — a 76 GiB UFS .ffpkg mounts on /dev/lvd1, appears in Volumes with the correct source_image, and unmounts cleanly. The new round's payload uses compile-time -lSce* linkage so the rtld initialises the Sony sprx state via DT_NEEDED before main() runs.
• Register is hardware-validated: pointing it at a folder game with eboot.bin + sce_sys/param.json succeeds end to end — sceAppInstUtilAppInstallTitleDir returns 0, the title appears in app.db with the correct title name, and a nullfs bind is installed at /system_ex/app/<title_id>. Idempotent — re-registering the same path returns the same result.
• Register (patch DRM) rewrites the source's sce_sys/param.json's applicationDrmType to "standard" before staging — needed for PSN-extracted dumps that ship with "PSN" or "disc". Modifies the source file in place; only use when a normal Register fails with a DRM error.
• Launch routes sceLncUtilLaunchApp through a ptrace RPC into SceShellUI so Sony's getpid() == SceShellUI.pid caller-context check passes natively. Hardware-validated on FW 9.60: hitting Launch on a registered title actually starts the game (SoC power draw confirms the title comes up). Falls back to a direct call when ShellUI RPC isn't available.
• Listing inside an active mount (/mnt/ps5upload/<name>/...) is gated by the PS5 sandbox / LVD mount permission set rather than payload privilege. We re-check after every credential elevation; treat "ENOTDIR descending into a mount" as expected for now. Other PS5-side tools see the mount via /mnt/ps5upload/, and the source path is recorded in our tracker so reconcile-on-next-boot keeps state consistent.
• Sensors are read on demand (the Hardware tab's "Read sensors" button), not on a timer. Each read briefly ptrace-pauses the system UI, and doing that on a loop could destabilize the console — it powered some consoles off — so the auto-refresh covers only the ptrace-free data (info, uptime, storage).
• Which readings actually work, measured on FW 9.60 and 5.10:
  • Work: CPU / SoC / M.2 temperature, CPU frequency, storage totals.
  • Show —: SoC clock, SoC power, CPU usage, fan duty, per-drive sensors, and the console date/time. These aren't broken payload code — retail firmware doesn't expose them to us. A persistent — there is the expected result, not a fault to report.

Q: "No writable storage found"?

• The tool blocks writes to read-only system partitions. If you want to write to a USB drive, make sure it's formatted (exFAT is best) and plugged in before you load the payload.

Q: macOS: "App is damaged" or "Unidentified Developer"?

• This is normal for unsigned apps. Right-click the app, select Open, then click Open in the dialog.
• If macOS still blocks it, System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
• Last resort — remove the quarantine flag:

  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ps5upload.app
  

• No Apple Developer account is required; the app is intentionally unsigned.

Q: Where are config and logs saved?

• The desktop client uses the OS app-data directory:
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\com.phantomptr.ps5upload
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.phantomptr.ps5upload
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/com.phantomptr.ps5upload

Q: Does this work on PS4?

• No. The payload is compiled specifically for the PS5 (FreeBSD 11, Zen 2) and calls PS5-only kernel entry points.

Q: What about older firmware (≤ 9.00)?

• The payload's transfer code doesn't call firmware-gated APIs, but the ELF loader workflow on port 9021 depends on what your jailbreak exposes. Patches welcome.

Q: Can I run ps5upload headless / over SSH?

• Not the GUI. The ps5upload-engine binary speaks HTTP on :19113 and exposes the full transfer / reconcile / FS API, so you can script transfers from a terminal or CI job without ever opening the desktop client.

Q: Can the engine run on a different machine (remote / self-hosted)?

• Yes (3.3.7+). Host the engine elsewhere and point the desktop app at it via Settings → Engine URL. An official multi-arch image is published at ghcr.io/phantomptr/ps5upload-engine (:latest or :<version>); you can also build from engine/Dockerfile. To let a remote box reach it, set PS5UPLOAD_ALLOW_IP to that box's IP or your LAN's range (192.168.1.0/24). On a Linux server, start from engine/compose.yaml: it uses host networking, which stream installs need (on Docker's default bridge network the PS5 can't reach the engine to download the package), and keeps the engine's state on a /data volume. With a remote engine, the desktop app's file pickers browse the engine's disk. Security: the engine's API is unauthenticated (it can read/write/delete PS5 files), so only do this on a trusted LAN — never expose the engine to the internet.

Q: Can I run ps5upload from a browser, with no desktop app at all (self-hosted web UI)?

• Yes (3.3.25+). A separate webui build of the engine serves the full React app over HTTP, so you can manage your PS5 from any browser on the LAN — handy for a NAS or headless box you don't want to install the desktop client on. An official multi-arch image is published at ghcr.io/phantomptr/ps5upload-engine-webui (:latest or :<version>); or build it yourself with docker build -f engine/Dockerfile.webui -t ps5upload-engine-webui . (build context is the repo root, not engine/ — it needs client/ to build the frontend first). Run it the same way as the plain engine image (PS5_ADDR, PS5UPLOAD_ALLOW_IP) and open http://<host>:19113 in a browser on an allowlisted IP. Same security model as the remote engine above: unauthenticated, LAN-only, never expose it to the internet. Upload works in the browser too, operating on files already present on the engine's own machine — e.g. mount a folder into the container with -v /host/games:/pkgs:ro, then browse to /pkgs in the in-app file picker. That picker browses the engine's filesystem, not the browser's own machine — a browser tab has no way to reach a remote engine's disk except through what the engine itself can already read. The picker starts at the engine's home directory (/data in the image) unless you point it elsewhere with PS5UPLOAD_BROWSE_ROOTS=/pkgs; the value is comma-separated, so it can offer more than one root. A few things are still desktop-only and hidden in the browser UI: archive uploads (.zip/.7z/.rar), Payloads (sending a .elf/etc. from disk) and saving a save-data backup to your computer — everything else that operates on the PS5 itself (browse, transfer, install from a PS5-connected USB drive, hardware monitor, saves list, …) works the same as the desktop app. The upload queue also doesn't persist across a full page reload in browser mode (queue persistence is desktop-only).
• Installing packages from the browser needs an engine that carries ps5upload's on-console installer (ps5upload-installer.elf): every install goes through it, and the engine sends it to the console when it isn't already running there (it runs alongside the ps5upload helper and never replaces it). The released engine binaries and the official Docker images include it, and so does an engine built from a full checkout — the ELF is in the repository. You can also point the engine at your own copies with -e PS5UPLOAD_PAYLOAD_DIR=/path/to/elves.

Contributing

• Report bugs: GitHub Issues
• Pull requests welcome — please read .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md and run make test locally before opening.

Disclaimer

ps5upload is provided for research, educational, interoperability, and homebrew development purposes only. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. "PlayStation", "PS4" and "PS5" are trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., used here for identification only.

Use this software entirely at your own risk. It is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

➡ Full terms: DISCLAIMER.md. By downloading, building, installing, or using this software you accept them in full. If you do not agree, do not use it.

You are solely responsible for how, where, and on what hardware you use this tool. By downloading, installing, or running it, you acknowledge and accept that:

• It interacts with a modified PS5. This tool only works on a console that has been jailbroken / has kernel exploits loaded by the user. Modifying console state, bypassing platform integrity checks, or running unsigned code may void your manufacturer warranty, violate the platform's terms of service, and — under certain operations — leave your console unrecoverable without a reinstall. You took those steps before this tool entered the picture; this tool does not put you in that state and cannot reverse it.
• It writes to your PS5's filesystem and can install / register packages with Sony's installer. Mistakes can corrupt the console's app database, leave orphaned mount points, or wedge Sony's mgmt service mid-install. Recovery normally means a reboot or — worst case — a factory reset. Back up anything important before bulk operations.
• It is intended for use only with content you legally own and hardware that belongs to you. Using it to install, mount, or distribute software you do not have the legal right to use is your responsibility, not the project's.
• No support is guaranteed. This is a free, volunteer-built tool. The author may answer questions on Discord but is under no obligation to provide fixes, updates, or compensation if anything goes wrong.
• No piracy. This tool must not be used to copy, distribute, or run software you do not lawfully own or are licensed to use. The authors do not condone or assist with piracy in any form, and requests for such help will be refused.
• You accept the real risks. Operating a modified console can permanently damage it, irreversibly destroy saves and licences, and get your account or console banned from online services. Back up anything you cannot afford to lose before you begin.
• Indemnity. You agree to hold the authors, contributors, and distributors harmless from any claim arising out of your use or misuse of this software.

If any of the above is not acceptable to you, do not use this software.

Third-Party Libraries

This software builds on the following open-source projects:

Desktop client (Tauri 2 + React):

• Tauri — Rust-backed cross-platform desktop runtime
• React — UI library
• Zustand — Client state management
• Tailwind CSS — Styling
• Vite — Build + dev server
• lucide-react — Icons
• react-router — Routing

Engine (Rust):

• tokio — Async runtime
• axum — HTTP service
• serde — Serialization
• anyhow — Error handling
• uuid — Job IDs
• zip + sevenz-rust2 — pure-Rust .zip / .7z extraction
• unrar / unrar_sys — .rar extraction on desktop (bundles the UnRAR source by Alexander Roshal; used to extract only, never to compress). See the required notice and the GPLv3 §7 linking exception in LICENSES/. The unrar wrapper (MIT OR Apache-2.0) is vendored at third_party/unrar carrying one local fix for an out-of-bounds read on multi-volume archives — upstream 0.5.8 has no fix; see that directory's README.

Payload (PS5):

• PS5 Payload SDK — Open-source SDK for PS5 payload development
• elfldr (GPLv3) — the ELF loader; a patched copy is vendored at third_party/elfldr (fix for a loader that hangs on a silent client)
• Monocypher (CC0 / BSD-2) — AVA1's cryptography on the console (X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, BLAKE2b)
• BLAKE3 (CC0 / Apache-2.0) — fast hashing for AVA1 file verification
• SQLite (public domain) — reading the console's app database
• tiny-AES-c (Unlicense) — MC4 cheat decryption

Thanks

Projects whose code ps5upload ships or ported, or whose data it reads (bundled libraries are listed under Third-Party Libraries above):

Code we ported and still ship

• elf-arsenal (soniciso, Sanad; GPLv3+) — the drive sensor reads (payload/src/drive_sensors.c) are ported from it, and the cheat engine (payload/src/cheats.c) and the wake watchdog are based on it

Data sources

• PROSPEROPatches and ORBISPatches — game details and cover art
• TMDB — artwork
• etaHEN PS5_Cheats and the GoldHEN cheat repositories — cheat files

Contributors — thanks to everyone who sent code, translations and docs, and to the Discord community who test builds and report bugs with logs.

ps5upload stands on the shoulders of the PS5 homebrew scene. Huge thanks to everyone who makes this ecosystem possible — the exploit and kernel researchers, the ELF/payload loader authors, the PS5 Payload SDK maintainers, the homebrew tool developers whose work this lives alongside, and everyone in the community who tests, reports bugs, and shares knowledge. None of this exists without your collective effort. 🙏

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3). Free to use, free to modify. See LICENSE.

.rar support / UnRAR: the desktop build bundles the UnRAR source (used only to extract RAR — never to compress or build a RAR-compatible archiver). A GPLv3 §7 linking exception covers combining it with this GPL code, and UnRAR's own license is reproduced as required. See LICENSES/UnRAR-exception.md and LICENSES/UnRAR-license.txt.

Author

Created and maintained by PhantomPtr.

• Follow me on X (@phantomptr)

Support

If you find this tool useful, consider buying me a coffee!

• Discord server: https://discord.gg/fzK3xddtrM
• Support me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/B0B81S0WUA