OnionHEN v0.0.13

OnionHEN is a homebrew enabler and Toolbox for jailbroken PS5 consoles, built on etaHEN. It prepares the system, injects a Toolbox into the home screen, and adds cheats, a game overlay, payload management, and background services.

Supported firmware: 4.03 – 12.70

Quick start

1. You need an already-jailbroken PS5 and an external elfldr (the first-hop loader) listening on port 9021.
2. Send OnionHEN.elf using a payload sender, such as itsPLK's PS5 Payload Manager.
3. Wait for OnionHEN to start. It may take a couple of seconds, so just wait and don't do anything while it is starting.
4. Open Settings on your PS5 to enter the Toolbox, or use the shortcut in the top-right corner of the home screen.

What's new

External ELF plugins

OnionHEN can now discover, start, stop, and remove descriptor-bearing plugin ELFs from:

/data/OnionHEN/plugins

Toolbox → Plugins lists installed plugins, with per-plugin session start/stop, next-boot auto-start, settings links, and a progress dialog.

etaHEN plugins and OnionHEN plugins are not compatible. etaHEN / itemzflow plugins will not run on OnionHEN, and OnionHEN ELF plugins will not run on etaHEN. Do not put etaHEN plugins in /data/OnionHEN/plugins.

The plugin that is ready to use:

These optional plugins exist but are still WIP:

The built-in FTP server from v0.0.12 is removed. ftp.autoload and ftp.port are no longer in config.ini. The replacement FTP plugin is WIP.

See #74 and #66.

Game overlay: fan duty, order, and text size

Toolbox → Overlay can now:

• Show fan duty (percent)
• Set overlay text size: small / medium / large
• Reorder metrics (FPS, CPU, GPU, memory, IP, fan)

Or in config.ini:

[overlay]
show_fan_duty=false
font_size=medium
order=fps,cpu,gpu,memory,ip,fan

PS4 backward-compatible titles now measure FPS through a GNM detour, so the game overlay is usable on PS4 games as well as PS5 titles.

Payload priority and auto-start delay

Each payload has a detail page with:

• Load priority — 0–999; higher values start first
• Auto-start delay — 0–300 seconds before that payload starts

Settings are stored next to the ELF as <name>.elf.json. Auto-start still uses the matching .auto_start marker.

Refuse start when another HEN is already running

OnionHEN now exits instead of loading if it finds a conflicting payload already running, including etaHEN, Yoncore, kylin-core, and CheatRunner.

Do not send OnionHEN while those tools are still up. The console can hang or power off if another hotkey injector is already in ShellUI.

Rest Mode Toolbox delay

After Rest Mode, OnionHEN still waits for trophy SPRX, then waits an extra configurable delay before re-injecting the Toolbox. That extra wait is Rest Mode resume only (not cold start).

Default is 10 seconds (0–255). Set it in Toolbox → System → Rest Mode, or:

[rest_mode]
resume_reinject_delay_seconds=10

Raise this if the Toolbox or home screen still glitches after waking.

Other improvements

• Faster later boots: the unpacker caches the decompressed bootstrapper at /user/data/OnionHEN/onionhen.elf and skips LZMA when the cache still matches.
• Cheat toggles keep their enabled state; browse list and in-game runtime list are separate.
• Toolbox follows the PS5 system language after injection, and confirmation dialogs show their messages.
• Plugin and cheat progress pages return to the previous screen when the job finishes.
• App jailbreak publishes a Big App as soon as EXEC identity is usable, instead of waiting for the later running-Big-App query.

Changelog

All changes since v0.0.12: v0.0.12...v0.0.13

Plugins

Place descriptor-bearing plugin ELFs in:

/data/OnionHEN/plugins

Plain payloads in /data/OnionHEN/payloads are not plugins. OnionHEN only starts ELFs that carry a valid .onion_plugin descriptor.

etaHEN plugins and OnionHEN plugins are not compatible. etaHEN / itemzflow plugins will not load here, and OnionHEN plugins will not load on etaHEN.

From Toolbox → Plugins you can:

• Start or stop a plugin for the current session
• Enable auto-start for the next OnionHEN launch
• Open the plugin's own settings page when it provides one
• Delete the plugin ELF

Kstuff stays a built-in service on that page.

The NTP plugin is ready: install onionHEN-ntp-plugin as /data/OnionHEN/plugins/NTPS00001.elf. It syncs the system clock from public NTP servers, which helps consoles whose RTC battery is dead or missing.

FTP, ShadowMount+, and DPI v2 plugins are still WIP.

Cheats

OnionHEN loads cheat files directly from the console storage at runtime.

Supported formats

• .json
• .shn
• .mc4
• .ShnExt

Installation

Place cheat files directly in:

/data/OnionHEN/cheats

Subfolders are not supported.

Cheat filenames follow:

<TITLE_ID>_<VERSION>[_<PROCESS>][_<SOURCE_ID>].<EXTENSION>

PROCESS is optional and restricts the file to that process. SOURCE_ID is an optional 8-hex segment that distinguishes files from different sources. All compatible files for the title/version/process are loaded together, regardless of format.

For example:

PPSA02225_02.024.000.json

The cheat file must match the game's title ID and version. Using a cheat from another game version may cause it not to load, not to work, or behave unexpectedly.

Download

From the Toolbox Game Tools page, you can download the cheat collection over HTTPS. OnionHEN installs the json/, shn/, and mc4/ files into /data/OnionHEN/cheats, keeping their original names. The source is HEN-Cheats-Collection. auto uses cnb.cool when the UI/system language is Simplified Chinese, otherwise GitHub.

Thanks to TeeKay87 (official repo) and PS5_Xiexiyu (Chinese mirror).

Game overlay

From Toolbox → Overlay you can enable the game overlay and pick:

• Screen edge: top or bottom
• Metric alignment: left, center, or right
• Text size: small, medium, or large
• Metric order
• Which metrics to show: CPU, GPU, RAM, FPS, network info, fan duty

PS4 backward-compatible games are included in FPS sampling.

Payloads

Place standalone payloads in:

/data/OnionHEN/payloads

Only plain .elf files are supported. Auto-start can be turned on in the Toolbox; OnionHEN remembers that choice with a matching .auto_start file next to the ELF.

Open a payload for load priority (0–999) and auto-start delay (0–300 seconds). Those values live in a sidecar <name>.elf.json.

Plugins belong in /data/OnionHEN/plugins/, not here.

Fan control

OnionHEN includes fan control with a configurable temperature threshold. Current fan duty can also be shown on the game overlay.

App jailbreak

Allowlisted homebrew applications can request additional privileges from the OnionHEN daemon. Supported applications such as Xplorer can use this mechanism to obtain the privileges they require.

kstuff

OnionHEN v0.0.13 bundles kstuff-lite 1.10.

Kstuff loads at startup by default. Turn that off from Toolbox → Plugins → Kstuff, or skip the bundled kstuff by creating an empty file:

/data/OnionHEN/no_kstuff

or:

/mnt/usb0/no_kstuff

Your own kstuff must already be running when OnionHEN starts.

To use a replacement kstuff payload, place it at:

/data/OnionHEN/kstuff.elf

Not included compared with etaHEN

The following etaHEN features are not currently included:

• itemzflow plugin system. OnionHEN's ELF plugin runtime is a separate system; etaHEN plugins and OnionHEN plugins are not compatible.
• .prx / .sprx plugin loading in the Toolbox. The SPRX catalog UI is present in the tree but hidden because it is untested.

Important

Hotkey conflicts

Do not run OnionHEN together with other hotkey-injecting plugins or tools.

This includes:

• Stock etaHEN
• CheatRunner
• PHU Tools
• YonCore
• Kylin Core cheats

If another hotkey-injecting component is loaded before OnionHEN, the console may hang or power off. OnionHEN now refuses to start when it can see etaHEN, Yoncore, kylin-core, wmdw-jwm, or CheatRunner already running.

File locations

FAQ

Where did the built-in FTP server go?

It is no longer inside OnionHEN. The replacement onionHEN-ftpsrv-plugin is still WIP.

My cheats don't load.

Make sure the cheat file:

• Uses a supported format.
• Is placed directly in /data/OnionHEN/cheats.
• Is not inside a subfolder.
• Uses a <TITLE_ID>_<VERSION> filename, with optional process and source ID.
• Matches the game version you are running.

You can also download the community collection from the Toolbox.

Can I use etaHEN plugins with OnionHEN?

No. etaHEN plugins and OnionHEN plugins are not compatible. OnionHEN only loads descriptor-bearing ELFs from /data/OnionHEN/plugins. etaHEN / itemzflow plugins will not run, and OnionHEN plugins will not run on etaHEN.

Can I load .prx / .sprx plugins like GoldHEN?

Not yet. The catalog UI is hidden until it is tested.

See #17.

Can I run OnionHEN alongside etaHEN or other hotkey tools?

No. OnionHEN should not be used together with other hotkey-injecting tools such as stock etaHEN, CheatRunner, PHU Tools, YonCore, or Kylin Core cheats. If one of those is already running, OnionHEN will refuse to start.

The Toolbox glitches after Rest Mode.

Increase Toolbox → System → Rest Mode → Delay toolbox activation, or set rest_mode.resume_reinject_delay_seconds in config.ini (default 10, max 255).

Support

Like the project? Consider supporting it on Ko-fi:

For Chinese users, you can also scan the QR codes below to donate:

国内简中用户也可以扫描下方二维码进行捐赠：

支付宝（国内）	微信（国内）

Credits

Thanks to the etaHEN team for their work and for making OnionHEN possible.

OnionHEN is built on top of etaHEN.

Contributors

• Hexwell
• Kevin Huerta — FTP, Remote Play, ShadowMount+, DPI, PS4 FPS (#23, #66, #75)
• Modmycon — Thai locale (#14)

Referenced

• kstuff-lite — EchoStretch, sleirsgoevy, and contributors; bundled kstuff and Rest Mode Toolbox recovery
• onionHEN-ntp-plugin — optional external NTP time-sync plugin
• onionHEN-ftpsrv-plugin — optional external FTP server plugin based on drakmor/ftpsrv (WIP)
• onionHEN-shadowmountplus-plugin — optional external ShadowMount+ plugin (WIP)
• onionHEN-dpiv2-plugin — optional external DPI v2 package installer plugin (WIP)
• HEN-Cheats-Collection — TeeKay87; the cheat catalog downloaded by the Toolbox
• PHU Games Tools — ArkSama; FPS sampling used by the game overlay
• ps5-payload-manager — itsplk; Rest Mode listen-socket recovery