NextCore 1.3.0 — research preview

NextCore 1.3.0 ships the current EFI binaries, read-only installation utility, ISO and verified ZIP archives from consolidated main revision 9d7b787ce6c5b2cb70da2e072af74e5712c9f04f.

The host setup follows Computer → Prepare → Review, with shared GUI, TUI and CLI validation. Normal EFI uses the APFS/ConsoleControl path; the research runtime has a separate role. The boot path does not introduce a Linux guest.

Download nextcore-direct-efi.zip for the grouped EFI/utility/ISO files, or select the individual EFI and ISO assets. Check every download against SHA256SUMS; exact file and source identities are in release.json. LICENSES.txt includes complete reviewed project and dependency notices.

All 12 pull requests open during this integration were merged into their repositories' main branches, including the explicitly gated cold initial mapping diagnostic. No new feature branch was created for this release. The exact implementation source is private; public component repository revisions are not substituted for it.

This is a research prerelease. The installation utility is read-only. Interactive Recovery utilities, installed GUI operation, macOS 27 operation, Metal, physical installation and hardware qualification remain unverified for these new binaries. Earlier original-input macOS 26 launchd/WindowServer observations do not qualify this set. Apple media, SMC secrets and raw research evidence are excluded.

The three actual UEFI builds and archive/ISO verification are recorded with their hashes. Local setup and browser checks passed. GitHub-hosted source checks could not start under the repository account billing/spending restriction. A standalone historical NXTEST check has a separate wcslen link failure; the generic host workspace test failed before executing tests because of duplicate panic handlers. Neither is reported as a pass. See release.json for focused host test results and their limits.

NextCore Installation Utility engineering preview (2026-09-19)

Current Status: Read-only EFI installation-utility engineering preview. No real Intel Mac is qualified and installation writes are unavailable.

Target State: Working macOS 27, functional guest Metal without a performance requirement, and supported installation on tested real Intel Macs.

Downloads

• nextcore-installation-preview.iso: bootable EFI utility preview; no Apple firmware or macOS installer payload.
• nextcore-installation-preview.zip: the same default-policy EFI application, distribution notices and build manifest.
• LICENSES.txt: project/dependency notices and covered-source access instructions; also embedded in the ISO and ZIP.
• release.json and MANIFEST.sha256: artifact provenance, capability limits and checksums.

The exact ISO was executed under QEMU/OVMF. The application entered its read-only flow and refused the unsupported virtual machine. This establishes that specific refusal behavior only. macOS boot, a functioning Metal driver, real-Mac installation, Recovery and DFU are not verified. No supported physical installation procedure is available in this preview.

Detailed progress | Downloads and compatibility

This product includes software developed by Dortania, OpenCore Legacy Patcher contributors, and the 26x86 project.

NextCore v1.0.0

NextCore v1.0.0 — first public cut of the userland repo.

Shipped

• bin/NEXTCORE/BOOTX64.EFI — NextCore picker, x86_64-unknown-uefi, features apfs-jumpstart + console-control
  SHA-256 2ea10a228271fe3d2d00584e74ca960b9ba77b2d56a79de752bb6957fb8faa91 (193024 bytes)
• tools/make_efi.py — builds an OpenCore 1.0.7 + NextCore EFI folder from the official Sample.plist; ocvalidate clean for both profiles
• tools/make-usb.ps1 — Windows USB creator (GPT, FAT32 ESP, exFAT data) and ESP refresh mode, hash-verified on target
• profiles generic-x64 and 15igl7

Evidence status
macos_boot_verified: false. Reaching the NextCore picker is a firmware/OpenCore chain-load result only.
OpenCore is not bundled; it is downloaded from acidanthera/OpenCorePkg releases at build time (pinned SHA-256).