CheatRunner 🎮

CheatRunner is a PS5 web launcher and cheat trainer for already-jailbroken PS5 consoles.

It provides a local web dashboard to:

• list installed games and apps;
• launch installed titles from a browser;
• load local cheat files from the PS5 filesystem;
• use .mc4, .shn, and .json trainers;
• apply local XML patches manually from the dashboard;
• optionally download cheat files from configured cheat sources;
• enable/disable supported cheats from your browser;
• inspect logs, diagnostics, and cheat debug information.

CheatRunner is focused on local/offline homebrew usage on an already-jailbroken PS5.

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❤️ Support

CheatRunner is free and open-source. If you find it useful, feel free to support the project.

Ko-fi:

Join our Discord Server

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⚠️ Disclaimer

CheatRunner is not a jailbreak, not an exploit, and not a tool for stock/retail consoles.

It only works when your PS5 is already jailbroken and already has the required homebrew/payload environment running.

CheatRunner does not provide:

• jailbreaks or kernel exploits;
• game backups or game content;
• piracy features;
• PSN bypasses;
• online services.

It is a local homebrew tool for testing trainers on your own already-jailbroken console.

Use it at your own risk.

Runtime cheat memory writes can crash the game, break a session, corrupt your savegame, softlock the title, or behave differently depending on the game version/update.

Always back up your save files before using any cheats.

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✨ Features

• PS5 web dashboard.
• Installed games/apps list.
• PS5 / PS4 / Apps filters.
• Favorites and Recent tabs — star games to pin them; recently launched/opened titles are tracked automatically. Synced console-side, so they're identical on every device that opens the dashboard.
• First-run onboarding with a quick system check and one-click setup profiles.
• App title names from app.db when SQLite support is enabled.
• Launch installed games/apps from the browser.
• Local cheat loading from /data/cheatrunner/cheats.
• .mc4, .shn, and .json cheat/trainer support.
• Manual local PS-Game-Patch XML listing and application are supported.
• Version-aware patch selection — matches AppVer fields; mask-version patches apply regardless of game version.
• Optional remote cheat downloads from configured cheat sources.
• ON/OFF trainer toggles where supported.
• Runtime restore where possible.
• Crash-suspect detection — mods that crash the game are flagged and blocked from re-enabling automatically; suspects persist across CheatRunner restarts.
• Version-aware cheat selection with candidate selector and manual override.
• Per-title address mode override (Auto / Absolute / Relative) for SHN and MC4 files.
• Address learning cache — resolved SHN/MC4 addresses reused on subsequent applies.
• Settings panel — address resolution, safety timers, log level, and advanced toggles, all configurable from the dashboard, with one-click presets (Safe / Max Compatibility / Debug), live search, reset-to-defaults, and a dark theme picker.
• Config hot-reload — edits to config.ini on the PS5 (FTP/SSH) are picked up automatically within ~500 ms, no restart required.
• Logs panel.
• Copy Logs / Copy Cheat Debug / Copy Diagnostic Bundle.
• Shutdown Payload button for testing and cleanup.

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🚀 Running

Send CheatRunner.elf to your already-jailbroken PS5 using your preferred payload loader.

Then open the dashboard in your browser:

http://<PS5-IP>:9999

Example:

http://192.168.1.100:9999

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🧪 Notes

CheatRunner is still experimental.

Some cheats may:

• work correctly;
• fail to apply;
• mismatch the game version;
• crash the game;
• require a specific game update;
• behave differently after relaunching the game.

When reporting bugs, include:

• CheatRunner logs;
• Copy Cheat Debug output;
• Copy Diagnostic Bundle output if available;
• game title ID;
• game version/update;
• cheat file used;
• which cheat was enabled/disabled;
• what happened before the issue.

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📁 Local Cheats

CheatRunner is local-first. Local cheat files remain the primary workflow.

Search paths (scanned in order)

/data/cheatrunner/cheats   ← primary path
/data/etaHEN/cheats        ← etaHEN cross-compatibility
/data/elf-arsenal/cheats   ← elf-arsenal cross-compatibility

Recommended sub-folders inside the primary path:

/data/cheatrunner/cheats/mc4
/data/cheatrunner/cheats/shn
/data/cheatrunner/cheats/json

Example files:

/data/cheatrunner/cheats/mc4/PPSA30803_01.200.000.mc4
/data/cheatrunner/cheats/mc4/PPSA30803.mc4
/data/cheatrunner/cheats/shn/CUSA00000.shn
/data/cheatrunner/cheats/json/CUSA00000.json

Version-aware selection

CheatRunner matches cheat files by title ID and game version:

• Exact match (CUSA00000_01.09.json) — selected automatically when the running game reports that version.
• Generic (CUSA00000.json, no version in filename) — used as fallback when no exact match exists.
• Wrong version — loaded as a last resort when no exact or generic file exists; the cheat menu shows a version-mismatch warning banner and a WRONG VER badge. The candidate selector lets you force-switch or download a better match.

Per-title address mode

For SHN and MC4 cheat files an Address Mode selector appears above the mod list: Auto (default), Absolute, or Relative. Use this to override address resolution for a specific game if cheats land at the wrong address. The preference is saved per title ID.

Address learning cache

Resolved SHN/MC4 addresses are cached to /data/cheatrunner/addr_cache.json. On the second apply of the same cheat file, the cached address is used directly — no re-probing needed. The cache is invalidated automatically when the cheat file changes on disk.

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📁 Local Patches

CheatRunner supports PS-Game-Patch XML patches.

Patch search paths (scanned in this order):

/data/cheatrunner/patches/xml_prospero   ← PS5-native patches
/data/cheatrunner/patches/xml            ← PS4 BC / general patches
/data/elf-arsenal/patches/xml            ← elf-arsenal cross-compatibility

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🛠️ Building

CheatRunner is built with ps5-payload-sdk.

Recommended project layout:

CheatRunner/
├── CheatRunnerPayload/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   └── build-cheatrunner.ps1
└── PS5-Payload-dev/
    └── sdk-master/

The build script searches for the SDK in this order:

1. PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK environment variable
2. ../PS5-Payload-dev/sdk-master
3. ../ps5-payload-sdk

Build on Windows:

cd CheatRunnerPayload
.\build-cheatrunner.ps1 -Clean -Sqlite

SQLite note:

• If src/third_party/sqlite3.c and src/third_party/sqlite3.h exist, bundled SQLite can be enabled.
• Use -Sqlite to force-enable SQLite support.
• Use -NoSqlite to disable SQLite explicitly.

Output:

build/CheatRunner.elf

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🤝 Credits

CheatRunner exists thanks to the PS4/PS5 homebrew and research community.

Special thanks to:

• ELF Arsenal & VoidShell for project ideas and implementations;
• ps5-payload-sdk developers and contributors;
• TeeKay87 for the HEN-Cheats-Collection project;
• etaHEN for the PS5_Cheats project;
• GoldHEN for the GoldHEN_Cheat_Repository project;
• RDX-Sci01 for the HEN-PPSA-Cheats project;
• illusionyy for the PS-Game-Patch project;
• everyone testing, reporting logs, and helping improve the project.

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📜 License

CheatRunner is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

See the LICENSE file for the full license text.

GNU General Public License v3.0