Hekate is a bootloader and system recovery tool for Nintendo Switch hardware. It functions as a multi-OS boot manager that allows the execution of binary payloads and the launching of stock firmware, custom firmware, Android, and Linux through a graphical interface.
The project provides a suite of recovery and system modification tools, including the ability to create and restore full backups of internal storage. It also features a USB HID gamepad emulator that maps device controller inputs to USB signals for interacting with external computers.
The software covers broad capability areas including hardware health monitoring for processor fuses and battery telemetry, SD card partitioning, and USB mass storage exposure for file transfers. It further supports the flashing of external operating system distributions and the use of custom boot logos.