PicKit2 Programmer

A simple native macOS app for flashing PIC microcontrollers with a PICkit 2 programmer. It's a GUI wrapper around Microchip's pk2cmd command-line tool — pick your .hex file, click, done.

Originally written in 2013 as a Java/Swing tool; rebuilt from scratch in 2026 as a native AppKit app so it keeps working on macOS 10.14 Mojave, which is the last version of macOS the old PICkit 2 hardware/software chain reliably supports.

Download

Grab the latest build from the Releases page:

• Intel — for Macs running macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and later
• Apple Silicon — for M-series Macs running macOS 12 and later

The app is ad-hoc signed (no Apple Developer ID), so on first launch right-click (Control-click) → Open instead of double-clicking, then confirm the dialog. This is only needed once.

You'll also need pk2cmd and its PK2DeviceFile.dat — the app links to a prebuilt copy on first launch if you don't already have one.

Using it

1. Point the app at your pk2cmd executable and PK2DeviceFile.dat in Configuration — it remembers both.
2. Choose your .hex file.
3. Write, Test, Run, Stop, or Erase, same as any PICkit 2 tool.

Building from source

./build_app.sh

Builds both architectures and produces dist/*.app. Needs the Swift toolchain (Xcode or Command Line Tools) — no other dependencies.