What Is PKHeX and What Save Files Can It Edit?

PKHeX is a save editor for core-series Pokémon games, distributed through the Project Pokémon community. It can open and modify several save file formats, and it can also read and write individual Pokémon files and Mystery Gift files. If you want to inspect or change data inside a legitimate save, PKHeX is the tool the Project Pokémon forums point to; if you only want to browse community news, events, and game mods, the forums themselves are the destination.

What PKHeX does

According to the Project Pokémon news post announcing PKHeX 25.11.07, the tool lets users manipulate save files for core-series Pokémon games. That covers two broad jobs:

• Editing save files — loading a save, changing its contents, and writing it back out.
• Handling individual files — working with standalone Pokémon files and Mystery Gift files rather than a full save.

The post describes PKHeX as a save editor, so the expected workflow is: obtain a save file from a game, open it in PKHeX, make changes, and save the result.

Save file types PKHeX supports

The announcement lists these save file extensions:

PKHeX can both read and write these formats, so the same file you load can be exported again after editing.

Individual Pokémon and Mystery Gift files

Beyond full saves, PKHeX reads and writes:

• .pk files — individual Pokémon files.
• Mystery Gift files — .pgt, .pcd, .pgf, .wc, and wcfull.

This matters if your task is narrower than editing a whole save. For example, if you only need to move a single Pokémon in or out as a .pk file, or inspect a Mystery Gift distribution file, you don't need to touch the save at all.

Version context

The news post covers PKHeX version 25.11.06 being released, with the thread titled "PKHeX 25.11.07." If you're checking whether a specific feature or file format is supported, confirm against the version you actually have, since the post's excerpt is truncated and doesn't list every change.

Where this fits on Project Pokémon

Project Pokémon is a forum community. Its portal page surfaces announcements, Pokémon news, events, and game mods, and PKHeX releases appear under its News section. Two practical notes from the site's own announcements:

• Sign-in changed to email + password. As of September 1, accounts must sign in with an email address and password instead of a username and password. The stated reason is that usernames are visible on posts, so using email as the identifier is more secure. This is a requirement of an upcoming Invision Community 5 upgrade.
• Ads returned for non-patrons. Server costs exceeded Patreon income for several months, so ads were reintroduced. Active patrons are exempt regardless of the specifics.

If you have an account and don't remember which email it uses, the announcement directs you to check your Account Settings page.