Unity CLI

Unity CLI (advisory)

Advisory module — no REST skills. All commands here run in YOUR shell on the user's machine, not through the REST server. That is the point: they work while the Unity Editor is closed.

Gate — read this first

Before using anything below, check the binding config:

<projectRoot>/Library/UnitySkills/cli_config.json

• File missing, unreadable, or enabled: false → Unity CLI is OFF for this project. Ignore this module entirely. Do not suggest installing the CLI unprompted; the user opts in via Window > UnitySkills → AI Config → Unity CLI Setup….
• enabled: true → use cliPath as the executable (it may not be on your PATH). Respect the per-feature switches in features:

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "enabled": true,
  "cliPath": "/Users/me/.local/bin/unity",
  "cliVersion": "1.0.0-beta.3",
  "projectPath": "/path/to/Project",
  "editorVersion": "6000.0.32f1",
  "boundAt": "2026-07-26T09:00:00Z",
  "features": { "coldStart": true, "openArgs": true, "cliTest": true, "cliRun": false, "cliBuild": false }
}

Configs written by older plugin versions may lack the cliRun / cliBuild keys — for these two, a missing key means OFF (the first three keys keep their original semantics). Both also default to off on fresh binds; the user enables them per project in the panel.

The global registry (~/.unity_skills/registry.json) also carries cliBound / cliPath per running instance — use it for liveness checks only, never as authorization: the ONLY thing that authorizes CLI use for a project is that project's own cli_config.json. Do not cold-start any project whose own config you have not read, even if it appears in the registry. Also note projectPath inside the config is a bind-time snapshot — the directory you actually found the config under is authoritative (helper get_cli_config() already rewrites it); never open the stored path if it differs from the real project root.

> Unity CLI is experimental (beta) and its command surface changes between releases — this document was verified against 1.0.0-beta.3; the official docs may lag behind the binary, so <cliPath> --help is always authoritative. If a command errors unexpectedly, run <cliPath> doctor --format json first (environment snapshot: CLI version, paths, auth state, installed editors, recent log lines; --tail <n> for more log) and re-check --help before retrying. Never modify the server or config to work around a CLI quirk.

1. Cold start / lifecycle (features.coldStart)

The one capability REST can never provide: starting the editor when it is not running.

<cliPath> status --format json          # any editor instances running?
<cliPath> open "<projectPath>" --args -unityskills-coldstart

Always pass --args -unityskills-coldstart when cold-starting: the UnitySkills plugin detects this marker at editor startup and force-starts the REST server for this session, even if the user's Auto-start preference is off. Without the marker you depend on the user's saved preference. The marker is consumed once per editor session — it never overrides a mid-session manual stop.

Preflight — is the right editor even installed? open / test / run / build all resolve the editor from the project's ProjectVersion.txt. Before the first CLI launch of a session, confirm the bound editorVersion is actually installed:

<cliPath> editors -i --format json

If it is not installed, stop and tell the user — installing an editor is a large, system-changing operation that only the user decides on. Never run install, and never pass --allow-install (see DO NOT).

After launching, poll the UnitySkills REST server until ready (first import/compile can take minutes):

from unity_skills import wait_for_health
health = wait_for_health(timeout=600)   # polls /health on ports 8090-8100

Liveness triage — prefer this over blind retry. When REST is unreachable:

• Check the UnitySkills registry first: read ~/.unity_skills/registry.json, find the entry whose path equals the project root, then test its pid (ps -p <pid> / Windows tasklist). Live pid → the editor is running but busy (Domain Reload / import) → keep the normal REST wait-and-retry; do not cold-start.
• <cliPath> status is supplementary, not authoritative: it only lists editor instances visible to the CLI (requires the Unity Pipeline package in the project). An empty table / non-zero exit does NOT mean the editor is closed — verified in practice: a running editor without the Pipeline package shows nothing.
• Only when the registry has no live-pid entry for this project → cold-start with open, then wait_for_health.
• Never open a project whose editor is already running (live registry pid, or Library/UnityLockfile held) — Unity refuses a second instance on the same project.

2. Launch with arguments (features.openArgs)

<cliPath> open "<projectPath>" --args -openscene "Assets/Scenes/Main.unity"

Anything after --args is passed to the Unity Editor as standard command-line arguments. Useful to land in a known state (specific scene, custom -executeMethod). Only at launch time — for an already-running editor use REST scene_open instead.

3. Headless tests (features.cliTest)

<cliPath> test "<projectPath>" --mode EditMode --filter <pattern> --output test-results.xml --timeout 1800

• --mode <EditMode|PlayMode> — omit to run the editor's default test platform; cover both modes with two separate invocations.
• --filter <pattern> — only run tests whose names match.
• --output <path> — NUnit XML report (default test-results.xml).
• --timeout <seconds> (env UNITY_TEST_TIMEOUT) — kills the Unity process after N seconds; disabled by default, always set one for unattended runs.
• Extra editor arguments pass through after --, e.g. -- -nographics.
• Exit codes: 0 all passed; 6 tests ran but at least one failed (introduced in the official 0.1.0-beta.7 release notes); any other non-zero = the command itself failed — check stderr, not the XML.

Routing rule:

• Interactive iteration (editor already running, quick feedback on a few tests) → REST test_* skills.
• Full regression / CI-style run, or editor closed → unity test (headless, NUnit XML output). Do not run unity test against a project whose editor is open.

4. Batch runs (features.cliRun)

One-shot batch automation on the bound project only, while the editor is closed — the third lifecycle option between REST (editor open, interactive) and cold start (launch and keep serving):

<cliPath> run "<projectPath>" --timeout 1800 -- -executeMethod Your.Static.Method -quit

• Everything after -- is forwarded to the Unity Editor as standard command-line arguments; -executeMethod <static method> plus -quit is the typical shape (asset re-import, batch fixes, custom pipelines).
• Streams the editor log to stdout and returns the editor's exit code — non-zero means the batch run failed.
• --timeout <seconds> (env UNITY_RUN_TIMEOUT) — disabled by default; always set one, a hung batch editor otherwise blocks your shell forever.
• Routing: editor already running → use REST skills, never run (Unity refuses a second instance on the same project — same Library/UnityLockfile rule as cold start). Editor closed + persistent session needed → cold start. Editor closed + one-shot task → run.
• Do not use run --command <name> — that drives Unity Pipeline package commands, which is not part of the UnitySkills workflow (see DO NOT).

5. Headless builds (features.cliBuild)

<cliPath> build "<projectPath>" --target StandaloneWindows64 --execute-method Builder.PerformBuild --output-path ./Builds/win64

• --target and --execute-method are both required — Unity has no built-in command-line build; the bound project must already contain a static build method. If it does not, tell the user instead of writing one into their project unasked.
• --output-path is forwarded to Unity as -buildOutput; the execute-method itself is responsible for reading it.
• The build log tails to stdout by default (--no-tail to disable); the full log lands at <project>/Logs/build-<target>-<timestamp>.log unless --log-file overrides it.
• Dirty-worktree guard: build refuses to run with uncommitted changes. That protection is deliberate — pass --allow-dirty-build only when the user explicitly says so.
• --versioning-strategy <semantic|tag|custom|none> (default none) stamps the build version from git tags/history; --build-version applies only with custom.
• Android: --android-export-type <apk|aab|android-studio-project> plus keystore/signing flags exist, but the CLI's own help warns that secrets passed as CLI arguments can leak into shell history and CI logs — let the user handle signing configuration themselves; never ask them to paste keystore passwords into your shell commands.
• Same lifecycle rules as run: bound project only, editor must be closed, and once the editor is up again all normal operations go back through REST.

6. Automation contract (all commands)

• Structured output: --format <human|json|tsv|ndjson> (env UNITY_FORMAT); --json is shorthand for --format json. When stdout is piped the default silently becomes TSV — one more reason to always pass --format json explicitly. JSON responses use a standard envelope {success, command, data, errors, warnings}; ndjson streams progress events for long-running commands.
• Non-interactive: --non-interactive (env UNITY_NON_INTERACTIVE) turns prompts into hard errors instead of hanging your shell; combine with --quiet (env UNITY_QUIET) and --no-banner (env UNITY_NO_BANNER) for clean machine output. Exporting the env vars once (UNITY_FORMAT=json, UNITY_NON_INTERACTIVE=1) covers a whole scripted session.
• Errors and exit codes: data goes to stdout, errors/diagnostics to stderr (JSON-mode errors too). 0 success, 1 generic error (read stderr), 130 cancelled by user, 6 = test finished with failing tests.
• --verbose adds full error details with stack traces — useful once, when reporting a CLI problem to the user.

DO NOT

• Do not use the CLI when cli_config.json is absent or enabled:false — the user has not opted in. Operate only on the bound project (the directory you found the config under); never open / test / run / build any other project.
• Do not install the Unity CLI yourself; installation is a user decision made in the panel.
• Never pass --allow-install (accepted by test / run / build), and do not use unity install / uninstall / hub / license commands unless the user explicitly asks — installing or removing editors is a large, slow, system-changing operation that belongs to the user alone.
• Do not run bare unity mcp — it starts a blocking stdio MCP server and waits for a client, hanging your shell.
• Do not use unity command / unity pipeline / unity run --command — the Unity Pipeline package route duplicates what UnitySkills REST already provides and is not part of this workflow.
• Do not parse the CLI's human-readable output (its display language follows unity language, e.g. Chinese table headers) — always pass --format json --non-interactive when you need to read results programmatically.
• Do not treat CLI availability as a substitute for the REST workflow: once /health responds, all normal operations go through REST skills.

Exact Signatures

Exact names, parameters, defaults, and returns are defined by GET /skills/schema or unity_skills.get_skill_schema(), not by this file.