unity-cli Usage

Bootstrap the unity-cli toolchain so other Unity skills can run reliably. This is a foundation skill that loads automatically when no other unity-* skill matches a connection or install question.

Use When

• The user asks how to verify or install unity-cli.
• The user needs help with system ping, instances list, or instances set-active.
• The user is unsure how to invoke a bridge tool (typed subcommand vs. raw/tool call) or how to discover what tools exist.
• A workflow is blocked on host/port selection, install mode, or connection troubleshooting.

Do Not Use When

• A more specific skill clearly matches the task. For scene authoring, use unity-scene-create. For C# edits, use unity-csharp-edit. For Editor state inspection, use unity-editor-tools.
• The request only inspects or edits project files without invoking Unity.

Preferred Flow

1. Detect the binary: prefer an installed unity-cli on PATH; fall back to cargo run -- from the repo.
2. Verify reachability with unity-cli system ping.
3. When multiple editors may run, call unity-cli instances list and pick the target with unity-cli instances set-active <host:port>.
4. Pick the right entry point for the operation:
   • Typed subcommand when one exists. The bootstrap-relevant typed subcommands are system ping, scene create, instances list, and instances set-active. Other typed subcommands exist too — notably the reference * family (fetch, status, search, grep, view, find-symbol, diff, resolve-symbol-at, embed-build, embed-search, clean), which wrap the reference_* bridge tools; see the unity-csharp-reference skill. But most bridge tools have no typed wrapper. (Note: instances list / instances set-active are local registry operations, not bridge-tool wrappers.)
   • raw <tool_name> --json '{...}' (equivalent alias: tool call <tool_name> --json '{...}') for every tool without a typed wrapper. This is the primary way to invoke the bridge, not a fallback. Discover tools with unity-cli tool list; inspect a tool's expected payload with unity-cli tool schema <tool_name> --output json.
5. Use --output json for chained automation.

if ! command -v unity-cli >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  if [ -f Cargo.toml ] && grep -q '^name = "unity-cli"' Cargo.toml; then
    echo "unity-cli not installed globally. Use: cargo run -- <args>"
  else
    echo "Install: cargo install --path . (or download a release binary)"
    exit 1
  fi
fi
unity-cli --version
unity-cli system ping
unity-cli tool list                            # discover available tools
unity-cli tool schema analyze_scene_contents   # inspect a tool's payload shape
unity-cli raw analyze_scene_contents --json '{"includeInactive":true}'

Examples

• "Check whether unity-cli can reach my Unity Editor." → run unity-cli system ping.
• "Switch to the Unity instance running on port 6401." → unity-cli instances list --ports 6400,6401 then unity-cli instances set-active localhost:6401.
• "Inspect what's in the open scene." → unity-cli raw analyze_scene_contents --json '{}'. There is no typed scene subcommand for this — scene create is the only typed scene operation.
• "What tools does the bridge expose?" → unity-cli tool list. For a specific tool's JSON payload shape: unity-cli tool schema <tool_name> --output json.

References

• runtime-checklist.md: binary selection, instance selection, command routing, CI environment notes.