Build and CI checks

Find missing references and unset required fields before shipping the project.

Quick start

Open Tools → Aspid 🐍 → FastTools → Settings and set Build / CI gate → Fail. Missing types now stop a player build. The default is Warn.

The check reports violations; for repair, see SerializeReference repair.

Pre-build checks

The Build / CI gate setting picks how strict the check is:

Mode	Player build	Standalone CI run
Off	Skips the check	No scan and no report, an older report stays; exit code 0
Warn	Warns and keeps building	Report and violations in the log; exit code 0
Fail	Missing types stop the build	Report; exit code 1 on violations

The build checks every asset under Assets/, not only what goes into it: in Fail mode an unused prefab stops it too — exclude such folders with Excluded scan folders.

What each run checks

Run	Missing types	Empty fields with Required = true
Project References → Scan Project	Yes, with pending migrations	Unless the mode is Off, as a Required violations group
Asset References	Yes	Yes, in any mode
Player build	Unless the mode is Off	No
CI without -srGateRequired	Unless the mode is Off	No
CI with -srGateRequired	Unless the mode is Off	Unless the mode is Off

A field is made required with [TypeSelector(Required = true)]; see Required field. In scenes, required fields inside managed references, collections and prefab overrides are not checked.

Detecting new breakages

Breakage detection reports newly missing references and type names right after script or asset changes, with a notification as well as in the Console. It is on by default, under Tools → Aspid 🐍 → FastTools → Settings and Preferences → Aspid.FastTools → SerializeReference. It is a per-user setting: every team member has their own.

Scan scope

• saved .prefab, .asset and .unity files under Assets/, apart from Excluded scan folders;
• [SerializeReference] and the names in SerializableType and SerializableMonoScript fields; [TypeSelector] strings are not checked;
• pending MovedFrom migrations do not count as missing;
• binary assets and unfetched Git LFS files are not scanned, and CI lists them in its report; for a full scan, use Asset Serialization → Mode → Force Text and fetch LFS files.

Excluded scan folders excludes folders from Project References, player-build checks, CI and breakage detection.

Build / CI gate, Excluded scan folders and Auto de-alias duplicated list elements are shared settings with a green stripe. They live in ProjectSettings/SerializeReferenceSharedSettings.asset, shared by the team and CI, and also open in Project Settings → Aspid.FastTools → SerializeReference.

Running in CI

Unity -batchmode -projectPath . \
  -executeMethod \
  Aspid.FastTools.SerializeReferences.Editors.SerializeReferenceCiGate.RunCheck \
  -srGateReport SerializeReferenceGateReport.txt \
  -srGateRequired -srGateFail

Exit code 2 means the check itself failed.

Command-line flags

Flag	Behaviour
-srGateReport <path>	Report path from the project root, SerializeReferenceGateReport.txt by default; the folder must exist, the file is overwritten
-srGateRequired	Also checks unset fields with Required = true
-srGateFail	Uses Fail instead of the project's mode, even Off
-srGateWarnOnly	Uses Warn instead of the project's mode, even Off; takes precedence over -srGateFail if both are passed

Report

The report lists missing types, unset required fields and skipped files. Skipped files do not change the exit code.

Report format

The report starts with a header:

# SerializeReference Gate Report
# Violations: 2
# Not scanned (not text YAML): 2
#   Binary	Assets/Legacy/OldLoadout.prefab
#   LfsPointer	Assets/Levels/Arena.unity

Then one line per violation, tab-separated:

KIND    assetPath    fileId    rid    className    fieldPath    origin

Field	Contents
KIND	MissingType, MissingTypeName or RequiredUnset
assetPath	File path
fileId	Host object ID within the file; for a prefab instance override, the ID of the prefab instance
rid	Managed-reference ID; in RequiredUnset rows, -2 for an empty [SerializeReference] and 0 for a string or SerializableType; in MissingTypeName rows, the managed reference that holds the field, or 0
className	Stored class name for MissingType; the whole stored type name for MissingTypeName
fieldPath	Required field path; the wrapper field for MissingTypeName; for a MissingType override, the overridden field; otherwise empty
origin	override for a type set by a prefab instance override; otherwise empty

In Asset References, find an entry by its rid, and a RequiredUnset row with rid 0 by its fieldPath; an override row is in the Prefab instance overrides card of Project References instead. A MissingTypeName row is in its type name group of Project References.

Package sample

The SerializeReferences sample has a required field and missing types to check.