Quick Start

June 8, 2026 · View on GitHub

Unity MCP — CLI

Cross-platform CLI tool for Unity MCP — create projects, install plugins, configure MCP tools, and launch Unity with active MCP connections. All from a single command line.

:white_check_mark: Create projects — scaffold new Unity projects via Unity Editor
:white_check_mark: Install editors — install any Unity Editor version from the command line
:white_check_mark: Install plugin — add Unity-MCP plugin to manifest.json with all required scoped registries
:white_check_mark: Remove plugin — remove Unity-MCP plugin from manifest.json
:white_check_mark: Configure — enable/disable MCP tools, prompts, and resources
:white_check_mark: Status check — see Unity process, local server, and cloud server connection status at a glance
:white_check_mark: Run tools — execute MCP tools directly from the command line
:white_check_mark: Setup MCP — write AI agent MCP config files for any of 14 supported agents
:white_check_mark: Setup skills — generate skill files for AI agents via the MCP server
:white_check_mark: Wait for ready — poll until Unity Editor and MCP server are connected and accepting tool calls
:white_check_mark: Open & Connect — launch Unity with optional MCP environment variables for automated server connection
:white_check_mark: Cross-platform — Windows, macOS, and Linux
:white_check_mark: CI-friendly — auto-detects non-interactive terminals and disables spinners/colors
:white_check_mark: Verbose mode — use --verbose on any command for detailed diagnostic output
:white_check_mark: Version-aware — never downgrades plugin versions, resolves latest from OpenUPM

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Quick Start

Install globally and run:

# 1.1 Install unity-mcp-cli                                #  ┌────────────────────┐
npm install -g unity-mcp-cli                               #  │ Available AI agent │
                                                           #  ├────────────────────┤
# 1.2 (Optional) Install Unity                             #  │ antigravity        │
unity-mcp-cli install-unity                                #  │ claude-code        │
                                                           #  │ claude-desktop     │
# 1.3 (Optional) Create Unity project                      #  │ cline              │
unity-mcp-cli create-project ./MyUnityProject              #  │ codex              │
                                                           #  │ cursor             │
# 2. Install "AI Game Developer" in Unity project          #  │ gemini             │
unity-mcp-cli install-plugin ./MyUnityProject              #  │ github-copilot-cli │
                                                           #  │ kilo-code          │
# 3. Login to cloud server                                 #  │ open-code          │
unity-mcp-cli login ./MyUnityProject                       #  │ rider-junie        │
                                                           #  │ unity-ai           │
# 4. Open Unity project (auto-connects and generates skills)  │ vs-copilot         │
unity-mcp-cli open ./MyUnityProject                        #  │ vscode-copilot     │
                                                           #  └────────────────────┘
# 5. Wait for Unity Editor to be ready
unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyUnityProject

Or run any command instantly with npx — no global installation required:

npx unity-mcp-cli install-plugin /path/to/unity/project

Requirements: Node.js ^20.19.0 || >=22.12.0. Unity Hub is installed automatically if not found.

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Quick Start
Contents
Commands
Full Automation Example
How It Works

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Commands

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	Yes	Path where the project will be created (positional or `--path`)
`--unity <version>`	No	Unity Editor version to use (defaults to highest installed)

`install-plugin`

Install the Unity-MCP plugin into a Unity project's Packages/manifest.json.

unity-mcp-cli install-plugin ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	Yes	Path to the Unity project (positional or `--path`)
`--plugin-version <version>`	No	Plugin version to install (defaults to latest from OpenUPM)

This command:

Adds the OpenUPM scoped registry with all required scopes
Adds com.ivanmurzak.unity.mcp to dependencies
Never downgrades — if a higher version is already installed, it is preserved

Example — install a specific plugin version:

unity-mcp-cli install-plugin ./MyGame --plugin-version 0.51.6

After running this command, open the project in Unity Editor to complete the package installation.

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Argument / Option	Required	Description
`[version]`	No	Unity Editor version to install (e.g. `6000.3.1f1`)
`--path <path>`	No	Read the required version from an existing project

`open`

Open a Unity project in the Unity Editor. By default, sets MCP connection environment variables if connection options are provided. Use --no-connect to open without MCP connection.

# Explicit path
unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame

# From inside the Unity project folder — path defaults to the current directory
cd ./MyGame && unity-mcp-cli open

Option	Env Variable	Required	Description
`[path]`	—	No	Path to the Unity project (positional or `--path`). Defaults to the current working directory.
`--unity <version>`	—	No	Specific Unity Editor version to use (defaults to version from project settings, falls back to highest installed)
`--editor-path <path>`	—	No	Explicit path to the Unity Editor executable. Skips Unity Hub discovery, useful for custom install locations.
`--no-connect`	—	No	Open without MCP connection environment variables
`--url <url>`	`UNITY_MCP_HOST`	No	MCP server URL to connect to
`--keep-connected`	`UNITY_MCP_KEEP_CONNECTED`	No	Force keep the connection alive
`--token <token>`	`UNITY_MCP_TOKEN`	No	Authentication token
`--auth <option>`	`UNITY_MCP_AUTH_OPTION`	No	Auth mode: `none` or `required`
`--tools <names>`	`UNITY_MCP_TOOLS`	No	Comma-separated list of tools to enable
`--transport <method>`	`UNITY_MCP_TRANSPORT`	No	Transport method: `streamableHttp` or `stdio`
`--start-server <value>`	`UNITY_MCP_START_SERVER`	No	Set to `true` or `false` to control MCP server auto-start
`--no-auto-dismiss-launch-errors`	—	No	Disable auto-dismissal of the Unity Editor "compile errors at launch" dialog (default: enabled)
`--launch-dismiss-timeout-ms <ms>`	—	No	Overall timeout (milliseconds) for the launch-errors auto-dismiss polling loop (default: `30000`)
`--launch-dismiss-poll-interval-ms <ms>`	—	No	Polling tick interval (milliseconds) for the launch-errors auto-dismiss loop (default: `1500`)

The editor process is spawned in detached mode. By default, after spawning the editor, open polls for Unity's "compile errors at launch" dialog ("Enter Safe Mode?" on Unity 2020.2+, "Hold On" / "Compiler Errors" on older releases) and clicks Ignore so the editor finishes initialising — without this, any in-Editor automation that needs to run after a state where Unity itself can't compile (e.g. the NuGet dependency resolver) cannot self-heal. The dialog is surfaced after Unity has booted, connected to Package Manager, and started compiling — empirically ~6s on a fast machine and longer on a slow one — so the polling loop has a grace window after which it exits early if no dialog has been seen. The grace window has to cover Unity's full startup phase or the loop bails out before the dialog ever appears (issue #737); it never runs the full --launch-dismiss-timeout-ms in the no-dialog case. If the dialog is observed (and successfully dismissed), polling continues until the overall timeout so a re-appearing dialog (resolver fixes one error → dialog re-surfaces with the next) is dismissed again. Library-mode callers can supply an AbortSignal (launchDismissAbortSignal on OpenProjectOptions) to abort the loop the instant their own readiness signal fires.

Auto-dismiss platform requirements

Platform	Requirement	Notes
Windows	Built-in (Win32 API)	Uses `EnumWindows` / `EnumChildWindows` / `SendMessageW(BM_CLICK)` driven from PowerShell. No extra setup required.
macOS	Accessibility permission must be granted to the terminal (or `unity-mcp-cli` binary). System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.	Implemented via AppleScript / `osascript`. Without this permission, `osascript` reports an error every poll tick and the dialog cannot be dismissed.
Linux/X11	`xdotool` on `PATH` (e.g. `sudo apt-get install xdotool`).	Wayland is not supported in the first cut — track upstream issues for Wayland support.

To opt out entirely, pass --no-auto-dismiss-launch-errors.

Example — open with MCP connection:

unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame \
  --url http://localhost:8080 \
  --keep-connected

Example — open without MCP connection (simple open):

unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame --no-connect

Example — open with authentication and specific tools:

unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame \
  --url http://my-server:8080 \
  --token my-secret-token \
  --auth required \
  --tools gameobject-create,gameobject-find

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`close`

Gracefully terminate the Unity Editor instance running for a given project path. Symmetric counterpart of open — for scripted workflows (CI agents, pipeline executors, integration test fixtures) that need a clean tear-down without resorting to OS-level process kills.

unity-mcp-cli close ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	No	Path to the Unity project (positional, defaults to current directory)
`--timeout <seconds>`	No	Polite-quit timeout in seconds (default: 30)
`--force`	No	Hard-kill the Editor if it does not exit within `--timeout`

How it works:

Resolves the running Editor's PID by reading <project>/Temp/UnityLockfile (4-byte little-endian uint32) and cross-checking against process enumeration to handle stale lock files.
Sends a polite-quit signal — SIGTERM on Linux/macOS, taskkill (no /F) on Windows — letting Unity finish autosave / asset-import.
Polls every 250ms until the process exits or --timeout elapses.
If the timeout expires AND --force is set, falls back to SIGKILL / taskkill /F.
Idempotent — closing an already-closed Editor (or a project whose Editor was never running) exits 0 with no running Editor for project at <path>.
Refuses to act on any path that is not a Unity project root (ProjectSettings/ProjectVersion.txt must exist) — protects against accidental kill-all-Unity-on-host invocations.

Windows headless caveat: the polite-quit step uses taskkill (no /F), which delivers WM_CLOSE. That message only reaches processes owning a top-level window on the same desktop/session as the CLI. If Unity was launched by a Windows service in session 0 (or any other non-interactive desktop), the polite-quit will be silently dropped, the --timeout will elapse, and --force becomes the only path that brings the Editor down. Plan accordingly in headless CI runners.

Example — close, fall back to force after 60s:

unity-mcp-cli close ./MyGame --timeout 60 --force

Example — clean tear-down at the end of an automation script:

unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame
unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyGame
unity-mcp-cli run-tool tests-run ./MyGame --input '{"testMode":"EditMode"}'
unity-mcp-cli close ./MyGame

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`run-tool`

Execute an MCP tool directly via the HTTP API. The server URL and authorization token are automatically resolved from the project's config file (UserSettings/AI-Game-Developer-Config.json), based on the current connection mode (Custom or Cloud).

unity-mcp-cli run-tool gameobject-create ./MyGame --input '{"name":"Cube"}'

Option	Required	Description
`<tool-name>`	Yes	Name of the MCP tool to execute
`[path]`	No	Unity project path (positional or `--path`) — used to read config and detect port
`--url <url>`	No	Direct server URL override (bypasses config)
`--token <token>`	No	Bearer token override (bypasses config)
`--input <json>`	No	JSON string of tool arguments (defaults to `{}`)
`--input-file <file>`	No	Read JSON arguments from a file
`--raw`	No	Output raw JSON (no formatting, no spinner)
`--timeout <ms>`	No	Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 60000)

URL resolution priority:

--url → use directly
Config file → host (Custom mode) or hardcoded cloud endpoint (Cloud mode)
Deterministic port from project path

Authorization is read automatically from the project config (token in Custom mode, cloudToken in Cloud mode). Use --token to override the config-derived token explicitly.

Example — call a tool (URL and auth from config):

unity-mcp-cli run-tool gameobject-find ./MyGame --input '{"query":"Player"}'

Example — explicit URL override:

unity-mcp-cli run-tool scene-save --url http://localhost:8080

Example — pipe raw JSON output:

unity-mcp-cli run-tool assets-list ./MyGame --raw | jq '.results'

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`wait-for-ready`

Wait until Unity Editor and MCP server are connected and ready to accept tool calls. Polls the server at a configurable interval until it responds successfully or the timeout is reached. Useful for automation scripts and AI agent orchestration where open launches Unity but the agent needs to know when it can start calling tools.

unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	No	Unity project path (positional or `--path`) — used to read config and detect port
`--url <url>`	No	Direct server URL override (bypasses config)
`--token <token>`	No	Bearer token override (bypasses config)
`--timeout <ms>`	No	Maximum time to wait in milliseconds (default: 120000)
`--interval <ms>`	No	Polling interval in milliseconds (default: 3000)

Example — wait with default timeout (120s):

unity-mcp-cli open ./MyGame
unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyGame
unity-mcp-cli run-tool tests-run ./MyGame --input '{"testMode":"EditMode"}'

Example — shorter timeout for CI:

unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyGame --timeout 60000 --interval 2000

Example — explicit server URL:

unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready --url http://localhost:8080 --timeout 30000

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`setup-mcp`

Write MCP config files for AI agents, enabling headless/CI setup without the Unity Editor UI. Supports all 14 agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini, Codex, etc.).

unity-mcp-cli setup-mcp claude-code ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[agent-id]`	Yes	Agent to configure (use `--list` to see all)
`[path]`	No	Unity project path (defaults to cwd)
`--transport <transport>`	No	Transport method: `stdio` or `http` (default: `http`)
`--url <url>`	No	Server URL override (for http transport)
`--token <token>`	No	Auth token override
`--list`	No	List all available agent IDs

Example — list all supported agents:

unity-mcp-cli setup-mcp --list

Example — configure Cursor with stdio transport:

unity-mcp-cli setup-mcp cursor ./MyGame --transport stdio

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`setup-skills`

Generate skill files for an AI agent by calling the MCP server's system tool API. Requires Unity Editor to be running with the MCP plugin installed.

unity-mcp-cli setup-skills claude-code ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[agent-id]`	Yes	Agent to generate skills for (use `--list` to see all)
`[path]`	No	Unity project path (defaults to cwd)
`--url <url>`	No	Server URL override
`--token <token>`	No	Auth token override
`--list`	No	List all agents with skills support status
`--timeout <ms>`	No	Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 60000)

Example — list agents with skills support:

unity-mcp-cli setup-skills --list

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`remove-plugin`

Remove the Unity-MCP plugin from a Unity project's Packages/manifest.json.

unity-mcp-cli remove-plugin ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	Yes	Path to the Unity project (positional or `--path`)

This command:

Removes com.ivanmurzak.unity.mcp from dependencies
Preserves scoped registries and scopes — other packages may depend on them
No-op if the plugin is not installed

After running this command, open the project in Unity Editor to apply the change.

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

`status`

Check Unity Editor and MCP server connection status. Shows whether Unity is running, whether the local MCP server is reachable, and whether the config-resolved server (e.g., cloud) is reachable.

unity-mcp-cli status ./MyGame

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	No	Unity project path (positional or `--path`)
`--url <url>`	No	Direct server URL override (bypasses config)
`--token <token>`	No	Bearer token override (bypasses config)
`--timeout <ms>`	No	Probe timeout in milliseconds (default: 5000)

Example output:

Unity-MCP Status
  Project: /path/to/MyGame
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Unity Editor Process
✔  Unity is running (PID: 53740)
Local MCP Server
  URL: http://localhost:22958
✖  Not available (connection refused)
Config Server
  URL: https://ai-game.dev/mcp
✔  Connected
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
✔  MCP server is reachable — ready for tool calls

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Global Options

These options are available on all commands:

Option	Description
`-v, --verbose`	Enable verbose diagnostic output for troubleshooting
`--version`	Display CLI version
`--help`	Display help for the command

Example — run any command with verbose output:

unity-mcp-cli install-plugin ./MyGame --verbose

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Full Automation Example

Set up a complete Unity MCP project from scratch in one script:

# 1. Create a new Unity project
unity-mcp-cli create-project ./MyAIGame --unity 6000.3.1f1

# 2. Install the Unity-MCP plugin
unity-mcp-cli install-plugin ./MyAIGame

# 3. Enable all MCP tools
unity-mcp-cli configure ./MyAIGame --enable-all-tools

# 4. Login to cloud server (authenticates and saves token)
unity-mcp-cli login ./MyAIGame

# 5. Open the project (auto-connects and generates skills for claude-code)
unity-mcp-cli open ./MyAIGame

# 6. Wait for Unity Editor and MCP server to be ready
unity-mcp-cli wait-for-ready ./MyAIGame

# 7. Run tests to verify everything works
unity-mcp-cli run-tool tests-run ./MyAIGame --input '{"testMode":"EditMode"}'

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

How It Works

Deterministic Port

The CLI generates a deterministic port for each Unity project based on its directory path (SHA256 hash mapped to port range 20000–29999). This matches the port generation in the Unity plugin, ensuring the server and plugin automatically agree on the same port without manual configuration.

Plugin Installation

The install-plugin command modifies Packages/manifest.json directly:

Adds the OpenUPM scoped registry (package.openupm.com)
Registers all required scopes (com.ivanmurzak, extensions.unity)
Adds the com.ivanmurzak.unity.mcp dependency with version-aware updates (never downgrades)

Configuration File

The configure command reads and writes UserSettings/AI-Game-Developer-Config.json, which controls:

Tools — MCP tools available to AI agents
Prompts — pre-defined prompts injected into LLM conversations
Resources — read-only data exposed to AI agents
Connection settings — host URL, auth token, transport method, timeouts

Unity Hub Integration

Commands that manage editors or create projects use the Unity Hub CLI (--headless mode). If Unity Hub is not installed, the CLI downloads and installs it automatically:

Windows — silent install via UnityHubSetup.exe /S (may require administrator privileges)
macOS — downloads the DMG, mounts it, and copies Unity Hub.app to /Applications
Linux — downloads UnityHub.AppImage to ~/Applications/

For the full Unity-MCP project documentation, see the main README.

AI Game Developer — Unity SKILLS and MCP

Library API (v0.67.0+)

In addition to the CLI binary, unity-mcp-cli exposes its core commands as a typed, side-effect-free library so other Node.js / TypeScript tools can embed the same install / configure flow without shelling out.

import { installPlugin, removePlugin, configure, setupMcp } from 'unity-mcp-cli';

const result = await installPlugin({
  unityProjectPath: './MyUnityProject',
  // version: '0.67.0',        // optional — defaults to latest from OpenUPM
  onProgress: (event) => {
    // phase is one of: 'start' | 'dependencies-resolved' | 'manifest-patched' | 'done'
    console.log(event.phase, event.message);
  },
});

if (!result.success) {
  console.error('Install failed:', result.error?.message);
  return;
}

console.log(`Installed v${result.installedVersion}`);
for (const warning of result.warnings) console.warn(warning);
for (const step of result.nextSteps) console.log(step);

Each function returns a typed { success, ... } result object; errors are never thrown past the public boundary. The library entry has no top-level side effects — import 'unity-mcp-cli' never parses argv and never writes to stdout or stderr.

See CHANGELOG.md for the full list of exported functions and types.

Option	Required	Description
`[path]`	Yes	Path to the Unity project (positional or `--path`)
`--list`	No	List current configuration and exit
`--enable-tools <names>`	No	Enable specific tools (comma-separated)
`--disable-tools <names>`	No	Disable specific tools (comma-separated)
`--enable-all-tools`	No	Enable all tools
`--disable-all-tools`	No	Disable all tools
`--enable-prompts <names>`	No	Enable specific prompts (comma-separated)
`--disable-prompts <names>`	No	Disable specific prompts (comma-separated)
`--enable-all-prompts`	No	Enable all prompts
`--disable-all-prompts`	No	Disable all prompts
`--enable-resources <names>`	No	Enable specific resources (comma-separated)
`--disable-resources <names>`	No	Disable specific resources (comma-separated)
`--enable-all-resources`	No	Enable all resources
`--disable-all-resources`	No	Disable all resources

Quick Start

Unity MCP — CLI

Quick Start

Contents

Commands

`configure`

`create-project`

`install-plugin`

`install-unity`

`open`

Auto-dismiss platform requirements

`close`

`run-tool`

`wait-for-ready`

`setup-mcp`

`setup-skills`

`remove-plugin`

`status`

Global Options

Full Automation Example

How It Works

Deterministic Port

Plugin Installation

Configuration File

Unity Hub Integration

Library API (v0.67.0+)