find-refs Command

January 13, 2026 · View on GitHub

⚠️ Experimental: This command may not work as expected in all cases.

The find-refs command traces reference chains leading to specific objects. Use it to understand why an asset was included (and potentially duplicated) in a build.

Quick Reference

UnityDataTool find-refs <database> [options]

Option	Description	Default
`<database>`	Path to database from `analyze` command	(required)
`-i, --object-id <id>`	ID of object to analyze (from `id` column)	—
`-n, --object-name <name>`	Name of objects to analyze	—
`-t, --object-type <type>`	Type filter when using `-n`	—
`-o, --output-file <file>`	Output filename	—
`-a, --find-all`	Find all chains instead of stopping at first	`false`

Note: Either --object-id or --object-name must be provided.

Prerequisites

This command requires a database created by the analyze command without the --skip-references option.

Examples

Find references to an object by name and type:

UnityDataTool find-refs my_database.db -n "MyTexture" -t "Texture2D" -o refs.txt

Find references to a specific object by ID:

UnityDataTool find-refs my_database.db -i 12345 -o refs.txt

Find all duplicate references (useful for finding why an asset is duplicated):

UnityDataTool find-refs my_database.db -n "SharedMaterial" -t "Material" -a -o all_refs.txt

Use Cases

Scenario	Approach
Why is this asset included?	Use `-n` with the asset name
Why is this asset duplicated?	Use `-n` to find all instances (same name, different IDs)
Trace specific object	Use `-i` with the object ID from the database
Find all reference chains	Add `-a` flag (may take longer)

Output Format

The output shows the reference chain from root assets to your target object:

Reference chains to 
  ID:             1234
  Type:           Transform
  AssetBundle:    asset_bundle_name
  SerializedFile: CAB-353837edf22eb1c4d651c39d27a233b7

Found reference in:
MyPrefab.prefab
(AssetBundle = MyAssetBundle; SerializedFile = CAB-353837edf22eb1c4d651c39d27a233b7)
  GameObject (id=1348) MyPrefab
    ↓ m_Component.Array[0].component
    RectTransform (id=721) [Component of MyPrefab (id=1348)]
      ↓ m_Children.Array[9]
      RectTransform (id=1285) [Component of MyButton (id=1284)]
        ↓ m_GameObject
        GameObject (id=1284) MyButton
          ...
          Transform (id=1234) [Component of MyButtonEffectLayer (1) (id=938)]

Analyzed 266 object(s).
Found 1 reference chain(s).

Reading the Output

Element	Description
`↓ property_name`	The property containing the reference
`[Component of X (id=Y)]`	Shows the GameObject for Components
`[Script = X]`	Shows the script name for MonoBehaviours

Refer to the ReferenceFinder documentation for more details.