RefGraph — Asset Reference Auditor

Version 1.0  |  Requires Unity 2022.2 or later  |  Editor-only

What RefGraph does

RefGraph is an Editor window that answers three questions about your project's assets:

• Who uses this? — Given any asset, list everything that references it (Find Usages).
• What does this use? — Explore an asset's forward dependencies as an expandable tree (Dependencies).
• What is broken? — Scan all prefabs and ScriptableObjects for serialized fields that point to deleted or missing assets (Missing Refs).

RefGraph is read-only. It never modifies your assets. All scanning is on-demand — nothing runs in the background or on every repaint.

Installation

1. Import the RefGraph.unitypackage into your project via Assets → Import Package → Custom Package.
2. Wait for compilation to finish (the status bar at the bottom of the Unity Editor will go quiet).
3. Open the window via Tools → RefGraph.

The RefGraph window

The window has three zones:

First use — build the index

Before Find Usages and Dependencies can show results, you need to build the dependency index. Click Refresh. RefGraph scans every prefab, material, animation, and asset file in your project and caches the result. The status label shows the asset count when done.

You only need to Refresh again when you add, delete, or move assets. The cache is saved to disk (Library/RefGraph.index) and survives Editor restarts — unchanged assets are not re-read on the next Refresh.

Tab: Find Usages

Shows every indexed asset that holds a reference to the selected asset. Useful for:

• Checking whether it is safe to delete or rename an asset.
• Understanding the blast radius of a change.
• Finding all prefabs that use a particular material or script.

How to use

1. Select any asset in the Project window. The Asset field at the top of the RefGraph window updates automatically.
2. The list immediately shows everything that references it.
3. Click any row in the list to ping (highlight) that asset in the Project window.

You can also type directly into the Asset field to search by name — click the field to open Unity's object picker.

Pin toggle

Enable Pin to lock the current asset in place. Clicking other assets in the Project window will not change the inspected asset while Pin is on.

Right-click shortcut

Right-click any asset in the Project window and choose RefGraph: Find Usages. This opens the RefGraph window (if not already open), pins the asset, and switches straight to the Find Usages tab.

Tab: Dependencies

Shows what the selected asset references, as a lazily-expanding tree. Expanding a row reveals that asset's own dependencies, and so on. Circular references are shown as non-expandable leaves to prevent infinite nesting.

How to use

1. Select an asset. The tree root shows its direct dependencies.
2. Expand any row to see deeper levels.
3. Click any row to ping that asset in the Project window.

Tab: Missing Refs

Finds serialized fields in your prefabs and assets that point to a deleted or missing asset. These are the "broken references" that appear as None (Object) in the Inspector even though they used to point to something.

How to use

1. Click Scan Project. A progress bar appears while RefGraph reads every prefab and asset file.
2. Each broken field appears as a row: the file name in bold, and the component + property beneath it.
3. Hover any row to see the full asset path, object name, component, and field in a tooltip.
4. Click a row to ping the owning asset in the Project window.

Scan times stay low even in large projects — only flagged assets are fully loaded, not every asset in the project.

Limitations in v1

• Scenes (.unity) are not scanned. Loading scenes during a scan is disruptive to the editor state. Scene scanning is planned for v2.
• Assets outside the Assets/ folder (Packages/) are not scanned.
• Scan runs on the main thread; the Editor is unresponsive during the scan (a progress bar is shown).

Requirements

Cache file

RefGraph stores its dependency cache at Library/RefGraph.index. This file is auto-generated and can be safely deleted — RefGraph will rebuild it on the next Refresh. Add it to .gitignore (like the rest of Library/) so team members each build their own local cache.

Frequently asked questions

Does Refresh need to run after every asset change?

No. The cache uses file timestamps — unchanged assets are skipped on the next Refresh. You only need to press Refresh when you want the index to reflect recent additions, deletions, or moves. A future version may auto-refresh on AssetDatabase post-processing callbacks.

Find Usages shows nothing. Is the index empty?

Check the status label in the toolbar. If it says "Not indexed — press Refresh", click Refresh first. If it shows an asset count but Find Usages still shows nothing, the selected asset is genuinely not referenced by any other indexed asset.

Missing Refs found items I already fixed. Why?

The Missing Refs scan reads the current state of files on disk. If you fixed a reference but haven't saved the asset yet (Ctrl+S / File → Save Project), the file on disk is still broken. Save first, then scan again.

Can I run RefGraph on just a subfolder?

Not in v1. The dependency index and missing ref scan always cover the entire Assets/ folder. Folder-scoped scanning is planned for v2.

Support

For bug reports and feature requests, use the Reviews & Questions tab on the Asset Store listing page, or email us at support@refgraph.app. We aim to respond within 48 hours.

When reporting a bug, please include your Unity version, a short description of the issue, and — for Missing Refs false positives — the asset type and component name where the false positive appears.