Broken Reference Scanner

Finds missing object references on scenes, prefabs, and ScriptableObjects under Assets/: SerializedProperty “Missing” refs, UnityEvent persistent calls with a missing target, YAML Unity refs ({fileID, guid, type}) whose guid AssetDatabase cannot resolve, and missing prefab instances. Bare guid: scalars (Bedder BsId stickers) and empty guids are skipped. Package GUIDs that resolve are not flagged.

Editor-only. Unity 2021.3+. Lives in Anvil.Editor (includePlatforms: Editor). No extra packages.

Editor window

ArTchie / Anvil / Broken Reference Scanner

Button	What it does
Scan	Walks every scene, prefab, and ScriptableObject under Assets/ (skips Packages/ and Library/).
Copy JSON	Puts the report JSON on the clipboard.
Write report	Writes <project>/AnvilReports/broken-refs.json (creates the folder if needed).

Each row is: assetPath, kind, hierarchy / object path, property path, and guid when the YAML scan found one.

Batchmode (CI)

Unity -batchmode -nographics -quit -projectPath <proj> -executeMethod Anvil.BrokenRefScanner.RunBatch -anvil-out <file.json> -anvil-fail

Arg	Meaning
-anvil-out <file.json>	Output path. Default: <project>/AnvilReports/broken-refs.json
-anvil-fail	Exit code 1 if any broken refs were found; otherwise 0

RunBatch only calls EditorApplication.Exit when Application.isBatchMode is true. It logs count= and the output path.

Also accepts -anvil-out=file.json.

JSON

{
  "tool": "BrokenRefScanner",
  "generatedUtc": "2026-08-18T02:00:00Z",
  "count": 1,
  "items": [
    {
      "assetPath": "Assets/Scenes/Main.unity",
      "kind": "missingRef",
      "objectPath": "Player/Weapon:MeshRenderer",
      "propertyPath": "m_Materials.Array.data[0]",
      "guid": ""
    }
  ]
}

kind values:

kind	Meaning
missingRef	objectReferenceValue == null and objectReferenceInstanceIDValue != 0
unityEvent	Persistent call m_Target is Missing, or null with a leftover m_MethodName
yaml	Brace {fileID, guid, type} object with a 32-hex guid that GUIDToAssetPath cannot resolve. Bare guid: scalars and empty guids are not this kind.
prefabInstance	PrefabUtility.IsPrefabAssetMissing on a GameObject

guid is filled for yaml hits. SerializedProperty hits usually have guid "" (Unity does not expose the missing object’s guid on the property).

Notes

• Prefabs: PrefabUtility.LoadPrefabContents / UnloadPrefabContents.
• Scenes: additive open+close in the Editor window (restores your previous setup); OpenSceneMode.Single in batch.
• ScriptableObjects: t:ScriptableObject under Assets/, including sub-assets; scene/prefab-embedded SOs are covered by the hierarchy walk.
• YAML pass matches {fileID, guid, type} objects only (GuidWithKeyRe). Bare guid: <hex> scalars (BedderScript BsId.guid sticker strings) are never extracted.
• Empty / zero-length guids are skipped.
• Built-in Unity GUIDs (0000000000000000… and all-zero) are not flagged as dangling.
• Resolvable package GUIDs (AssetDatabase.GUIDToAssetPath non-empty) are not flagged.
• Binary-serialized scenes/prefabs still report SerializedProperty misses; YAML {fileID, guid, type} scan may miss those files.
• Empty (None) references with instance ID 0 are not reported.
• Empty projects and a missing AnvilReports folder are fine.
• Does not repair references. Does not touch runtime player code.