Broken Reference Finder

Finds res:// paths in your scenes, resources and scripts that point at files which no longer exist — and knows when a path only looks broken because Godot already repaired it through a uid://.

The false-positive problem this solves

A plain text search for path="res://old/sprite.png" will flag that as broken the moment the file moves, even though Godot scenes also carry a uid="uid://..." right next to the path, and Godot resolves the resource by that uid first — repairing the stale path silently on load. A scanner that only checks the path reports a false positive on every project that's had assets reorganized. This one checks the uid against Godot's own ResourceUID table before deciding anything is actually broken, so you only see the references that genuinely need fixing.

What it checks

• Every .tscn and .tres file, for path="res://..." entries in ext_resource/sub_resource lines (plus the uid="uid://..." that often sits right beside them).
• Every .gd and .cs file, for preload(...) and load(...) calls using either a res:// or a bare uid:// string.
• Only string-literal paths and uids — a path assembled at runtime from a variable is outside what any static scan can see, so treat the results as a strong lead, not a guarantee.

Confidence tiers

Every result is marked High or Low confidence. Scene and resource file references are always High — a path=/uid= attribute there is never sitting inside a comment or a template. Script references can be Low two ways: a preload(...) or load(...) call for a missing file that's actually inside a commented-out line (# preload(...) in GDScript, // preload(...) in C#) still matches a plain text search but never runs; and a literal immediately followed by %, + or .format( — load("res://x_%02d.png" % i) — is a template being built into a real path at runtime, not the literal path that's actually loaded. Both are labelled separately instead of being mixed in with calls that actually execute.

What you get back

A list with the exact file, line number and confidence tier of each genuinely broken reference (uid-repairable ones are left out), sorted so High-confidence results come first. Double-click a row to reveal the containing file in your system file manager, and an Export Markdown button writes broken_references.md so you can work through the list outside the editor or hand it to someone else.

Setup

Copy addons/broken_reference_finder into your project's addons/ folder and enable Broken Reference Finder under Project > Project Settings > Plugins. Use the dock tab's Scan Project button after a rename pass, after deleting old art, or right before you cut a release.

Works with

Godot 4.2 and later (tested on 4.7).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.