Scene Dependency Viewer

Visualize project dependencies, find broken references, and detect unused assets in Godot 4.x.

A lightweight editor addon that scans your project files and shows you exactly what depends on what — before something breaks.

Why This Exists

You delete a texture. Three scenes break. You don't find out until runtime.

Scene Dependency Viewer scans your entire project and shows you:

• What a file depends on — see all external references in any scene, resource, or script
• What depends on a file — before you move or delete anything, know what will break
• Broken references — find missing files instantly
• Unused assets — clean up files nothing actually uses

Features

Dependency Tree

• Browse all project files grouped by type (scenes, scripts, textures, audio, models)
• Search and filter to find specific files fast
• See dependency count per file at a glance

Reverse Dependencies

• Click any file to see what depends on it
• Know exactly what breaks if you move or delete a file
• Never guess whether a resource is safe to remove

Broken Reference Detection

• Instantly find files referencing missing resources
• See exactly which file has the broken reference and what it's looking for
• Fix issues before they cause runtime errors

Unused Asset Detection

• Find files that nothing in your project actually references
• Clean up bloat and reduce project size
• Safely remove dead assets

Quick Start

1. Copy addons/scene_dependency_viewer/ into your project.
2. Open Project → Project Settings → Plugins and enable Scene Dependency Viewer.
3. A new Dependencies tab appears at the bottom of the editor.
4. Click Scan Project. Your entire dependency tree appears.

Supported File Types

• Scenes (.tscn) — all ext_resource and sub_resource references
• Resources (.tres) — embedded references
• Scripts (.gd, .cs) — load(), preload(), and class_name references
• Import files (.import) — source file tracking
• Config files (.cfg) — res:// references
• Textures, Audio, Models, Fonts — tracked as leaf dependencies

API Reference

DependencyScanner

The core scanning engine. Can be used standalone or via the editor panel.

const DependencyScanner = preload("res://addons/scene_dependency_viewer/dependency_scanner.gd")

var scanner = DependencyScanner.new()

# Connect signals
scanner.scan_progress.connect(func(msg, current, total):
    print("%s (%d/%d)" % [msg, current, total])
)

scanner.scan_completed.connect(func(result):
    print("Found %d files" % result.files.size())
    print("Broken refs: %d" % result.broken_refs.size())
    print("Unused: %d" % result.unused_assets.size())
)

# Run scan
var result = await scanner.scan_project()

Result Structure

{
    "files": {
        "res://path/to/file.tscn": {
            "type": "scene",          # scene|resource|script|texture|audio|model|font|config|other
            "deps": ["res://..."],    # Array of dependency paths
            "uid": "uid://..."        # UID if available
        }
    },
    "reverse_deps": {
        "res://path/to/texture.png": ["res://scene1.tscn", "res://scene2.tscn"]
    },
    "broken_refs": [
        {
            "file": "res://scene.tscn",
            "missing_ref": "res://deleted_texture.png",
            "line": 0
        }
    ],
    "unused_assets": [
        "res://old_sprite.png"
    ]
}

Filtering by Type

# Get only scenes
var scenes = result.files.keys().filter(func(f): return result.files[f].type == "scene")

# Get only broken references in scripts
var script_broken = result.broken_refs.filter(func(r): return r.file.ends_with(".gd"))

Integration Steps

Basic

1. Enable the plugin
2. Click "Scan Project" in the Dependencies tab
3. Browse the tree, click files to see their dependencies

CI/Headless

Use DependencyScanner directly in a headless build or test script:

func test_dependencies():
    var scanner = DependencyScanner.new()
    var result = await scanner.scan_project()
    assert(result.broken_refs.size() == 0, "Found broken references!")
    assert(result.unused_assets.size() < 10, "Too many unused assets")

FAQ

Q: Does this slow down the editor? A: No. Scanning is manual (click Scan) and takes 1-3 seconds for most projects. Results are cached until you rescan.

Q: Does it work with .import files? A: Yes. It parses .import files to track the relationship between imported assets and their source files.

Q: Can I use this in CI/automation? A: Yes. DependencyScanner is a standalone class that works headless.

Q: Does it detect class_name usage? A: Yes. Scripts with class_name are marked as potentially used (since they can be referenced by type anywhere).

Q: What about uid:// references? A: Tracked. The scanner resolves UIDs where possible and includes them in the dependency graph.

File Structure

addons/scene_dependency_viewer/
├── plugin.cfg
├── plugin.gd
├── dependency_scanner.gd
├── dependency_viewer_panel.gd
├── dependency_viewer_panel.tscn
└── LICENSE

License

MIT - use in personal and commercial projects.