Opening Your First Project
Opening a Unity Project
Section titled “Opening a Unity Project”- Launch ArcaneIDE
- Go to File → Open… (or press
Cmd+O) - Select your Unity project’s root folder — the one that contains the
Assets/directory - Click Open
ArcaneIDE detects the Unity project automatically by looking for the Assets/ folder. Non-project folders like Library/, Temp/, obj/, and Logs/ are hidden from the file explorer automatically.
What Happens Next
Section titled “What Happens Next”As soon as the project opens, Arcane starts background indexing in the node process:
- C# scripts are parsed for classes, methods, fields, and inheritance hierarchies
- Unity scene and prefab files are parsed for GameObjects and their components
.metafiles are read to build a GUID ↔ asset path lookup table- Animator controllers and Input Action assets are also indexed
You’ll see an indexing status indicator in the status bar. Once it reads “complete”, the AI has full knowledge of your project structure. For large projects this can take a minute or two on first open — subsequent opens are incremental.
File Explorer
Section titled “File Explorer”The left sidebar shows your project’s Assets/ directory. You can:
- Click any
.csfile to open it in the editor - Right-click a
.unityor.prefabfile to Reveal in Unity or Ping in Unity (requires Unity connection) - Right-click any asset to Copy GUID for use in scripts or YAML
Configuring AI
Section titled “Configuring AI”Before using the chat, you need an API key. Open the Settings panel via the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P → “Arcane: Settings”) and enter your OpenAI or Anthropic API key.
Once configured, click the chat icon in the left sidebar to start talking to the AI.
Next Steps
Section titled “Next Steps”- Unity Integration — connect Arcane to the live Unity Editor
- AI Chat Modes — understand Agent, Ask, and Plan modes