Scoped registries

Scoped registries allow Unity to communicate the location of any custom package registry server to the Package Manager so you can access several collections of packages at the same time.

Here are some important concepts to help you understand this feature:

The way you interact with scoped registries depends on your role:

• Package providers set up custom registry servers to host and distribute custom packages in addition to the Unity registry.
• Package consumers set up scoped registries for each project to access a custom package provider’s registry server.

Integrity and security of scoped registries

As a package provider, make sure any package registry servers you set up conform to Unity’s Terms of Service and Unity’s Package Guiding Principles & Guidelines. Unity provides access to the Package Manager to facilitate sharing knowledge and creations, but not as a marketplace for third-party products.

As a package consumer, when you install a scoped registry, use the same level of caution that you use when installing any other third-party software:

• Install scoped registries only from trusted sources, because the packages in those registries can contain executable code.
• Beware of third-party registries that might be harmful or capture data without appropriate controls. Also beware of third parties misrepresenting themselves as Unity, or sanctioned or supported by Unity.

Benefits of scoped registries

Scoped registries can help to:

• Provide new functionality by distributing tools, libraries, and other assets.

  As a provider, you can create your own registry to distribute tools and scriptsA piece of code that allows you to create your own Components, trigger game events, modify Component properties over time and respond to user input in any way you like. More info
  See in Glossary (or other types of assets) with version numbers that indicate how mature the package is. Version numbers also indicate whether updates introduce breaking API changes or minor fixes, based on Semantic Versioning. Your code can depend on code in other packages, because the Package Manager supports package dependencies.

  As a consumer, your experience of browsing and installing third-party custom packages in the Package Manager is the same as browsing Unity’s packages.

• Extend existing Unity’s package features.

  As a consumer, you can have a seamless experience where the custom package overrides the Unity package without having to manually change registries or explicitly install a different package version. This is because you can map packages to a specific registry so that Package Manager fetches from either the Unity registry or a custom package registry server.

• Access packages in a closed network environment.

  Some organizations work inside a closed network, which makes it difficult to access Unity’s package registry. In these cases, the organization can set up their own package registry on a server inside their closed network. The network administrators can then periodically synchronize with Unity’s package registry to make sure the scoped registry has the latest set of packages available.

If you’re a package consumer, refer to Managing scoped registries for a project for information about connecting to an existing custom package registry server in your Unity project. If you’re a package producer, refer to Sharing your package for information about supported package registry servers. This information also includes links to information on how to set them up to use with scoped registries.

Note: If you’re setting up a scoped registry that points to a package registry server with restricted access, you can configure Package Manager to pass your npm authentication token to the server. For more information, refer to Scoped registry authentication.

Adding and removing scoped registries

Use the Package Manager category of the Project SettingsA broad collection of settings which allow you to configure how Physics, Audio, Networking, Graphics, Input and many other areas of your project behave. More info
See in Glossary window to add, modify, or remove scoped registries for your project.

Importing scoped registries

If you’re working in a shared project, and another user adds a scoped registry to the project, Unity warns you that another user added a new scoped registry.

When you click Close, the Package Manager project settings window appears so you can add, modify, or remove scoped registries for your project.

If you click Read more, Unity opens the page you’re currently reading in your default web browser.

Tip: To access the Package Manager project settings window at any time, use the main menu in Unity (Edit > Project Settings, then the Package Manager category). You can also select Advanced Project Settings from the advanced settings menu in the Package Manager window.

Managing scoped registries for a project

To manage the scoped package registries in your project, you can either:

• Edit your project manifestEach Unity project has a project manifest, which acts as an entry point for the Package Manager. This file must be available in the <project>/Packages directory. The Package Manager uses it to configure many things, including a list of dependencies for that project, as well as any package repository to query for packages. More info
  See in Glossary file directly.
• Use the Package Manager project settings window to let Unity change the manifest for you.

The project manifest uses a scopedRegistries property, which contains an array of scoped registry configuration objects. Each object has the following properties:

Example

In the project manifest below, there are two scoped registries, General and Tools:

{
    "scopedRegistries": [
        {
            "name": "General",
            "url": "https://example.com/registry",
            "overrideBuiltIns": false,
            "scopes": [
                "com.example", "com.example.tools.physics"
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": "Tools",
            "url": "https://mycompany.example.com/tools-registry",
            "overrideBuiltIns": true,
            "scopes": [
                "com.example.mycompany.tools"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "dependencies": {
        "com.unity.animation": "1.0.0",
        "com.example.mycompany.tools.animation": "1.0.0",
        "com.example.tools.physics": "1.0.0",
        "com.example.animation": "1.0.0"
    }
}

When the Package Manager decides which registry to fetch a package from, it compares the package name to the scopes values and finds the registry whose scopes value is the closest match.

• When the Package Manager looks up the com.example.animation package, it finds that the com.example namespace is the closest match to its name, and fetches that package from the General registry.
• When the Package Manager looks up the com.example.tools.physics package, the General registry has a scope that exactly matches the package name.
• When the Package Manager looks up the com.example.mycompany.tools.animation package, the Package Manager finds that the com.example.mycompany.tools namespace is the closest match to its name and fetches that package from the Tools registry. Although it also matches the General scope, the com.example namespace isn’t as close a match.
• When the Package Manager looks up the com.unity.animation package, the Package Manager doesn’t find a match in any of the scoped registries. In this case, it fetches the package from the default registry.

If the General and Tools registries have built-in packagesBuilt-in packages allow users to toggle Unity features on or off through the Package Manager. Enabling or disabling a package reduces the run-time build size. For example, most projects don’t use the legacy Particle System. By removing the abstracted package of this feature, the related code and resources are not part of the final built product. Typically, these packages contain only the package manifest and are bundled with Unity (rather than available on the package registry).
See in Glossary that also exist in the Editor, the Package Manager resolves them as follows:

• The Package Manager skips the built-in packages in the General scoped registry because the overrideBuiltIns value is false. Instead, the Package Manager uses the built-in version included with the Unity Editor.
• The Package Manager uses the built-in packages in the Tools scoped registry instead of the Editor because the overrideBuiltIns value is true.

Additional resources

• Scoped registry authentication
• Project Settings window (Package Manager)