Installation

UnityIDE runs on Windows and macOS (Apple Silicon). Windows is the primary, better-tested target; the macOS build is ad-hoc signed and marked Beta. Linux is not built yet.

System Requirements

Windows

• Windows 10 or later, 64-bit

macOS

• macOS 12 Monterey or later
• Apple Silicon (M1 or newer). There is no Intel build.

Both

• Unity 2021.3 LTS or later, for the Unity integration features
• .NET 10 — the runtime and an SDK — for C# IntelliSense. UnityIDE ships its own C# language server and unpacks it for you, but that server targets net10.0 and loads projects through the SDK, so .NET 8 alone is not enough.

AI features need a UnityIDE account, not an API key of your own. The free plan includes AI usage; see pricing for the paid tiers.

Download

Head to the download section on the homepage and take the build for your platform — UnityIDESetup.exe on Windows, or the Apple Silicon .dmg on macOS.

Installing on Windows

1. Run the downloaded UnityIDESetup.exe
2. If SmartScreen warns that the publisher is unknown, choose More info, then Run anyway — the installer is not code-signed yet
3. Follow the installer and launch UnityIDE

Installing on macOS

1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
2. Drag UnityIDE into your Applications folder
3. Eject the disk image

macOS Gatekeeper — Unsigned App Warning

This section is macOS only. UnityIDE is not yet signed with an Apple Developer certificate, so Gatekeeper blocks it on the first launch. There are two ways past it:

Option A — Right-click to Open (easiest)

1. Go to Applications in Finder
2. Right-click (or Control-click) on UnityIDE
3. Choose Open from the context menu
4. In the dialog that appears, click Open again

macOS will remember this choice and you can open the app normally from then on.

Option B — Remove quarantine via Terminal

If Option A doesn’t work (or you prefer the terminal), run:

xattr -cr /Applications/UnityIDE.app

Then launch the app normally. This removes the quarantine flag that Gatekeeper added when you downloaded the file.

Note

You only need to do this once. After bypassing Gatekeeper the first time, UnityIDE opens normally on every subsequent launch.

Unity Extension

UnityIDE connects to the Unity Editor through a lightweight Unity package. Install it so the IDE can communicate with your project in real-time.

Option 1 — Download & Import (Recommended)

1. Download the package: com.unityide.editor.tgz
2. In Unity, go to Window > Package Manager
3. Click + > Add package from tarball…
4. Browse to the downloaded .tgz file and click Open

Option 2 — Edit manifest.json

Open your Unity project’s Packages/manifest.json and add this line to the "dependencies" block:

"com.unityide.editor": "https://releases.unityide.app/unity-extension-releases/latest/com.unityide.editor.tgz"

Save the file. Unity will download and install the package automatically.

Option 3 — Unity Package Manager UI

1. Open Unity Editor
2. Go to Window > Package Manager
3. Click the + button > Add package by name…
4. Paste: https://releases.unityide.app/unity-extension-releases/latest/com.unityide.editor.tgz
5. Click Add

Setup

After installing the package:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > External Tools
2. Set External Script Editor to UnityIDE
3. Double-click any .cs file — it will open in UnityIDE

For detailed setup, features, and troubleshooting, see the Unity Extension guide.

Next Steps

Once installed, head to Opening Your First Project to connect UnityIDE to your Unity project.