coplaydev--unity-mcp/website/docs/reference/tools/ui/manage_ui.md

title, sidebar_label, description

title	sidebar_label	description
manage_ui	manage_ui	Manages Unity UI Toolkit elements (UXML documents, USS stylesheets, UIDocument components).

manage_ui

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Group: ui  ·  Module: services.tools.manage_ui

Description

Manages Unity UI Toolkit elements (UXML documents, USS stylesheets, UIDocument components). Read-only actions: ping, read, get_visual_tree, list. Modifying actions: create, update, delete, attach_ui_document, detach_ui_document, create_panel_settings, update_panel_settings, modify_visual_element. Visual actions: render_ui (captures UI panel to a PNG screenshot for self-evaluation). Structural actions: link_stylesheet (adds a Style src reference to a UXML file).

UI Toolkit workflow:

1. Use list to discover existing UI assets
2. Create a UXML file (structure, like HTML)
3. Create a USS file (styling, like CSS)
4. Link stylesheet to UXML via link_stylesheet
5. Attach UIDocument to a GameObject with the UXML source
6. Use get_visual_tree to inspect the result
7. Use modify_visual_element to change text, classes, or inline styles on live elements
8. Use render_ui to capture a visual preview for self-evaluation
   • In play mode: first call queues a WaitForEndOfFrame screen capture and returns pending=true; call render_ui a second time to retrieve the saved PNG (hasContent will be true).
   • In editor mode: assigns a RenderTexture to PanelSettings (best-effort; may stay blank).
9. Use detach_ui_document to remove UIDocument from a GameObject
10. Use delete to remove .uxml/.uss files

Important: Always use ui:Style (with the ui: namespace prefix) in UXML, not bare <Style>. UI Builder will fail to open files that use <Style> without the prefix.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
action	Literal['ping', 'create', 'read', 'update', 'delete', 'attach_ui_document', 'detach_ui_document', 'create_panel_settings', 'update_panel_settings', 'get_visual_tree', 'render_ui', 'link_stylesheet', 'list', 'modify_visual_element']	yes	Action to perform.
path	str | None	—	Assets-relative path (e.g., 'Assets/UI/MainMenu.uxml' or 'Assets/UI/Styles.uss'). For render_ui: optional UXML path to render directly without a scene GameObject.
contents	str | None	—	File content (UXML or USS markup). Plain text - encoding handled automatically.
target	str | None	—	Target GameObject name or path for attach_ui_document / get_visual_tree / render_ui.
source_asset	str | None	—	Path to UXML VisualTreeAsset (e.g., 'Assets/UI/MainMenu.uxml').
panel_settings	str | None	—	Path to PanelSettings asset. Auto-creates default if omitted.
sort_order	int | None	—	UIDocument sort order (default 0).
scale_mode	Literal['ConstantPixelSize', 'ConstantPhysicalSize', 'ScaleWithScreenSize'] | None	—	Panel scale mode. Legacy shorthand; prefer using 'settings' dict.
reference_resolution	dict[str, int] | None	—	Reference resolution as {width, height}. Legacy shorthand; prefer using 'settings' dict.
settings	dict[str, Any] | None	—	Generic PanelSettings properties dict for create_panel_settings. Keys: scaleMode (ConstantPixelSize|ConstantPhysicalSize|ScaleWithScreenSize), referenceResolution ({width,height}), screenMatchMode (MatchWidthOrHeight|ShrinkToFit|ExpandToFill), match (0-1 float), referenceDpi, fallbackDpi, sortingOrder, targetDisplay, clearColor (bool), colorClearValue (#RRGGBB or {r,g,b,a}), clearDepthStencil, themeStyleSheet (asset path), dynamicAtlasSettings ({minAtlasSize,maxAtlasSize,maxSubTextureSize,activeFilters}).
max_depth	int | None	—	Max depth to traverse visual tree (default 10).
width	int | None	—	Render width in pixels (default 1920). For render_ui.
height	int | None	—	Render height in pixels (default 1080). For render_ui.
include_image	bool | None	—	Return inline base64 PNG in the response (default false). For render_ui.
max_resolution	int | None	—	Max resolution for inline base64 image (default 640). For render_ui.
screenshot_file_name	str | None	—	Custom file name for the render output (default: auto-generated). For render_ui.
output_folder	str | None	—	Optional folder for the render output. Project-relative (e.g. 'Assets/Screenshots' or 'Captures') or absolute path inside the project. Overrides the user's Editor preference. If omitted, falls back to the Editor preference, then to the built-in default (Assets/Screenshots). For render_ui.
stylesheet	str | None	—	Path to USS stylesheet to link (e.g., 'Assets/UI/Styles.uss'). For link_stylesheet.
filter_type	str | None	—	Filter UI assets by type: 'uxml', 'uss', 'PanelSettings', or omit for all. For list.
page_size	int | None	—	Number of results per page (default 50). For list.
page_number	int | None	—	Page number, 1-based (default 1). For list.
element_name	str | None	—	Name of the visual element to modify (the 'name' attribute in UXML). For modify_visual_element.
text	str | None	—	New text content for Label/Button elements. For modify_visual_element.
add_classes	list[str] | None	—	USS class names to add to the element. For modify_visual_element.
remove_classes	list[str] | None	—	USS class names to remove from the element. For modify_visual_element.
toggle_classes	list[str] | None	—	USS class names to toggle on the element. For modify_visual_element.
style	dict[str, Any] | None	—	Inline styles to set (e.g., {'backgroundColor': '#FF0000', 'fontSize': 24}). For modify_visual_element.
enabled	bool | None	—	Set element enabled/disabled state. For modify_visual_element.
visible	bool | None	—	Set element visibility (display: flex/none). For modify_visual_element.
tooltip	str | None	—	Set element tooltip text. For modify_visual_element.

Returns

A dict containing the Unity response. The exact shape depends on the action.

Examples

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