find-orphaned-meta

name	find-orphaned-meta
description	Find and clean up orphaned .meta files in a Unity project. Use when you need to: (1) Find .meta files whose corresponding file or folder no longer exists, (2) Clean up Unity warnings about missing assets caused by stale .meta files, (3) Audit .meta hygiene after git operations like branch switches, merges, or file deletions. Also use proactively after deleting files or folders in a Unity project.

Task

Find orphaned .meta files in the Unity project: $ARGUMENTS

What

Detect .meta files in Assets/ and Packages/ whose corresponding file or folder no longer exists. Unity generates a .meta file for every asset — when the asset is deleted but the .meta remains, Unity logs warnings and the stale .meta pollutes the repository.

When

Use when you need to:

1. Find .meta files left behind after file/folder deletions
2. Diagnose Unity warnings like "A meta data file (.meta) exists but its folder/asset can't be found"
3. Clean up after git operations (branch switch, merge, rebase) that may leave orphaned .meta files

How

Step 1: Run the detection script

.claude/skills/find-orphaned-meta/scripts/find-orphaned-meta.sh

The script scans Assets/ and Packages/ by default. Pass directory arguments to scan specific paths.

Output: one orphaned .meta path per line. Empty output means no orphans found.

Step 2: Report findings

• If no orphans: report "No orphaned .meta files found."
• If orphans found: list them and ask the user whether to delete them.

Step 3: Delete (with user confirmation)

After user approves, delete the orphaned .meta files:

rm -- "<orphaned-meta-path>"

Then run uloop compile to verify Unity no longer reports warnings about missing assets.