URP Shader Variant Auditor

Unity does not tell you how many shader variants a build will compile until it is already compiling. This tool reads the project and tells you before the build, alongside the numbers the build log measured afterwards, and names the cause when the count is far too high.

$49one-time · Unity Editor tool · ZIP (61 KB)

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URP Shader Variant Auditor window: URP001 critical, the eight URP shaders named, and the estimated reduction — The window on a URP project whose URP shaders were added to Always Included Shaders: URP001 critical, the shaders named, the fix, and the estimated reduction.

What it reports

An estimate before the build: the variant space on your current settings, and the space with stripping applied throughout. If the two differ, something is stopping Unity's stripping, and the difference is what a settings change would recover.
The measured figures after the build: point it at a build log and Unity's own per-stage counts appear beside the estimates.
The cause, by name: rules such as URP001 (render pipeline shaders in Always Included Shaders) name the shaders involved and the fix.
Why each keyword set was or was not reduced, for the heaviest shaders, and a ranked list of shaders by variant space.
A batch mode entry point for CI.

Measured, not claimed

One Unity 6000.0.78f1 project (URP 17.0.4, 88 materials). Two states that differ only in whether the URP shaders are in Always Included Shaders:

State	Estimated variant space	Difference from stripped
Healthy	679,135	0
URP shaders always included	47.4B	47.4B (URP001 critical)

The measured column comes from a real macOS player build of that project:

Stage (from the build log)	Variants
Full variant space	4.5B
After settings filtering	759,100
After built-in stripping	13,762
After scriptable stripping	13,619
Compiled	13,617

The same project with stripping working: estimate equals the stripped figure, difference 0 — The same project where stripping works: estimate equals the stripped figure, difference 0, with the build log's measured ladder beside it.

URP004 expanded: keyword sets for the three heaviest shaders — URP004 expanded: every keyword set for the three heaviest shaders, and why each was or was not reduced.

Unity versions

Tested on Unity 6000.0.78f1 (Unity 6), macOS Editor: the EditMode tests (26 tests, all passing) and the runs described on this page.
The package declares Unity 2022.3 as its minimum. It has not been tested on 2022.3. If it does not work there, the refund below applies.
Editor-only: no runtime code, nothing is added to your builds. No dependencies.

How this was made: AI disclosure

The C# code, the EditMode tests, the documentation and this page were written with the help of a large language model, then read, run and corrected by a person before release. No figure on this page was written by the model: every number comes from running the tool on a real Unity project and reading its output, and every screenshot is a capture of the tool's own window in Unity.

What you get

A ZIP (61 KB) with the .unitypackage (25 files: full C# source, EditMode tests, documentation, a demo scene), the license and the changelog.
Import it with Assets > Import Package > Custom Package…. It installs under Assets/URP Shader Variant Auditor/.
Updates: re-download the current version at any time from your thanks page (the link is in your email).

License

One purchase is one licence for one person. Use it in any number of your own projects, commercial or not, modify the source for them, and run it on the build and CI machines that build them.
Not allowed: redistributing or reselling the tool or its source, or sharing your copy with people who have not bought one.
The full text is LICENSE.md in the package.

Payment and refunds

Card payment via Stripe, one time. A license key and a download link are emailed to you and shown right after payment.
Refund within 14 days of purchase, no reason needed, as stated in our legal notice: email hello@tech-athletes.com. After a refund the download stops working.