v5.0.0

I’m not completely certain whether jumping straight to 5.x.x is ideal, but I decided to continue the versioning scheme that was previously used here.

To make it easier to ask questions, get help, or share suggestions, a Discord server has been created for the project.

Feel free to join the community here:

This release mainly focuses on improving the Visual Scripting editor UI and workflow.

Note

You can find the options for these in Edit > Preferences > Visual Scripting > Customisation.

Vertical Flow

This enables you to have vertical graphs with a more compact node style.

Warning

To avoid introducing dependencies such as Harmony, this implementation replaces some Unit Widgets internally.

If you use custom widgets, enabling New Unit UI in Edit > Preferences > Visual Scripting > Customisation may break them.

To fix this:

• Inherit from the Community Addons Unit Widget instead of the default Visual Scripting widget.

If you do not use custom widgets, you can enable this feature without issues.

Portal Connections

Portal connections allow you to visually hide value connections to reduce spaghetti graphs.

How to use

1. Hold Alt while creating a value connection.
2. Once the connection is completed, it automatically becomes a Portal Connection.

Alternatively:

• Add a ValueReroute node
• Enable "Enable Portal" in the Graph Inspector
• Connect the input and it will convert into a Portal Connection.

Note

This only works with Value Reroutes you cannot do it with Flow Reroutes.

New Unit Style

Adds an optional simplified node style, inspired by the look of Bolt 2.

New Toolbar Style

Adds an alternative toolbar layout closer to the Bolt 2 UI.

When enabled:

• Toolbar buttons float above the canvas
• The breadcrumb navigation style is restored
• A search bar is added

The search bar uses the same system as the Node Finder, meaning it supports both simple and advanced search queries.

Currently the search mode (Contains / Starts With) is not configurable.

Graph Minimap

Adds a minimap to help navigate large graphs.

The minimap displays:

• All graph elements
• Their positions
• Their colours

You can also click elements in the minimap to jump directly to them in the graph.

Note

On very large graphs the minimap may have a impact on editor performance.

New Variable UI

You can enable the New Variable UI which draws the Variables as Foldouts allowing you to minimize them. You can also Enable the variable Quickbar which creates a variable of that type by just clicking the button you can also right click for a list of that type, Its a helpful shortcut.

The "Other" option opens the Type Builder, which supports creating many types including arrays and generics.

Generics are not officially supported by Visual Scripting, so extra care may be required on AOT platforms.

New Collections UI

Lists and Dictionaries have been given a similar UI to the Variables which you can toggle on and off. With the collection items it does try to display helpful info as the header for the item so it's easier to keep track of each value.

Added Inspectors

Added inspectors for Vector 2 int and Vector 3 int.

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Variable Renaming Improvements

Renaming a variable in the Variables tab now attempts to automatically rename all matching variables across:

• Graph
• Scene
• Project

(depending on the variable scope).

Note

Only variables without a connected Name input will be renamed.
If the name input is connected (including literals), it will not be modified.

You can also:

• Select a variable unit
• Press F2
• Rename that variable everywhere it appears.

Rename.Example.mp4

Improved Flow Value Info

Hovering over flow values now displays more contextual information.

Examples:

• Hovering over a Color value shows the actual color.
• For custom classes, the system attempts to display useful fields in the tooltip.

Additional Context Options

When New Unit UI is enabled:

• Selection → Subgraph options are available directly in the Unit context menu.

A Find option is also available in the context menu, which opens the Node Finder and searches for matching:

• Variable Units
• Trigger Custom Event
• Custom Event
• Nester Units (Subgraph / State)

Code Generation Improvements

Several improvements were made to the C# preview and code generation system.

Changes

• Graph variables now appear as private fields in the preview

  • During compilation they remain public but hidden, ensuring compatibility with machine variable nodes.

• The generation system was rewritten to use a CodeWriter class instead of returning raw strings.

• Clicking code in the preview now highlights the entire block generated by a unit, instead of separate fragments.

• Editor performance for the C# preview has been improved.

Project Structure Improvements

The internal file structure of the project has been reorganized to improve clarity.

Files have been moved into more relevant folders so that related functionality is grouped together. This should make the codebase easier to navigate.

Note

This change does not affect functionality.

v4.1.1

Improved Code Generation and Editor Improvements

This update brings quality-of-life changes to the editor and fixes a lot of smaller issues in code generation and AOT.
It’s mostly focused on stability and workflow improvements, but also adds a few new tools for working with graphs.

Added

• You can now auto-connect new units while adding them from the fuzzy finder, hold Shift for the first Control Output, Alt for the first Value Input, or Shift + Alt for the first Value Output. Super handy for speeding up graph setup.
• Moved CustomGraphContext options into submenus under Windows/ and Selection/ for better organization.
• Updated unit port cycling controls:
  • Left - Right Arrow keys – cycle through all ports by default
  • Shift + Arrow – cycle only Control Ports
  • Alt + Arrow – cycle only Value Ports
  • Ctrl + Arrow – move the selected unit instead of cycling
• Updated ManualEventUnit to show the Trigger button behind the ports of the Unit instead of the Unit header.

Fixed

• Fixed AOTMethodsPrebuilder incorrectly including NUnit types, which caused prebuild errors.
• Fixed LimitedTrigger Generator not generating correctly in some cases.
• Fixed compile errors and issues with assets not compiling properly.
• Fixed an extra comma appearing when generating class assets with Interfaces but no Base Type.

Improved

• Improved C# code generation and better support for structs.
• Improved detection for “required info” for Class and Struct Assets.
• Updated object pooling icons for a cleaner look.
• Improved handling of dynamic types when connecting a Value Input/Output whose type isn’t included in the available type options.
• Expanded and refined the GitHub Wiki for improved documentation.

v4.1.0

Note

• Version numbers have been aligned:
  • Previous Git tag: 3.2
  • Previous package.json: 4.0.5
  • Both have been bumped forward to 4.1.0 to maintain consistent versioning.

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4.1.0 took much longer than expected but here we are.

Added / Improved

🎹 Keyboard Controls & Navigation

• Pan the graph using arrow keys.
• Navigate through selected unit ports with arrow keys:
  • Shift → control ports only
  • Alt → value ports only
  • Ctrl → all ports
  • Up Arrow → add a new unit from the current port
• Move selected nodes with arrow keys.
• Ctrl + Tab → cycle through all elements in the graph.
• Added Keyboard Shortcuts Window to display all available shortcuts.

---

🛠️ Graph Editing

• Surround With Functionality
  • Ctrl + Shift + T opens the “Surround With” window.
  • Surround selected units with a specific unit (e.g., For loops).
  • Selected units connect to the body, unselected units connect to the exit.

SurroundExample.mp4

• Graph Snippets
  • Quickly insert code snippets with parameters using the fuzzy finder. Format: Name,Parameter1,Parameter2, ... and press Tab to add it to the graph.
  • Examples: Debug, Vector2/3 Creation, SetPosition, InOutSubgraph, IsNull.
  • Notes
    • You can only use literal values.
    • You do not need to type the full name of the snippet it will try and find the most relevant snippet from your search.
    • You can use the Graph Snippets window to view all snippets. Right click in a empty space of the graph and select 'Open Graph Snippets Window'.

SnippetsExample.mp4

• Literal Values from Fuzzy Finder
  • Supports string, bool, numeric types, DateTime, TimeSpan.
  • Automatically parses input to add literals to the graph.

LiteralValuesExample.mp4

• Basic Calculations in Fuzzy Finder
  • Supports +, -, *, /.
  • Creates calculation nodes (not available while connecting).

CalculationExample.mp4

• Comment Connections
  • Select a comment and the elements you want to connect.
  • C → connect / X → disconnect elements.

• Easier Type Usage
  • Ability to use types that are not in the Type options by creating a connection from a ValueInput or Output. If the type is not in the type options it will have a new section in the fuzzy finder that will show you compatible nodes.

Easy.type.usage.mp4

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🔍 Node Finder

• Complete overhaul of NodeFinder:
  • Improved UI & performance.
  • Added functionality to search for Groups, StickyNotes, Comments, or States.
  • Added Advanced Search:
    • | → alternative matches
    • > → match connected ports
    • @ tags → filter by port type (@CI>, @CO>, @VI>, @VO>, etc.)
  • Includes a detailed Help Popup with examples, tips, and syntax guide press '?' in the window for more info.
  • Thanks to Litoid for helping with the UI Design.

---

📦 Code & Asset Enhancements

• CSharp Section in Fuzzy Finder
  • Access inherited members and asset members (variables/methods) when inheriting a type.

CSharpSectionExample.mp4

• TypeBuilder Window
  • Create & customize types beyond standard Type Field.
  • Supports generics and arrays.

TypebuilderWindowExample.mp4

• Select Expose Node (experimental)

  • Expose only the members you want, powered by the TypeBuilder.

• C# Preview / Generator

  • This is still in development report issues if code generation fails.
  • Improved performance for generated C# previews.
  • Generator now supports almost all units (except States, StateUnit and state graphs/machines).
  • Can now compile ScriptGraphAssets & ScriptMachines.
  • ⚠️ For custom nodes you will have to make your own custom generators.

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🧰 Utility & Workflow

• Utility Window is now integrated into the Graph Window:

  • Right-click in empty graph space → Open Utility Window.

• Selection to Embed / Macro

  • Right-click selected nodes → move selection to a new subgraph.

• Manual Event Toggle

  • New option to ignore graph/state disabled status.

UtilityWindow.and.To.Embed.mp4

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🆕 New Units

• StringBuilderUnit
  • Flexible string-building unit with multiple append modes:
    Default, SpaceBefore/After, NewLineBefore/After, Delimiter, UpperCase, LowerCase, Quoted, Trimmed, Prefixed, Suffixed, Repeated, TabBefore/After, CommaSeparated.
  • Each append mode corresponds to the port on the Unit at that index.

• Using Node
  • Adds support for IDisposable usage patterns in graphs.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Improved undo support for Comments.
• Branch parameters are now coroutine-friendly.
• Temporary build files now clean up properly if cancelled.
• Defined Event Types now appear correctly in Visual Scripting 1.9.1.
• Removed Flow and Value Reroutes ability to customize the flow as this was causing problems with the value connection widgets.

V3.2

Release Notes:

New Nodes

Else If

Else if is used to check multiple conditions in sequence and execute code based on the first condition that is true. If none are true, it goes to a default option (the else)

As

As is the same as the convert unit, this node used for the C# Generator.

Expanded Node Support

The C# generators now support the following nodes:

• InvokeMembers
• SetMembers
• GetMembers
• If
• SelectOnFlow
• NullCheck
• AsUnit
• ConvertUnit
• DelegateUnits
• For
• ForEach
• Expose

Attribute Support with Parameters

You can now use attributes with parameters.

Customizable Generated Code Colors

Change the colors of your generated code to match your preferences and improve readability.

New Node Finder Window

Thanks to the contribution from omega-ult, we now have a Node Finder Window. This tool allows you to search for units within:

• ScriptGraphAssets
• StateGraphAssets
• ScriptMachines
• StateMachines

Currently, the search functionality is limited to units and does not include Groups, StickyNotes, Comments, or States.

Improved Pool Initialization

The Initialize Pool unit has been updated to allow initializing a pool with a custom GameObject, instead of automatically creating one.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Disabled Connection Values Bug: Resolved the issue where connection values were not displaying.
• Warning Fix: Addressed warnings when entering a script machine.
• Fuzzy Finder Hanging Fix: Fixed an issue causing the Fuzzy Finder to hang when opened.
• To Macro and To Embed Error Fixed a issue where the To Macro and To Embed buttons would sometimes give a error when converting.

---

Also added better AOT Support for the OnUnityEvent node.

V3.1.2

You can now use Flow and Value Reroutes to customize the flow! also added Unity Event with parameters and fixed a bug where the finished output of the if would run before True or False.

You can select the connected node and the reroute and press backspace to toggle the flow.

V3.1.1

Added Arrows, Object Pooling Events and updated Log Unit also added HDR color.

To use HDRColor add Bolt.Addons.Community.Runtime to the node library and regenerate the nodes

V3.1!

The Community Addons is back! With the error fix, few tweaks and 27 new nodes.

Nodes added:

Have also 2 new windows :

• Unit Generator.
• Unit Descriptor Generator.

The unit generator will generate the basics of the node that you want like Inputs and Outputs but will not generate the logic you want for it that's up to you to add.

The unit descriptor generator will allow you to put a description and a custom icon for your node, The generated script has to be in a editor folder.

Finally back! with new maintainers.

3.0 Released!

It's been a long time coming, but the Community Addons is back in the swing of things! For a long time now, we've been anticipating the arrival of Bolt 2.0, which brought many improvements, an overhauled API, and the obsoleting of many of the units in the Addons. Now that the future of Bolt looks a bit different, there is value in continuing the Community Addons project, so we're back at it.

For this release, we've got an improved release strategy laid out, AOT compatibility, and a whole pile of toys from Jason Jones. A lot of those units were released previously on his website separately, but he's brought them under the Community Addons where the community as a whole can help maintain them and improve them. If you're looking to get the new features for your project and already have the 2.4 units, be sure to read Updating from 2.X below.

The Addons are in the best state they've been in for a long time, and it's exciting to be working on the project again after such a long break!

Updating from 2.X

Important - Do not skip if you are updating from the 2.X line of units!!!
The Community Addons project has moved away from distributed dlls to the Unity Package Manager. The primary driver for this is the existing dlls caused problems when building for AOT platforms (namely, Unity didn't realize it needed to include the dlls in the build). By using the Unity Package Manager, we can actually deliver the source code to your projects, enhancing your ability to tweak, customize, and participate in the project, while simultaneously slaying the AOT dragon once and for all. In addition, we can push out fixes as we have them, rather than slowly bundling things up into a large release.

All in all, it's a much better delivery system, but it does mean that you need to DELETE all Bolt.Addons.Community dlls from your Assets/Plugins directory! These are old, no longer updated, and will interfere with the new version. Simply remove them from your project, and then follow the Installing the new version instructions below for how to add project via the Package Manager.

If you have Jason's Bolt Extensions or UAlive, contact him on how to update safely now that these units are in the Community Addons.

Installing the new version

The Community Addons now uses the Unity Package Manager to directly pull the repository down into your project. However, this does mean that you need a configured .git client, because Unity does not provide one for you. This is a one-time setup step per computer that many of you can skip over if you've actively used .git before. (for more information on the subject, you can consult Unity's documentation on the matter: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/upm-git.html)

Prerequisite: If you don't have a git client installed on this computer

1. Install Git. https://git-scm.com/downloads
   • On Windows, you can automatically add git to the System Environment, allowing you to skip step 2 below.
     
2. Otherwise, manually configure Git to be a part of your system environment.
   • Windows:
     • On Windows, this means adding the git executable to your PATH environment variable
     • Right-click My Computer on your desktop or start-menu, and select Properties.
     • Click the Advanced system settings tab.
     • Click the Environment Variables button.
     • Under System Variables, click PATH (can also be called Path) and click Edit.
     • Paste the location to your git.exe and insert a semicolon at the end as a separator between what you just pasted and what was already there (No spaces). For me, this path was C:\Program Files\Git\bin\git.exe

(other platforms are supported, ask on the discord for help)

Installing

The Community Addons can be installed using one of two methods:

Via Package Manager:

Open the Unity Package Manager, and click the "+" button in the top-left corner :

and add the following url:

https://github.com/RealityStop/Bolt.Addons.Community.git

(for more information, or if errors are encountered, see https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/upm-ui-giturl.html)

Then, use the Tools menu to Build Unit Options, and they're ready to go! Once you've rebuilt your unit options, the new nodes will be available for use.

Manual install:

Alternatively, open Packages/manifest.json and add this line under dependencies:

"dev.bolt.addons": "https://github.com/RealityStop/Bolt.Addons.Community.git"

(for more information, or if errors are encountered, see https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/upm-ui-giturl.html)

Then, use the Tools menu to Build Unit Options, and they're ready to go! Once you've rebuilt your unit options, the new nodes will be available for use.

New Content

Whoohoo! Now we get to talk about all of the new toys! In addition to the new update method, the AOT compatibility, and the ability to see the source directly in your project, we also have new Units to play with!

AOT Compatibility

There is now a custom build script to pull in a custom link.xml to force Unity to include the Addons in AOT builds. The Dragon has finally been slain, and version 3.0 brings the first version that is fully AOT compatible.

Reroutes

Behold. You can finally reroute flows and values wherever you please. You can find them by searching 'reroute' in the fuzzy finder. Once you've picked them from the fuzzy finder, you can simply press spacebar to lay down a new reroute.

Just promise to show us any spaghetti atrocities you commit:

Random Element

There is now a unit that can select a random element from an IEnumerable, with optional toggles in the graph inspector for accessing both the key and value of a dictionary:

Be aware that because of how the data containers are structured, accessing elements from an array or list is far more performant than accessing a random element of an dictionary (in my testing with 10000 elements, arrays/lists were about 100x faster). It's still fine to pull from a moderately sized dictionary, just try not to do it every frame.

Query

We now have a Query node, which can perform operations similar to how you might use LINQ in C#. The simples, Any, is shown here:

Any returns if the collection has any items (and thus, is not empty). For instance, if you maintained a list of targets in range, you could query the list to test if there were any targets in range.

However, the Query node offers a drop down that can alter the operation performed for several other variations:

Some of the other variations have to operate against each element in the input Collection such as the following case that results in a filtered list Where the condition yielded true:

Here is a super basic example using the Where method. If the item is above 10, its automatically added. Here's some input, and the resulting output:

When working with some of the Query types, you'll notice that the condition is checked multiple times, which means you need to use a variable or reroutes to feed the updated result back into the unit each time. This is because (using the above Where example), each item in the Collection input node is being tested to determine which elements result in a true Condition result. To do this, it will set the Item output and pulse on the Body flow output, much like the For Each node does. However, after that flow has terminated, the Query will recheck the Condition to find the result of the operation for that Item in the collection. Using reroutes to show this relationship, the following is an equivalent:

Array and Multi-Array support

Three new units have been added to improve support for arrays and add multidimensional arrays to Bolt. If you are unfamiliar with multidimensional arrays, you can think of them as an n-dimensional table, or a list of lists, rather than a flat list. (Creating jagged multi-arrays are currently not supported, use C# for that)

Additional units that are able to fetch items from arrays (of any dimensions) have also been added. You can find all of them under Community->Collections=>Multi Array

Convert

Convert is an AOT safe way of converting an object or collection from one type to another. This was created so we could use Linq properly by evaluating only after we converted. The convert unit however, is intended to also convert any object to another type if it is an allowed conversion.

And that's all for now! Go make something awesome!

V2.6

Version 2.6 released

This is largely a maintenance release, intended to resolve some errors in the software and bring the addons pack up to the latest UnityVS version. If you're wondering what happened to V2.5, it was soft released as an update to 2.4. Chances are if you're already using the Addons, you've already got 2.5.

2.6 includes:

• eliminates a set of warnings when using a Professional version of UnityVS (Unity's distribution of Bolt)
• code driven defined event listeners now properly check to ensure the event is of the appropriate type. Using the events in the graph already performed this check, we're just bringing code uses in line with the expected behavior.
• Manual Events now support coroutine flows, and aim to be unopinionated. A few concessions have had to be made to work the way a user might expect and preserve the single-threaded nature of Bolt. The exact mechanics deserve an entire post of their own, but the see the following table for when the event is immediately triggered, and when it will defer to the next time it can safely execute within the Bolt threading context (typically the next update).

Normal, Editmode	Immediate
Normal, Playmode, Running	Defer	(Deferred, to avoid threading edge cases)
Normal, Playmode, Paused	Immediate
Coroutine, Editmode	Warn, Immediate	(We can't use regular coroutines at edit time, and editor coroutines can't run Bolt nodes or Waits)
Coroutine, Playmode, Running	Defer
Coroutine, Playmode, Paused	Defer

Ideally, it just executes and everything is happy, but it miiight be the next frame before it can execute.

V - 2.4.1

Updated to support Bolt 1.4.7.

Also includes a minor revision to the C# Defined Events API, which now has a static proxy to facilitate listening and triggering events. This is available in the Bolt.Addons.Community.DefinedEvents as follows:

    /// <summary>
    /// Triggers Defined Event units listening for the passed eventData on the target gameobject.
    /// This is the scripting quivalent to the Trigger Defined Event unit.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="target">The game object that event units should listen on to receive the event.</param>
    /// <param name="eventData">This is a filled object of the type of event you want to trigger.</param>
    public static void Trigger(GameObject target, object eventData)

    /// <summary>
    /// Triggers Defined Event units listening for the passed eventData globally.  Note that triggering an event 
    /// globally will not trigger events listening for the event on a particular object.
    /// This is the scripting quivalent to the Trigger Global Defined Event unit.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="eventData">This is a filled object of the type of event you want to trigger.</param>
    public static void TriggerGlobal(object eventData)

    /// <summary>
    /// Registers a C# listener for an event on the target object.  This is the scripting
    /// equivalent to the Defined Event unit.  Notice the IDisposable return value, which allows you
    /// to end the subscription for the event (via calling the .Dispose() method).
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type to listen for.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="target">The game object to listen on to receive the event.</param>
    /// <param name="onEvent">The action or method to call when the event occurs</param>
    /// <returns>A disposable that, when .Dispose is called, will unsubscribe from the
    /// event, essentially cancelling the call to RegisterListener.</returns>
    public static IDisposable RegisterListener<T>(GameObject target, Action<T> onEvent)

    /// <summary>
    /// Registers a C# listener for an event globally.  This is the scripting
    /// equivalent to the Global Defined Event unit.  Notice the IDisposable return
    /// value, which allows you to end the subscription for the event (via calling
    /// the .Dispose() method).
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type to listen for.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="onEvent">The action or method to call when the event occurs</param>
    /// <returns>A disposable that, when .Dispose is called, will unsubscribe from the
    /// event, essentially cancelling the call to RegisterListener.</returns>
    public static IDisposable RegisterGlobalListener<T>(Action<T> onEvent)