# Auth, license & cloud — unity-cli command reference Part of the **`unity-cli`** skill. See that skill's `SKILL.md` for CLI install, global flags, environment variables, exit codes, and common workflows. All global flags (`--format json`, `--non-interactive`, `--yes`, `--proxy`, …) apply to every command below. --- ### Auth ```bash # Check login status unity auth status --format json # Login (opens browser for OAuth) unity auth login # Login with service account credentials (CI — skips browser) # Preferred: read secret from stdin to avoid shell-history and process-list exposure unity auth login --client-id --secret-from-stdin # The secret must be piped in: a terminal on stdin is refused, and the # command stops waiting after 30 seconds if the pipe is never closed. # A --client-secret flag also exists, but passing a secret as a # command-line argument exposes it in shell history and the process list. # Avoid it — use --secret-from-stdin (above) or the # UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID / UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET env vars instead. # Login without persisting credentials to the keyring (ephemeral CI) unity auth login --client-id --secret-from-stdin --no-store # Logout (clears both service-account and OAuth credential slots) unity auth logout # Log a specific stored account out, rather than the active one unity auth logout user@example.com # Skip the confirmation prompt unity auth logout --yes ``` **How sign-in is served.** Every command’s OAuth token read goes through a resident auth broker — a background `unity` process started on demand by the first command that needs a token, exiting on its own after two idle minutes. It seals the token store to the machine’s hardware where available (a non-exportable TPM key on Windows, TPM2 via `systemd-creds` on Linux, then DPAPI, the Secret Service, the Keychain and a local key file, in that order), and `unity doctor` reports the active tier. On macOS and Windows it verifies a connecting process’s code signature and refuses an unsigned or non-Unity-signed peer; set `UNITY_PEER_AUTH_MODE=identify-only` to log without refusing (for an Editor or app you built from source). A broker started that way is a separate dev broker with its own address and its own sign-in: it never reads your normal sign-in, so sign in from the dev app that uses it (`unity auth login` writes your normal store, not the dev broker's). It refuses Unity-signed apps on macOS and Windows, and Unity apps refuse it in turn. Set `UNITY_NO_AUTH_BROKER=1` to bypass the broker and read the OS keyring directly. `unity auth consumers` (below) lists the applications that have used this machine’s sign-in through it. #### Multiple accounts The CLI stores more than one signed-in account and keeps one of them *active*. `unity auth login` adds an account; these three manage the set. ```bash # List stored accounts; "*" marks the active one unity auth list unity auth ls # alias unity auth list --format json # Make a stored account active (by email or id) — no browser round-trip unity auth switch user@example.com # Show the account a project uses for cloud commands unity auth default # Pin this project to an account, regardless of which one is active unity auth default user@example.com # Target a project other than the current directory unity auth default user@example.com --project ./MyGame # Remove the pin; the project follows the active account again unity auth default --clear ``` Three behaviors worth knowing before scripting these: - **A project pin beats the active account.** If a project has a default set, commands run inside it keep using that account even after `unity auth switch` — the switch reports this rather than failing silently. Use `auth default --clear` to hand the project back to the active account. - **Service-account credentials outrank both.** When `UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID` / `UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET` are set (or a service account is signed in), they take precedence over every stored account and `auth switch` says so instead of appearing to work. Unset them, or `unity auth logout`, before switching. - **`auth switch` is ambiguity-aware.** Given a string matching several stored accounts it fails rather than guessing, and under `--format json` carries the candidates in `data.candidates` so a script can disambiguate. Pass the full email or the account id. `unity auth default` resolves the project from the current directory unless `--project` is given, and errors if that path isn't a Unity project. Passing both an account and `--clear` is rejected. #### Consumers — see who's used your sign-in, and revoke one Some products use your Unity sign-in without holding your refresh token themselves, brokering through the CLI's own auth broker instead. `unity auth consumers` lists every application that has done this on this machine, and `unity auth revoke` cuts one off. ```bash # Application, scopes, grants/denials, and when it was last used unity auth consumers unity auth consumers --format json # Stop an application from using your sign-in (covers every scope it asked for) unity auth revoke "Some Tool" # Undo that unity auth revoke "Some Tool" --restore ``` Both are local-only — reading the broker's audit trail and a local revocation list — so neither needs sign-in or the network. On a machine that has never run the broker, `auth consumers` reports an empty list rather than an error. `auth revoke` without `--restore` revokes; with it, it un-revokes; either way it reports the actual resulting state (e.g. "already revoked") rather than assuming the write changed anything. The stored token itself is sealed to the machine that wrote it (TPM-backed on Windows/Linux where available, Keychain on macOS, with a local-key-file fallback everywhere), so a copied token-store file is worthless on another machine. `unity doctor` reports which protection is in force. **Separate sign-in from Hub.** As of `0.1.0-beta.8`, the CLI and the GUI Hub store their sign-in credentials **separately** — signing in to one no longer signs you out of (or overwrites the account of) the other, so each can stay signed in as a different account. (In earlier betas they shared a single keyring session.) **Service-account credentials via env vars** (`UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID` + `UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET`) mint bearer tokens automatically for the duration of the process — no browser round-trip, no keyring write. If only one of the two is set, the CLI prints a warning on stderr instead of silently falling back to the keyring/OAuth identity. The interactive `unity auth login` flow prints the sign-in URL to the terminal **before** attempting to launch the browser, which unblocks remote/headless sessions (SSH, containers, dev VMs) where `xdg-open` / `open` has no graphical session to attach to. With `--format json`, an `auth_url=…` progress frame is emitted so machine consumers can capture the URL without parsing human text. `unity auth status` reflects real session state (including an explicit "session expired" message), not optimistic local assumptions. `unity doctor` and `unity cloud status` report the same real session state. --- ### License — list, activate, return ```bash # List the Unity licenses active on this machine unity license unity license list # explicit form, identical output unity license --format json # machine-readable # Summary: active license(s) + sign-in state unity license status # Activate a license — choose exactly one mode (default = signed-in subscription) unity license activate # signed-in user's subscription (entitlement) licenses unity license activate --serial SC-… # serial-based (ULF) activation, no sign-in needed unity license activate --personal --accept-eula # free Unity Personal license (must accept the EULA) unity license activate --floating # lease a seat from the configured floating server unity license activate --file ./Unity_lic.ulf # offline activation from a .ulf / .xml file unity license activate --generate-request ./req.alf # write an offline activation request (air-gapped) # Return the active licenses — assigned/subscription AND serial-activated (prompts to confirm; --yes skips) unity license return unity license return --yes # Floating (network) license server unity license server list # the configured floating license server(s) unity license server status # reachability + available seats ``` `list` columns: product, license type (`Floating` / `Assigned` / `ULF`), organization, and expiry. `status` prints a one-glance summary — the active license(s) and whether you're signed in — and exits non-zero (`4`) when no license is active, so it works as a scriptable health check. The first licensing command downloads the Unity licensing client on demand; as of `0.1.0-beta.8`, if the client is unavailable `list` reports a clear error and exits non-zero (matching `status`), rather than printing an empty list. `unity license status` also reports `floatingServer` (the licensing server this machine is configured against) and `machineId` (the identity the licensing client reports to it) — the two values to match against a lease record when a floating seat looks stuck. Both are always present in `--format json` / `ndjson`; human and `tsv` output shows them only when a floating server is configured. `activate` takes a single mode flag (combining them is a usage error). The default (no flag) and `--personal` activate the signed-in user's entitlements — sign in first with `unity auth login`. `--personal` also requires `--accept-eula` to acknowledge the Unity Personal license terms. `--serial` / `--file` work offline without sign-in. `--floating` requires a configured floating license server (exit `4` if none is set). `--generate-request` writes a `.alf` request for air-gapped activation instead of activating. `return` returns the active licenses, prompting for confirmation first — pass `--yes` to skip (required in non-interactive shells and with `--json`). All honor `--json` / `--format` and exit non-zero on failure (`2` bad usage, `3` sign-in required, `4` floating not configured, `6` licensing-client error). **Service accounts.** The `license` commands recognize service-account sessions (`UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID` / `UNITY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET`, or `unity auth login --client-id`): `unity license status` reports `Signed in: yes (service account)` and includes the auth mode in JSON. Unity's licensing backend does **not** accept service-account tokens for license activation, so with a service-account session the default entitlement mode and `--personal` fail up front — before contacting the licensing client — with guidance toward the unattended options (`--floating`, `--file`, `--generate-request`, or a perpetual `--serial`). `unity license return` lists and returns serial-activated licenses too (not just assigned/subscription seats) — important for CI machines that activate per run — and returns each license individually, so when only some can be freed it reports what succeeded (in text and in the JSON `returned` / `failed` fields) instead of an all-or-nothing failure. `unity license server list` shows the configured floating license server (from the `licensingServiceBaseUrl` machine setting; a pure settings read, no client download). `unity license server status` contacts that server and reports reachability plus available seats — exit `4` when no server is configured, `6` when configured but unreachable. --- ### Cloud — Unity Cloud organizations and projects Requires being signed in (`unity auth login`). ```bash # Show cloud sign-in state and active organization unity cloud status --format json # Organizations unity cloud org list --format json unity cloud org current # print the active default org id unity cloud org set-default # set active default org unity cloud org clear-default # revert to "All Organizations" # Create an organization (company profile: individual or company, plus country) unity cloud org create "" --first-name Ada --last-name Lovelace --country GB unity cloud org create "" --company-name "Nebula Games Inc." --country US --region CA --set-default # Projects in the active organization unity cloud project list --format json # * marks the active default project # Default project, stored per organization unity cloud project current # print the active default project id unity cloud project set-default # project UUID, Genesis id, or exact name unity cloud project clear-default # drop this organization's default # Override the active organization for a single call unity cloud project list --cloud-org # also via UNITY_CLOUD_ORG env var ``` **Creating an organization takes a name and a company profile**, the same fields the Unity Dashboard's create dialog asks for. `--type individual` needs `--first-name` and `--last-name`; `--type company` needs `--company-name`. `--type` can be left out when the name flags already say which it is, and passing both kinds is refused. `--country` is a two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (`GB`, not `GBR`, and not `UK`, which is not an ISO code). `--region` is the ISO 3166-2 subdivision (`CA`, or `US-CA`) and is required for the US, Canada, and Mexico and refused for every other country. The organization name is trimmed and capped at 40 characters; person and company names follow the Dashboard's own character rules. Everything passed is validated before the sign-in check and before any request, so a typo costs no network call. Omitted fields are prompted for on a terminal; under `--non-interactive`, or when output is redirected, the command fails naming every missing option. Whether a country or subdivision code actually exists is the server's call, and its field-level reason is reported as-is. `--set-default` makes the new organization active, exactly as `org set-default` would; if the setting cannot be written the organization is still reported as created, with a warning that the default did not take effect. A name already in use is reported as such rather than as an HTTP status. Machine output is a create-specific shape carrying `id` and `name` only, deliberately not `org list`'s row, since the create response has no `role` and the default marker describes a list rather than a single new organization. **The default project is per organization.** `set-default` stores the project's UUID against the active organization's Genesis id, so switching your active organization switches which default applies, and `clear-default` only drops the active organization's. `cloud project current` and `clear-default` read and write the settings file directly, so they need no network and no session when the organization comes from your stored default; passing `--cloud-org ` needs a lookup, so that path requires a session like the rest. **What consumes it.** Commands that need a Unity Cloud project but were not given one fall back to the stored default. The order is the explicit flag (`--project-id`), then `UNITY_CLOUD_PROJECT`, then the cloud link in the project directory's `ProjectSettings/PlayerSettings.asset`, then the stored default, so inside a cloud-linked project the link still wins. `unity collaboration` uses this chain. **Exit codes.** The `cloud` and `auth` commands map an authentication failure (expired or missing session, rejected sign-in) to `3`, and any other operational failure (network, server error) to `6` — so scripts can distinguish "sign in again" from a genuine command failure. `unity auth status` / `logout` follow the same convention. ---