prefab-workflow

Prefab Workflow

Procedural guide for creating, editing, and managing Unity prefabs. Covers PrefabUtility API for programmatic prefab creation, prefab mode vs in-scene editing, variant strategies, and how to use Hades graph queries to discover existing prefabs before authoring new ones.

When to Apply

Activate when the task involves:

• Creating a new prefab asset from a scene object or from scratch
• Deciding whether to create a new prefab vs a prefab variant vs modify an existing one
• Editing a prefab's structure, components, or serialised values
• Applying or reverting prefab instance overrides
• Nesting prefabs inside other prefabs
• Writing an editor script to batch-create or batch-configure prefab assets

Do NOT activate for deciding the overall prefab architecture (depth, variant strategy, data vs behaviour) — use hades:unity-architect and hades:prefab-architecture for that, then return here to execute.

Project Context Check

Before creating or modifying any prefab:

1. Discover existing prefabs:

   • Call graph_query(edgeKind: "references", edgeTargetPath: "<path/to/Component.cs>") to check whether a prefab with the required component already exists — avoid duplicating assets (get the script's path from search_by_name first if you only have the class name)
   • Call search_by_name("*.prefab") for a full prefab inventory; narrow with search_by_name("Enemy*.prefab") or similar patterns when scope is known
   • Call recall_memory("prefab workflow conventions") to surface any documented team conventions about prefab folder structure, naming, or variant depth limits

2. Adapt work based on findings:

   • If a matching prefab exists → extend it (variant or composition) rather than creating a parallel asset
   • If memory documents a max nesting depth (e.g. "no more than 2 levels of prefab nesting") → enforce it; flag to the user if a request would violate it
   • If this is a new prefab category not yet in memory → after completing the work, call propose_memory_update to record the convention