Anchor Hierarchy Documentation

Decorates Unity's Hierarchy window: full-width row colors, icons and notes, header rows, tree lines, component icons with a floating mini inspector, an activation checkbox, tag and layer columns, hover shortcuts, a scene switcher and bookmarks.

Features

Row Colors, Gradients & Notes

Full-width row colors, as a Gradient (default) or a Solid fill.
Colors, icons and notes live in <scene folder>/Anchor/Hierarchy/<Scene>.AnchorHierarchy.asset, never in the scene file. Saving the scene drops the data of objects you deleted, and deletes the asset once nothing is left.
Alternating zebra striping when no explicit color is assigned.
Row notes: a short comment shown after the name as // Note, readable on any row color.
Auto-contrasted text labels (light/dark) based on background fill brightness.
Alt-click any row to open the palette: colors, icons and the row's note. Hovering a swatch previews it on the row, and holding Alt applies a color or icon to the whole branch.

Rich metrics tooltip displayed on GameObject name hover:
- Total recursive children count (active / inactive breakdown).
- Component counts by kind: meshes, colliders, rigidbodies, lights, audio sources, particle systems, canvases, scripts and others.
- Total geometry complexity: combined Mesh triangle and vertex count from MeshFilter and SkinnedMeshRenderer.

Tree Connector Lines

Draws vertical and horizontal connector lines linking parent GameObjects to their children.
Depth-aware alignment matching Unity's foldout arrows.

Row Icons & Auto Component Icons

Three icon modes: All, Hide Default, and Hide All.
Auto Component Icons: Automatically replaces Unity's generic GameObject/prefab icon with the object's first meaningful component icon (e.g. Camera, Light, AudioSource, custom script).
Keep Prefab Icons: Prefab instances keep Unity's prefab icon instead of a component icon, in Hide Default too, until you set an icon of your own.
+ Add Icon in the palette adds your own textures, or any of Unity's built-in icons with search.

Inline Activation Checkbox

Enables/disables GameObjects directly from the Hierarchy.
Placement options: Left (next to foldout arrow) or Right (adjacent to component minimap).
Modes: Always, On Hover, or Disabled.

Component Minimap & Mini Inspector

Renders component icons along the right edge of each Hierarchy row, showing fewer when the name needs the room. A +N badge stands for the rest: click it to pick one to inspect.
Alt-click any component icon in the minimap to open the Component Mini Inspector:
- A small floating window showing the component with its own editor, custom editors included. With Anchor Inspector installed, its [Button] methods show too.
- Auto-close: closes when it loses focus, unless pinned.
- Pin: keeps the window open, so several can sit side by side.
- Opens beside the clicked icon and stays on screen.

Header Rows

Renders GameObjects named --- Label --- or // Label as full-width separator banners for visual grouping without real scene reparenting.

Empty Space Script Drop

Drag a single script asset onto the empty space below the last Hierarchy row to spawn a new GameObject carrying that component, named after the script's type.

Hover Shortcuts

Hover the cursor over any row in the Hierarchy and press:

E: Expand / collapse children.
Shift+E: Isolate: expand its whole subtree and collapse everything else in its scene. On an expanded row, collapse its subtree.
Shift+A: Toggle active state.
F: Select it and frame it in the Scene view.

Collapse All Shortcut

Shift+Z collapses every object in the Hierarchy, or expands them all again once everything is collapsed. It does what the toolbar's collapse button does, whether or not the toolbar buttons are shown.
Works from any window, with no click into the Hierarchy first. With more than one Hierarchy open, it acts on the one under the cursor, else the focused one.
Registered with Unity's Shortcut Manager: rebind or remove it in Edit > Shortcuts > Anchor > Hierarchy.

Scene Headers & Scenes Panel

Every scene header row gets an arrow that opens the Scenes panel, also on the toolbar and under Tools > Anchor > Hierarchy > Open Scenes Panel.
The panel lists your Build Settings scenes: favorites pinned to the top, open scenes in bold, drag to reorder, and it can be pinned as a dockable window.
Clicking a scene opens it on its own. From a scene header's arrow while the Hierarchy lists more than one scene, it replaces only that scene, keeping its place, its loaded state and whether it is the active scene. Shift+Click adds the scene alongside the listed ones.

Bookmarks

The Bookmarks panel, from the toolbar or Tools > Anchor > Hierarchy > Open Bookmarks Panel, lists your bookmarked objects and assets: search them, drag to reorder, and drop objects on it to bookmark them.
A History column beside it lists your last 25 selections, each with a star to bookmark it.
With Bookmark Bar on, your bookmarks also show as chips along the bottom of each Hierarchy window: click one to select it, middle-click it or click its × to remove it, and drop objects on the bar to bookmark them.

Layers & Tags Columns

Interactive columns on the right edge of the Hierarchy:
- Layers Column: Shows current layer; click to open popup dropdown and reassign layer with Undo support.
- Tags Column: Shows current tag; click to open popup dropdown and reassign tag with Undo support.
- Top Header Strip: Displays Layers | Tags headers above the columns on scene header rows.
- Long names are clipped at the columns instead of running under them.

Settings

The Hierarchy page under Preferences > Anchor, one foldout section per group:

Row Appearance

Row Icons: All / Hide Default / Hide All.
Auto Component Icons: Toggle automatic component icon resolution.
Keep Prefab Icons: Keep Unity's prefab icon on prefab instances. Off by default.
Tree Lines: Toggle parent-child tree connector lines.
Zebra Striping: Toggle alternating row background tinting, with Even Row Color and Odd Row Color under it.
Header Rows: Toggle --- Header --- banner rendering.
Row Notes: Toggle in-line textual row notes and comments.
Subtree Statistics Tooltip: Toggle recursive metrics and triangle/vertex count tooltips.

Row Controls

Activation Toggle: Always / On Hover / Disabled, with Toggle Position (Left / Right) under it.
Component Minimap: Toggle the right-side component icon strip, with Max Icons (1–10) under it.

Toolbar Buttons: Collapse All, Scenes and Bookmarks buttons on each Hierarchy window's toolbar, folding into one ⋮ menu when the window is narrow and hidden while the search field fills the toolbar.
Bookmark Bar: Bookmark chips along the bottom of each Hierarchy window, hidden while there are no bookmarks.
Bookmark History: A History column of recent selections in the Bookmarks panel.
Panel Brightness: Adjust floating window background brightness.

Tag & Layer Columns

The section's checkbox switches both columns on or off.

Hide When Crowded: Hide a row's columns when they would cover its name. Off, they shrink instead.
Min Label Width: Minimum width kept for GameObject names; with Hide When Crowded off, the columns shrink to keep it.
Column Alignment: Compact packing or a Fixed Grid of column tracks.
Column Placement: Where the columns sit relative to the component minimap.
Display Mode: Columns always shown, or only on the hovered row.
Column Headers: Toggle top Layers | Tags column header bar.
Layer Column / Tag Column: Show the column, with Select On Click, Hide 'Default' / Hide 'Untagged' and Width under it.

Shortcuts

Lists the shortcuts with their current bindings. The section's checkbox turns Shift+Z and the hover shortcuts E, Shift+E, Shift+A and F on or off together.

Anchor Hierarchy