Project Management is evolving! Unity Package Manager Overview

Unity 2017.2 introduced the Package Manager, a modular system and API that dynamically loads and updates new Unity-developed features in your projects. Unity 2018.1 takes it one step further with the newly released Package Manager User Interface, the Hub, and Project Templates, all of which help you get new projects started faster and more efficiently.

The core pieces are:

1. Unity Hub: Currently in Beta, makes it easy to manage your projects and Unity Editor installs.
2. Unity Package Manager UI: Offers a new way to discover and update Unity-made features independently of the editor, which now ships with the Unity Editor (2018.1 and above).
3. Package Repository: A Unity-owned and operated content repository. For now, it only holds Unity-made packages.

Unity Package Manager UI brings the following improvements to your project management workflow:

• Quick access to new Unity features: Browse the list of available features for your version of the editor and download them from the cloud. Packages are dynamically and instantly included in your project. Package loading is backed by a local editor cache for an optimal online/offline experience.
• Get the latest fixes, instantly: Quickly check for updates available for the packages you have installed in your project. Updates are downloaded from the cloud and instantly applied to your project when requested.
• Access to Preview features: Many upcoming Unity features will be available as downloads from the Package Manager UI as soon as they’re available in preview.
• Lightweight projects: Unity Packages are kept in a global cache on your machine and referenced by your project.  When sharing your project with collaborators, you don’t need to share packages; the editor will fetch the necessary packages from the cloud repository in your project’s manifest.

In the upcoming releases, Unity Package Manager will work in parallel with the Asset Store and the legacy .unitypackage format. For the time being, Unity Packages are developed exclusively for Unity-built features. This allows us to build reliable tools and efficient processes that ensure seamless integration in every step of your development cycle.

Many Unity features ship separately from the official Unity build making it challenging to find them all. They might be on the Asset Store, the Unity Forum, or GitHub, for example.

Going forward, all these off-cycle, official features will be discoverable and managed through the Package Manager ecosystem, and delivered in a format that is unified across Asset Store content and Unity-published editor features.

Keep track of the latest developments and join the discussion on the Package Manager forum.