ShaderGraph - Design Rules

Advisory module. Read this before giving Shader Graph guidance. The goal is to keep recommendations anchored to actual package/source behavior, not stale model memory.

Mode: Both. Documentation only, no REST skills.

Source Scope

Validated against:

• Unity 2022.3 package source: E:/CodeSpace/temp/shadergraph/com.unity.shadergraph@14.0.12
• Unity 6 Graphics source: E:/CodeSpace/temp/Graphics/Packages/com.unity.shadergraph
• Runtime/editor behavior in this repo's ShaderGraph skills and dual-version test environments

Core anchors:

• Editor/Data/Graphs/GraphData.cs
• Editor/Data/Nodes/AbstractMaterialNode.cs
• Editor/Data/Interfaces/Graph/SlotReference.cs
• Specific node files under Editor/Data/Nodes/...

When To Load

Load before:

• Designing a new Graph or SubGraph architecture
• Reviewing a proposed Shader Graph node chain
• Advising on blackboard properties, keywords, samplers, or SubGraph boundaries
• Suggesting changes to graphs through the constrained shadergraph_* node editing skills

What This Module Assumes

• Graph editing is limited to the current safe node whitelist exposed by shadergraph_list_supported_nodes
• Guidance must stay inside what Unity 2022.3 and Unity 6 both support
• shadergraph_get_structure is the fact source for current node ids, slot ids, and live topology
• The practical overlap is 28 nodes across both versions; AppendVectorNode is currently Unity 6 only in live validation

Sub-doc Routing

Sub-doc	Read when
VERSIONS.md	You need version differences or portability rules
NODES.md	You need the supported node subset and editable fields
RECIPES.md	You need patterns that the current skill subset can actually build
PITFALLS.md	You are reviewing a graph or suspect bad advice / hidden costs
REVIEW.md	You want a checklist for judging a Shader Graph plan

Hard Rules

• Do not recommend nodes outside the current whitelist unless you clearly say the current skills cannot build them.
• Do not talk about "editing by node name"; the implementation uses serialized nodeId and slotId.
• Do not assume Unity 2022.3 has package graph templates. It commonly does not.
• Do not tell the agent to mutate Master Stack, Target, Context, Block, or SubGraph output structure. Stage 2 does not support that.
• For PropertyNode, create or verify the blackboard property first; the node binds a real property object, not just a string.
• Prefer small SubGraphs when reuse or porting matters, but keep them within the currently supported node subset if you expect the skills to edit them later.

When in doubt, cite the relevant source path or ask the runtime graph for structure first.