typedreammoon/dreamshader/dream-shader-verify

dream-shader-verify <file> | -All

The gate every other DreamShader skill ends with. The driver, .skill/dsc.ps1, wraps UnrealEditor-Cmd.exe <project> -run=DreamShader <verb> so a check is one command and one exit code.

Paths below are relative to the plugin root, Plugins/DreamShader/.

Three levels

pwsh -File Plugins/DreamShader/.skill/dsc.ps1 check DShader/UI/M_Panel.dss
pwsh -File Plugins/DreamShader/.skill/dsc.ps1 compile DShader/UI/M_Panel.dss -Force -CleanNew
pwsh -File Plugins/DreamShader/.skill/dsc.ps1 check DShader/Passes/CP_Outline.dsp -Shaders -CleanNew

Exit 0 success, 1 failure — the commandlet's own codes. Run from anywhere inside the project: the driver walks up for the .uproject and resolves the engine from its EngineAssociation.

Every run boots the editor — tens of seconds before DreamShader gets control. One run over many files costs about what one file does, so batch: edit everything, then check -All once.

What you get back

dsc: compile  project=MyProject.uproject  engine=C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.8
LogDreamShader: Display: Generated Material /Game/UI/M_Panel.M_Panel from …/DShader/UI/M_Panel.dss.
Warnings:
…/DShader/UI/M_Panel.dss(13,20): DSH7233: A slider range ('@slider', …) is for a scalar parameter; this one is 'float3', which has no slider, so the range is ignored.
 
Assets written to disk by this run:
  Content/UI/M_Panel.uasset  [NEW]
    deleted (-CleanNew)
 
dsc: OK (exit 0)

A failure lists every error of the stage that failed, each with its position and code:

LogDreamShader: Error: …/M_Broken.dss(7,16): DSH4200: 'Tin' is not declared in this scope.
LogDreamShader: Error: …/M_Broken.dss(8,15): DSH4208: 'saturte' is not a function, a builtin or a struct.
LogDreamShader: Error: …/M_Broken.dss(9,16): DSH4250: 'mix' is the GLSL spelling; this language is HLSL, so write 'lerp'.
LogDreamShader: Error: DreamShader check: 1 source(s), 3 error(s), 0 warning(s). RESULT=FAILED
dsc: FAILED (exit 1)

The pipeline stops between stages — parse, bind, lower, validate, emit — not at the first error: fix them all, then run again. A syntax error can hide the binder's errors behind it, so a second run may find more.

The thing to understand about compile

The commandlet writes real `.uasset` files. The interactive editor, for a ThinCustom material (the project default), does not: it keeps the product in memory (Ephemeral), and the source is the authoring surface. A file a headless run left on disk then wins: the editor rebuilds that material on disk instead of in memory (it logs so, and Tools ▸ DreamShader ▸ Make Ephemeral undoes it).

So -CleanNew: the driver records every .uasset under the Content folders of the project and its plugins before the run, and deletes only the ones that were not there before. An asset that existed and was rewritten is never deleted; when git tracks it, it is reported in red with the command that restores it:

  Content/UI/Cards/M_Foil.uasset  [TRACKED AND MODIFIED]
    restore with: git -C "D:\Work\MyProject" checkout -- "Content/UI/Cards/M_Foil.uasset"

That is not a driver bug: the source genuinely regenerated the asset, and only the user knows whether the new bytes should be kept. (A Graph-backend material and a material function are saved on every build in the editor too; for those, a rewrite is expected.)

Gotchas

• `-All` covers the plugins' sources too. Every enabled plugin with a DShader/ folder is a source root, so

compile -All rebuilds its materials into its own Content/ — files another repository owns. Compile single files while iterating; keep -All for check, or for a deliberate gate.

• A `.dsp` builds on UE 5.8+ only (DSH8300 below that). Besides the pipeline it writes a render target per

exported buffer, and an HLSL pass rewrites the project's DShader/.dreampass/ registry and snapshots — source files to commit, which the driver lists after the run.

• `check -Shaders` saves assets, because 2.0 has no transient asset; the driver reports them like

compile's. It drives the cook-target shader compilers (a commandlet does not render), so its HLSL errors come from the engine log.

• A green `compile -All` can have built nothing: an empty source list logs

DreamShader commandlet found no source files to compile. at Warning and exits 0. Look for Generated ….

• A flag's value is on or off, or the run does nothing. Straight to the commandlet, -Force and -Force=true

(1, yes, on) are on and -Force=false (0, no, off) is off; any other value, an empty one included, is DSH9110 and the command exits 1 without touching a file. The driver passes flags bare.

• The first bare token after `-run=DreamShader` is the verb, unconditionally — `-run=DreamShader Source=X

compile runs a verb called Source=X`.

• The editor bridge never runs inside a commandlet: no diagnostics.json, no squiggles in VS Code. The log is

where a headless run's diagnostics are — and the driver prints them, each report whole.

• Use PowerShell, not Git Bash, for an asset path: Git Bash rewrites /Game/X into

C:/Program Files/Git/Game/X.

Troubleshooting

See also

• `Docs/tools/commandlet.md` — every verb and flag behind the driver
• `Docs/generation/ephemeral.md` — Ephemeral and Materialized
• `Docs/generation/caching.md` — the hash skip -Force bypasses
• `dream-shader-diagnose` — resolving a code