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ALIS — World Reborn
ALIS — World Reborn

Posted on Edited on Originally published at forums.unrealengine.com

Free open-source UE5 content automation: JSON to DataAssets to live editor updates

ALIS JSON to DataAssets editor pipeline

A free, open-source Unreal Engine 5 editor toolchain is available for developers working on data-heavy projects.


The core idea is simple:

change game content as plain JSON, and the editor-side pipeline carries the update end to end — it detects the changed data, regenerates typed DataAssets, and propagates the new definition into actors already placed in the editor scene, without a C++ recompile or manual asset rebuilding.


This makes content:

  • text-based
  • version-controlled
  • diffable
  • reviewable
  • safer for scripts, CI, and AI agents to propose

The pipeline is split into four public plugins:

  • ProjectDefinitionGenerator (Plugins/Editor/ProjectDefinitionGenerator) — watches JSON-backed definitions, validates changes, and regenerates typed DataAssets from source data.

  • ProjectPlacementEditor (Plugins/Editor/ProjectPlacementEditor) — creates configured actors from generated definitions, then reapplies or replaces placed actors when definitions change.

  • ProjectAssetSync (Plugins/Editor/ProjectAssetSync) — keeps JSON references correct when assets are renamed or moved, and fixes redirectors.

  • ProjectEditorCore (Plugins/Editor/ProjectEditorCore) — a small shared contract layer. The stages communicate through its events instead of hard-wiring the pipeline stage to stage, so they stay loosely coupled and each one is easy to read, fork, or extend.


Useful for Unreal automation, data-driven gameplay, CI content generation, and agent-assisted content authoring.

Want to test the public build, review the architecture, or contribute to ALIS?

Start here: https://github.com/fallintodusk/alis/discussions/1

Practical feedback is welcome: what should be clearer, more stable, more useful, or more convincing?

Source: github.com/fallintodusk/alis

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