---

title: Serialization rules

description: Unity serialization best practices

globs: ["**/*.cs"]

alwaysApply: false

standards-version: 1.10.0

---

# Unity serialization rules

- Unity serializes: public fields, [SerializeField] private fields

- Unity does NOT serialize: properties, static fields, readonly fields, dictionaries

- Use [SerializeField] private over public for encapsulation

- Use [HideInInspector] to serialize but hide from inspector

- Use [NonSerialized] or [System.NonSerialized] to exclude public fields

- Use [Header("Section")] and [Space] to organize inspector fields

- Use [Tooltip("description")] for inspector documentation

- Use [Range(min, max)] for numeric sliders

- Nested serializable classes need [System.Serializable]

- ScriptableObject references survive play mode; MonoBehaviour field values reset

- For complex data: use JSON serialization (JsonUtility or Newtonsoft) for save/load