Tactical Action · Guides & deep dives

0007: Perforce For Binary Assets, Git For Source

Unreal binary assets need locking, artist-friendly workflows, and large-file storage.

3sections1 minread

On this page

Status: Accepted

Date: 2026-05-23

Context#

Unreal binary assets need locking, artist-friendly workflows, and large-file storage. Source code, docs, CI, schemas, and scripts benefit from the existing Git monorepo workflow.

Decision#

V4 uses Perforce for authoritative binary game assets and Git for source, configuration, documentation, CI, schemas, scripts, and lightweight validation fixtures. Git may contain small metadata sidecars and CI fixtures, but not authoritative production .uasset or .umap packages unless explicitly approved.

Consequences#

  • Git validation cannot pretend to replace Unreal cook/import validation.
  • Asset TODOs remain open until real binary assets exist in the asset depot and pass UE automation.
  • Build workers must sync both Git and Perforce when running full content gates.