TL;DR How to set-up Unreal Engine with GitHub:
If you want to collaborate on an Unreal Engine project, GitHub will serve as the cloud storage for your files. GitHub is based on the version control system called "Git". To upload and download files to GitHub, you can use Anchorpoint, a version control application that is also based on Git.
You may have heard both terms and feel a bit confused. Here is an explanation:
This is the version control system. It is the underlying technology that checks if files have changed, stores new file versions in a history, and allows you to restore previous versions. Think of it as a little tool that organizes your files. You don't need to worry that something gets lost or how you send files to your team members. Git takes care of that. It's like a smarter Dropbox alternative.
It is also a standard that is used by GitHub or any other tools and services so that they are compatible with each other.
GitHub is one of many cloud storage providers that are based on Git. It is very popular for hosting open-source software, such as the Unreal Engine source code. GitHub will be the place where our files will live in the cloud.
Unreal Engine does not support incremental saving and locks assets when you reference them in a level. If you put that on a shared or sync network drive and work on it together, you will constantly override each other's work. It would not be clear who has done what, and the whole project would break and end up in total chaos.
To upload and download our Unreal Engine files to GitHub, we will use Anchorpoint, which is a desktop application optimized for game development. There is also GitHub Desktop or SourceTree, but Anchorpoint can deal better with binary files, has file locking, and is much more simplified so that an artist can use it. In addition, the Anchorpoint application has an Unreal revision control plugin that allows you to commit changes directly from the Unreal editor.
Go to github.com and go through their account creation process if you haven't done it yet.
Create a new repository and give it a name. A "repository" is the name of your project. It's the same as a folder with all your project files. It will be public by default, so everybody can view and download your source files. If you don't want that, just switch the option to "private".
To invite your team members, click on "Invite collaborators". Click on the green "Add people" button and type the email of your team members. They will get an invite to create a GitHub account.
GitHub has strict storage and bandwidth limits, but the February 2025 pricing update increased the storage and bandwidth offered by a free GitHub Git LFS account to 10 GB per month. Additional storage costs $0.07 per GB and additional data transfer costs $0.0875 per GB. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the cost of GitHub services.
Anchorpoint will need this URL so that it knows where to upload the files later on.
Setting up a repository for Unreal Engine GitHub collaboration used to be a headache for artists. In a standard setup, you'd have to manually configure .gitattributes to ensure your .uasset files don't break the system. Anchorpoint automates this process.
Go to anchorpoint.app, create an account, download and install the application. When you open it for the first time, just click on the login with email button, and it will automatically log in with the account you created. Fill out the form and start the trial.
Create a new project in Anchorpoint and choose the option "Git Repository". Let Anchorpoint know where your Unreal Project is located and browse to the project folder. Once this is set, Anchorpoint should automatically recognize that it's an Unreal Project and set the proper .gitignore configuration. This configuration just makes sure that you won't upload folders like DerivedDataCache and other files that are temporarily generated on your local computer. They should not be shared with others.
Just follow the steps and invite the same team member whom you invited to GitHub, here as well.
We need to push (that's the Git term for upload) all the files to GitHub. Go to the "Timeline" and click on "Changed Files". You should see all your project files, except the ones that are ignored (files in DerivedDataCache, etc.).
Enter a short note into the text field and press Sync. Then, all files will be uploaded.
Work on your asset or level in Unreal. Keep Revision Control (or Source Control if you are on 5.1 or lower) off. Once you save a level or asset, Anchorpoint will detect that automatically and lock the files for anybody in your team to prevent conflicts.
Once you feel that you want to publish your work, simply add a note and press "push". In Git terms, you are calling this process "creating a commit". It's definitely recommended to commit quite often and usually when you have finished a task. You will have a better documentation what you have done and you can always go back if something breaks.
To work together, your team members need to
On GitHub, they just need to create an account and accept the invite. In Anchorpoint, once they launched the application, they will be invited to your workspace by getting a popup. Once they accept it, they will be automatically assigned to the project. In the next step, they only have to tell where the Unreal Engine project should be downloaded.
After that, they are also able to make changes and commit them to GitHub.
With the Anchorpoint Desktop app and its Unreal version control plugin, you can seamlessly push and pull changes within the Unreal Editor. The plugin utilizes Git LFS and other features to support terabyte-scale projects, enabling blueprint comparisons, file checkouts, and detailed file history tracking.
To install the plugin:
Git is a distributed version control system, which means that it stores everything on your computer so that you can work faster (there is no constant connection to a server). This also means that it creates a huge amount of data cache. The rule of thumb is having twice the disk space that you need for your Unreal Project.
Since Unreal Engine 5.0 you can use World Partition, which does not store everything of the level in the .umap file, but splits it up into small .uasset files. The benefit is that you can work at the same level without blocking each other. Furthermore, your pushes to GitHub will be much lighter and will cost you less storage.
You can create new commits even if you are offline. You can then push them later when you are back online.
That's the beauty of a version control system. It's like a backup. Click on commits and use "Undo" to revert changes that broke the project or simply use "Restore Project" to travel back in time.
GitHub is the most popular Git hosting provider out there. But it's not always the best choice in game projects. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives out there. One good solution is Azure DevOps from Microsoft, which does not charge for storage. And you will need storage unless you are making a simple 2D game. AWS code commit might also be worth a try.
Because Git is open source, there are many ways to set up a server on your cloud or NAS. In this case, Gitea, which is an open-source project based on Git, is also a good choice.
Git LFS (Large File Storage) is an extension for Git that handles heavy binary files like textures and 3D models. For an Unreal Engine with GitHub project, it is essential to prevent the repository from becoming slow or hitting storage limits. It keeps your version control responsive by managing how these large assets are stored and transferred.
Version control acts as a "checkpoint" system for your project. Instead of using messy file names to track progress, it stores a clean history where you can jump back to any previous version if something breaks. It provides real-time visibility into who is working on specific files, preventing team members from overwriting each other's work. This setup creates a safety net for your assets and makes it simple to onboard new freelancers by giving them a clear record of the project’s progress.
The reason why it makes sense to turn this off is speed. The Git plugin does slow the engine down and has no proper file locking. However, if you want to commit directly from the engine, you can do that with the plugin. You have to push your commits to GitHub later via Anchorpoint or use Unreal Engine Anchorpoint plugin.
Anchorpoint extends the standard Git workflow to handle large binary files (like textures and meshes) without the manual configuration usually required in Git. This ensures your Unreal Engine GitHub repository stays organized and performant.
To prevent work from being overwritten, Anchorpoint uses a metadata-based file locking system. If you are working on a file, it’s locked for others, preventing "merge conflicts" that are difficult to fix in binary files.
