USD Toolkit is a free, local-first inspector for OpenUSD. Open an ASCII .usda layer and read its prim hierarchy, every composition arc (subLayers, references, payloads), and each asset dependency - with portability flags and a one-click collect-files list. Everything runs on your machine.
Because .usda is plain-text USD, a whole Solaris / USD layer can be resolved right in the browser - the stage tree, its composition arcs, and everything it depends on to travel.
See the prim hierarchy at a glance, with each prim's specifier, type and attribute count - and stage stats up top.
Every external asset path, grouped by the composition arc it came in on, so you can see exactly how the layer is assembled.
Each dependency is flagged portable (relative) or absolute, and a collect-files list gathers everything the layer needs for a clean handoff.
Open a shot or asset layer someone else built and immediately see its prim structure and how it composes - which references and payloads it pulls in, and where they resolve from - without loading a full USD stage.
Absolute paths like /Users/you/… or C:\\proj\\… are the classic reason a USD file works on your box and nowhere else. USD Toolkit flags every non-portable path so you can fix it before you ship.
The collect-files list is every external file the layer needs - sublayers, referenced and payloaded layers, and textures - so a package or a client handoff arrives complete.
USD Toolkit is a PWA: install it and it keeps working with no network. Because it never needed a server, offline is simply the default.
Load or paste an ASCII USD file. Binary .usdc / .usdz? Run usdcat to .usda first.
The prim tree, composition arcs and asset paths appear instantly, with portability flags.
Grab the collect-files list for a portable handoff. Nothing ever left your browser.
There is no server to send your work to. All parsing runs as plain JavaScript in your browser. Your USD layers, asset paths and file names stay on your device - which is exactly what you want when the show is under NDA.
USD Toolkit inspects one .usda layer. Houdini Studio Hub scans an entire Houdini project folder: it validates asset naming, checks the standard $JOB structure, resolves USD dependencies across the show, tracks HDA versions and orphans, and checks engine-handoff naming for Unreal and Unity. Step up when one file isn't the whole picture.
.usda file is the ASCII (plain-text) encoding of an OpenUSD layer. It stores the same scene description as a binary .usdc - prims, attributes and composition arcs - but as human-readable text, which is what lets USD Toolkit parse it in your browser. More on the file formats →.usdc) and zipped packages (.usdz) are not plain text, so they can't be parsed in the browser. Convert to ASCII first with the USD command-line tool: usdcat scene.usdc -o scene.usda, then open the .usda here..usda text you paste or load never leaves your device.