Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference · error · InvalidOperationException

You shouldn't call Initialize for Editors

Error message

You shouldn't call Initialize for Editors

What it means

Editor.Initialize is marked EditorBrowsable(Never) and its body is a hard InvalidOperationException. Editors are initialized through internal/native creation paths, not by user code, so calling Initialize directly is treated as misuse.

Source

Thrown at Editor/Mono/Inspector/Editor.cs:1510

        {
            foreach (UnityObject target in targets)
            {
                if (EditorUtility.IsPersistent(target) && !IsAppropriateFileOpenForEdit(target))
                    return false;
            }

            return true;
        }

        public virtual bool UseDefaultMargins()
        {
            return true;
        }

        [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
        public void Initialize(UnityObject[] targets)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("You shouldn't call Initialize for Editors");
        }

        [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
        public void Cleanup()
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("You shouldn't call Cleanup for Editors. Dispose resources in " +
                "Editor.OnDisable");
        }

        public bool MoveNextTarget()
        {
            referenceTargetIndex++;
            return referenceTargetIndex < targets.Length;
        }

        public void ResetTarget()
        {
            referenceTargetIndex = 0;

View on GitHub (pinned to 225b0fbdb5)

Solutions

1. Do not call Initialize; rely on Editor.CreateEditor/CreateCachedEditor to construct and initialize editors.
2. If using an auto-invocation framework, exclude Editor-derived types or the Initialize method by name.
3. Put custom setup logic in OnEnable, which Unity calls after the editor is created.

Example fix

// before
editor.Initialize(targets); // InvalidOperationException

// after
// let CreateEditor initialize it; do setup in OnEnable

// Initialize is intentionally non-functional; do not call it.
// Editors are created initialized via:
var editor = Editor.CreateEditor(target);

When it happens

Trigger: Explicitly invoking editor.Initialize(targets) from user code, or invoking it via reflection/serialization frameworks that auto-call public methods.

Common situations: Auto-wiring or DI frameworks that discover and invoke public methods by name. Code that assumes Initialize is a setup entry point. Copy-pasting from a MonoBehaviour-style lifecycle.

Related errors

• You shouldn't call Cleanup for Editors. Dispose resources in
• gameObject
• Delegate already registered for dropDestinationId:{dropDstId
• You can't set the target on an editor.
• Value for parameter atlases is null

AI-assisted analysis of Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference@225b0fbdb5 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/56ec30ca16d39956. Report an issue: GitHub.