wgpu

wgpu is a cross-platform, safe, pure-Rust graphics API. It implements the WebGPU standard on top of native graphics APIs (Vulkan, Metal, Direct3D 12, OpenGL ES) and the browser's WebGPU/WebGL2 implementations. The same Rust code can target a Linux Vulkan driver, a macOS Metal driver, a Windows DX12 driver, or compile to WebAssembly and run in a browser.

The repository is the upstream home of the WebGPU implementation that powers WebGPU in Firefox, Servo, and Deno. It also produces the standalone wgpu Rust crate used by many native applications and game engines.

What lives here

This is a Cargo workspace of around two dozen crates. The most important ones are:

Crate	Purpose
wgpu	The native Rust API (wgpu/). The crate that downstream applications depend on.
wgpu-core	A pure-Rust, FFI-friendly implementation of WebGPU: resource tracking, validation, command encoding (wgpu-core/). Used by Firefox and Deno without the wgpu crate.
wgpu-hal	The hardware abstraction layer with a backend per platform graphics API (wgpu-hal/).
naga	The shader translator (WGSL/SPIR-V/GLSL → Naga IR → SPIR-V/MSL/HLSL/GLSL/WGSL).
wgpu-types	Plain-data types shared between wgpu, wgpu-core, and wgpu-hal.
naga-cli	Command-line frontend for naga.
cts_runner	Runs the WebGPU Conformance Test Suite against wgpu via Deno.
deno_webgpu	Deno's WebGPU bindings (02_surface.js, 01_webgpu.js, Rust bridge).
player	Replay tool for traces produced by wgpu-core's tracing feature.
wgpu-info	CLI that dumps adapter/device capabilities.
xtask	Repo automation: tests, CTS, changelog audits, web build.

Where to start

• New to wgpu as a user → Getting started, then crates/wgpu for the public API.
• New to graphics programming → start with Learn Wgpu outside this repo, then come back here.
• Contributor → How to contribute and Architecture.
• Hacking on shader translation → crates/naga.
• Hacking on a specific backend → crates/wgpu-hal.
• Want the big picture → Architecture. For the canonical diagram, see docs/big-picture.png.

Supported platforms

API	Windows	Linux/Android	macOS/iOS	Web (wasm)
Vulkan	yes	yes	via MoltenVK	—
Metal	—	—	yes	—
DX12	yes	—	—	—
OpenGL	best-effort (GL 3.3+)	best-effort (GL ES 3.0+)	requires ANGLE	best-effort (WebGL2)
WebGPU	—	—	—	yes

See crates/wgpu-hal and its per-backend pages for what each backend supports.

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.MIT and LICENSE.APACHE.