zig-wgpu/README.md
2026-05-18 16:30:27 +02:00

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# Minimal Zig WebGPU Compute Library
This is a minimal, self-contained Zig library designed to simplify running compute shaders using WebGPU. It abstracts away much of the boilerplate required for GPU device initialization, memory management, and pipeline execution.
## Core Modules
The library exports five primary components:
*
**`GpuDevice`**: Initializes the WebGPU instance, adapter, device, and queue. It is configured to prioritize high performance and automatically requests the `ShaderF16` feature if the adapter supports it. By default, it enforces a 2 GB VRAM limit.
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**`GpuArena` / `GpuAllocator**`: A memory management layer that tracks allocated VRAM bytes to prevent exceeding the device budget. The arena automatically destroys and releases all tracked WebGPU buffers when deinitialized.
* **`GpuBuffer`**: Wraps native WebGPU buffers. It automatically aligns buffer sizes forward to a multiple of 4 bytes. It provides a `.load()` method for CPU-to-GPU data transfers (handling both aligned and unaligned lengths smoothly) and a `.read()` method that utilizes a staging buffer to map GPU data back to the CPU.
*
**`GpuProcess`**: Compiles WGSL source code into a compute pipeline. When running a process, it automatically splits the work into manageable chunks (up to 1 GB at a time) and dispatches workgroups of size 256.
## Quick Start Example
Below is a complete, self-contained example demonstrating how to initialize the GPU, load data, run a compute shader, and read the results back to the CPU:
```zig
const std = @import("std");
const GpuDevice = @import("GpuDevice.zig");
const GpuArena = @import("GpuArena.zig");
const GpuProcess = @import("GpuProcess.zig");
// Note: Assuming Vec is implemented via GpuBuffer as shown in example.zig
pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
const allocator = init.gpa;
[cite_start]// 1. Open GPU Device [cite: 46]
const device = try GpuDevice.init(.{});
defer device.deinit();
[cite_start]// 2. Create a GPU Arena to hold GPU memory [cite: 47]
var grena = GpuArena.init(allocator, device);
defer grena.deinit();
[cite_start]const gloc = grena.gpuAllocator(); [cite: 48]
[cite_start]// 3. Create a GPU process that loads the WGSL pipeline/shader [cite: 48]
const add = try GpuProcess.init(device, @embedFile("shaders/add.wgsl"));
[cite_start]defer add.deinit(); [cite: 49]
[cite_start]// 4. Allocate and populate CPU memory [cite: 49, 50, 51]
const data_a = try allocator.alloc(f16, 16);
defer allocator.free(data_a);
const data_b = try allocator.alloc(f16, 16);
defer allocator.free(data_b);
for (0..16) |i| {
data_a[i] = @floatFromInt(i);
data_b[i] = @floatFromInt(16 - 1 - i);
}
[cite_start]// 5. Allocate GPU memory (deinit handled automatically by grena) [cite: 52]
const a = try Vec.initZero(gloc, 16);
[cite_start]const b = try Vec.initZero(gloc, 16); [cite: 53]
[cite_start]// 6. Load CPU -> GPU [cite: 53]
try a.load(data_a);
try b.load(data_b);
[cite_start]// 7. Run GPU Pipeline [cite: 54]
const sum = try a.run(gloc, b, add);
[cite_start]// 8. Read GPU -> CPU [cite: 55]
const out = try sum.read(allocator);
defer allocator.free(out);
[cite_start]std.debug.print("{any}\n", .{out}); [cite: 55]
}
```
## Dependencies
*
**`wgpu.h`**: The library relies on the WebGPU C API headers to bind to the native system graphics.