A C11 library that implements a Vulkan-to-WebGPU translation layer, enabling Vulkan API code to run in browsers via WebAssembly.

WebVulkan acts as a shim between the Vulkan API and WebGPU, translating Vulkan calls to their WebGPU equivalents at runtime. This allows existing Vulkan codebases to target the web with minimal modifications.

┌─────────────────┐
│  Application    │
│  (Vulkan API)   │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│   WebVulkan     │  ← Translation Layer
│  (this library) │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│     WebGPU      │
│  (Browser/GPU)  │
└─────────────────┘

• Vulkan API Compatibility: Implements core Vulkan 1.0 API subset
• SPIR-V to WGSL Transpilation: Converts Vulkan shaders to WebGPU-compatible WGSL
• WebAssembly Support: Builds with Emscripten for browser deployment
• Zero Dependencies: Only requires Vulkan headers (fetched automatically)
• Reference Counting: Proper object lifecycle management

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

Requires Emscripten SDK.

# Setup Emscripten
source /path/to/emsdk/emsdk_env.sh

# Configure and build
emcmake cmake -B build-wasm \
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
    -DWEBVULKAN_WASM=ON \
    -DWEBVULKAN_BUILD_TESTS=OFF \
    -DWEBVULKAN_BUILD_SAMPLES=ON

cmake --build build-wasm

#include <vulkan/vulkan.h>

VkApplicationInfo app_info = {
    .sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_APPLICATION_INFO,
    .pApplicationName = "MyApp",
    .apiVersion = VK_API_VERSION_1_0,
};

VkInstanceCreateInfo create_info = {
    .sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO,
    .pApplicationInfo = &app_info,
};

VkInstance instance;
VkResult result = vkCreateInstance(&create_info, NULL, &instance);

WebVulkan supports direct WGSL shader input by passing the WGSL source as the shader code:

const char* vertex_wgsl = 
    "@vertex\n"
    "fn main(@location(0) pos: vec2<f32>) -> @builtin(position) vec4<f32> {\n"
    "    return vec4<f32>(pos, 0.0, 1.0);\n"
    "}\n";

VkShaderModuleCreateInfo shader_info = {
    .sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_CREATE_INFO,
    .codeSize = strlen(vertex_wgsl),
    .pCode = (const uint32_t*)vertex_wgsl,
};

VkShaderModule module;
vkCreateShaderModule(device, &shader_info, NULL, &module);

After building for WebAssembly, serve the sample files:

cd build-wasm/samples
python3 -m http.server 8080

Then open http://localhost:8080/triangle/ in a WebGPU-compatible browser.

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for detailed architecture documentation.

src/
├── core/           # Instance, Device, PhysicalDevice, Queue
├── objects/        # Vulkan object implementations
├── commands/       # Command buffer recording
├── shaders/        # SPIR-V parser and WGSL generator
├── sync/           # Synchronization primitives
├── memory/         # Memory management
└── util/           # Utilities (list, hash table)

WebVulkan requires WebGPU support. Tested browsers:

• Chrome 113+ (stable)
• Chrome Canary (latest)
• Edge 113+
• Firefox Nightly (behind flag)

• Single physical device only
• No tessellation or geometry shaders
• Limited SPIR-V transpilation (direct WGSL recommended)
• No ray tracing support

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Ensure code passes clang-format and clang-tidy
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Submit a pull request

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

• Khronos Group for Vulkan and WebGPU specifications
• Emscripten for WebAssembly toolchain
• Google Naga for SPIR-V/WGSL translation reference