Vulkane

Vulkan for Rust: complete bindings generated from the official vk.xml specification, plus a safe RAII wrapper that covers compute and graphics end-to-end — from instance creation through shadow mapping and deferred shading.

What is Vulkane?

Vulkane generates complete Vulkan API bindings from vk.xml, the official machine-readable specification maintained by Khronos. Every type, constant, struct, enum, function pointer, and dispatch table is derived at build time. Nothing is hardcoded.

To target a different Vulkan version, swap vk.xml and rebuild.

Vulkane exposes Vulkan through two complementary APIs:

• vulkane::raw — direct FFI bindings, exactly as the spec defines them. Maximum control, zero overhead.

• vulkane::safe — RAII wrappers with automatic cleanup, Result-based error handling, typed flags, and convenience helpers. Covers compute and graphics:

  • Instance / Device — Instance, PhysicalDevice, PhysicalDeviceGroup, Device, Queue, DeviceFeatures builder (1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 features).
  • Memory — Buffer, Image, ImageView, Sampler, DeviceMemory, plus a VMA-style sub-allocator (Allocator) with TLSF + linear pools, custom pools, dedicated allocations, persistent mapping, defragmentation, and budget queries.
  • Convenience helpers — Buffer::new_bound, Image::new_2d_bound, Queue::upload_buffer<T>, Queue::upload_image_rgba, Queue::one_shot — collapse the 5-step allocate-bind pattern into one call.
  • Compute — ComputePipeline, PipelineLayout, DescriptorSet, ShaderModule, specialization constants, pipeline cache, push constants.
  • Graphics — RenderPass (with simple_color shortcut), Framebuffer, GraphicsPipelineBuilder (depth bias, CompareOp, InputRate, multi-attachment blend, dynamic viewport/scissor), Surface (Win32 / Wayland / Xlib / Xcb / Metal), Swapchain.
  • Synchronization — typed PipelineStage / AccessFlags (plus 64-bit PipelineStage2 / AccessFlags2 for Sync2), Fence, Semaphore (binary + timeline), ImageBarrier::color / ::depth, ClearValue, QueryPool.
  • Derive macros — #[derive(Vertex)] auto-generates vertex input layouts from #[repr(C)] structs (optional derive feature).
  • Raw escape hatch — Device::dispatch() / Instance::dispatch() expose the full dispatch tables so you can drop to raw Vulkan for anything the safe wrapper doesn't cover yet.

Quick Start

[dependencies]
vulkane = { version = "0.4", features = ["fetch-spec"] }

use vulkane::safe::{
    ApiVersion, Buffer, BufferCreateInfo, BufferUsage, CommandPool,
    DeviceCreateInfo, DeviceMemory, Fence, Instance, InstanceCreateInfo,
    MemoryPropertyFlags, PipelineStage, AccessFlags, QueueCreateInfo,
    QueueFlags,
};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let instance = Instance::new(InstanceCreateInfo {
        application_name: Some("hello-vulkane"),
        api_version: ApiVersion::V1_0,
        ..Default::default()
    })?;

    let physical = instance
        .enumerate_physical_devices()?
        .into_iter()
        .find(|pd| pd.find_queue_family(QueueFlags::TRANSFER).is_some())
        .ok_or("no compatible GPU")?;
    let qf = physical.find_queue_family(QueueFlags::TRANSFER).unwrap();

    let device = physical.create_device(DeviceCreateInfo {
        queue_create_infos: &[QueueCreateInfo::single(qf)],
        ..Default::default()
    })?;
    let queue = device.get_queue(qf, 0);

    // One-call buffer allocation (no manual memory_requirements + find_type + bind).
    let (buffer, mut memory) = Buffer::new_bound(
        &device, &physical,
        BufferCreateInfo { size: 1024, usage: BufferUsage::TRANSFER_DST },
        MemoryPropertyFlags::HOST_VISIBLE | MemoryPropertyFlags::HOST_COHERENT,
    )?;

    // One-shot command recording + submit + wait.
    queue.one_shot(&device, qf, |rec| {
        rec.fill_buffer(&buffer, 0, 1024, 0xDEADBEEF);
        rec.memory_barrier(
            PipelineStage::TRANSFER, PipelineStage::HOST,
            AccessFlags::TRANSFER_WRITE, AccessFlags::HOST_READ,
        );
        Ok(())
    })?;

    let mapped = memory.map()?;
    assert_eq!(&mapped.as_slice()[..4], &0xDEADBEEFu32.to_ne_bytes());
    println!("GPU filled the buffer with 0xDEADBEEF — it works!");
    Ok(())
}

Bundled Examples

15 examples ship with the crate, from basic compute through advanced graphics techniques. All are headless (runnable in CI) except windowed_triangle.

cargo run -p vulkane --features fetch-spec --example headless_triangle
cargo run -p vulkane --features fetch-spec --example shadow_map
cargo run -p vulkane --features fetch-spec,derive --example derive_vertex

#[derive(Vertex)]

Enable the derive feature to auto-generate vertex input layouts:

vulkane = { version = "0.4", features = ["fetch-spec", "derive"] }

use vulkane::Vertex;

#[derive(Vertex, Clone, Copy)]
#[repr(C)]
struct MyVertex {
    position: [f32; 3],  // R32G32B32_SFLOAT, location 0
    normal:   [f32; 3],  // R32G32B32_SFLOAT, location 1
    uv:       [f32; 2],  // R32G32_SFLOAT,    location 2
}

// In pipeline setup:
let bindings = [MyVertex::binding(0)];
let attributes = MyVertex::attributes(0);
builder.vertex_input(&bindings, &attributes)

Strides, offsets, and Vulkan format enums are computed at compile time. Supports f32, [f32; 2..4], u32, [u32; 2..4], i32, [i32; 2..3], [u8; 4], u16, i16. For per-instance data, use MyStruct::instance_binding(n) instead of ::binding(n).

Precompiled shader registry

For applications that ship precompiled .spv artifacts (embedded with include_bytes! or shipped alongside the binary), [vulkane::safe::ShaderRegistry] gives you a small, shared abstraction for looking up shaders by name — plus an optional runtime disk override for shader developers iterating without a full rebuild.

use vulkane::safe::{ShaderRegistry, ShaderSource};

// Embedded at compile time. `include_bytes!` resolves paths relative
// to the file that invokes it, so the macro call lives in your crate.
const EMBEDDED: &[ShaderSource] = &[
    ShaderSource { name: "doubler", spv: include_bytes!("shaders/doubler.spv") },
    ShaderSource { name: "reduce",  spv: include_bytes!("shaders/reduce.spv")  },
];

fn app_shaders() -> ShaderRegistry {
    ShaderRegistry::new()
        .with_embedded(EMBEDDED)
        .with_env_override("MY_APP_SHADER_OVERRIDE_DIR")
}

// Later, when you have a Device:
let module = app_shaders().load_module(&device, "doubler")?;

Lookup order when an override var is configured:

1. $MY_APP_SHADER_OVERRIDE_DIR/doubler.spv on disk (if the directory and file both exist).
2. Fall back to the embedded table.

ShaderRegistry::load(name) returns the SPIR-V bytes, load_words(name) returns a Vec<u32> ready for [ShaderModule::from_spirv], and load_module(&device, name) wraps the whole pipeline. Lookup errors flow through ShaderLoadError into the unified Error::ShaderLoad variant.

Runtime shader compilation

Vulkane offers two optional, independent back-ends for compiling shader source to SPIR-V at runtime. Enable one, the other, or both — they are completely separate modules.

naga — pure Rust (WGSL + subset of GLSL)

Zero external build dependencies. Best choice when:

• You want a pure-Rust build (no CMake, no C++ toolchain).
• You are targeting modern GLSL or WGSL.
• WGSL's combined image-samplers fit your rendering code.

vulkane = { version = "0.4", features = ["naga"] }

use vulkane::safe::naga::compile_glsl;
use naga::ShaderStage;

let spirv = compile_glsl(
    r#"#version 450
       layout(local_size_x = 64) in;
       layout(set = 0, binding = 0, std430) buffer Data { uint v[]; };
       void main() { v[gl_GlobalInvocationID.x] *= 2; }"#,
    ShaderStage::Compute,
)?;
// Pass straight into ShaderModule::from_spirv(&device, &spirv).

shaderc — Khronos glslang (full GLSL + HLSL)

Wraps the Khronos reference compiler. Best choice when:

• You need full GLSL support (#include, GL_* extensions, older core versions, legacy sample shaders).
• You are compiling HLSL for a Vulkan target.
• You want optimization passes (OptimizationLevel::Size or Performance) or explicit macro defines / include resolution.

vulkane = { version = "0.4", features = ["shaderc"] }

use vulkane::safe::shaderc::{compile_glsl, ShaderKind};

let spirv = compile_glsl(
    r#"#version 450
       layout(local_size_x = 64) in;
       void main() {}"#,
    ShaderKind::Compute,
    "doubler.comp",   // virtual file name (used in error messages and #include resolution)
    "main",           // entry-point name
)?;

For fine-grained control — HLSL input, optimization level, macro defines, include callbacks, target Vulkan version — use compile_with_options:

use vulkane::safe::shaderc::{compile_with_options, ShaderKind, SourceLanguage};
use shaderc::OptimizationLevel;

let spirv = compile_with_options(
    hlsl_source,
    ShaderKind::Fragment,
    "shader.hlsl",
    "main",
    |opts| {
        opts.set_source_language(SourceLanguage::HLSL);
        opts.set_optimization_level(OptimizationLevel::Size);
        opts.add_macro_definition("USE_PBR", Some("1"));
    },
)?;

Build requirements for shaderc

shaderc-rs locates libshaderc in this order:

1. SHADERC_LIB_DIR env var — point to a directory containing libshaderc_combined.
2. VULKAN_SDK env var — installing the LunarG Vulkan SDK sets this automatically, and ships a prebuilt libshaderc_combined. This is the easiest path.
3. pkg-config / system libraries (typical on Linux distros that package shaderc).
4. Source build fallback — compiles glslang from C++ source. Requires CMake ≥ 3.17 (newer CMake may need CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 until shaderc-sys updates its pinned sources), Python 3, and a working C++ toolchain. First build takes 1–3 minutes.

If neither the SDK nor a system package is available and you don't want to build from source, use the naga feature instead.

When to pick which

Both features can be enabled simultaneously — pick per shader at the call site.

slang — Khronos Slang (modules, generics, autodiff)

Slang is Khronos's modern shading language. Pick it when you need:

• Modules, generics, and interfaces — real code reuse in shaders.
• Automatic differentiation — tag a function [Differentiable] and the compiler generates forward (__fwd_diff) and backward (__bwd_diff) variants. A single kernel definition yields both the forward and backward SPIR-V, which is a game-changer for ML compute on Vulkan.
• Explicit entry points — one .slang file can expose many compute / vertex / fragment entry points; compile each to its own SPIR-V blob from the same parsed module.

vulkane = { version = "0.4", features = ["slang"] }

Slang compilation is stateful — a session holds the SPIR-V target and search paths, modules are loaded by name through those paths, and each entry point is compiled on demand:

use vulkane::safe::slang::SlangSession;

// Given kernels/autodiff.slang with [Differentiable] functions and
// both `forward` and `backward` compute entry points:
let session = SlangSession::with_search_paths(&["kernels"])?;
let module  = session.load_file("autodiff")?;                // parses once
let fwd     = module.compile_entry_point("forward")?;        // Vec<u32> SPIR-V
let bwd     = module.compile_entry_point("backward")?;       // Vec<u32> SPIR-V

Or for a one-off compile:

use vulkane::safe::slang::compile_slang_file;

let spirv = compile_slang_file("kernels", "trivial", "main")?;

Build requirements for slang

shader-slang locates the Slang compiler via:

1. VULKAN_SDK env var — the LunarG Vulkan SDK ships slangc and the Slang runtime library. Easiest path (same as shaderc).
2. SLANG_DIR env var — a standalone Slang install from shader-slang/slang releases.
3. SLANG_INCLUDE_DIR + SLANG_LIB_DIR — split paths.

At runtime, slang.dll / libslang.so / libslang.dylib must be discoverable (same directory as the executable, or on the library search path).

Current limitation

shader-slang 0.1.0 on crates.io only supports loading Slang modules from disk (via search-path resolution). Inline source strings will be supported once a newer shader-slang release exposes them; until then, keep your Slang code in .slang files.

Why Vulkane over ash?

Features

Providing vk.xml

1. VK_XML_PATH env var — point to any local vk.xml
2. Local copy at spec/registry/Vulkan-Docs/xml/vk.xml
3. Auto-download (--features fetch-spec), optionally pinned with VK_VERSION=1.3.250

Supported Vulkan Versions

1.2.175 through the latest release. The minimum is set by the VK_MAKE_API_VERSION macros introduced in that version.

Architecture

vk.xml → vulkan_gen (roxmltree parser + codegen) → vulkane crate
                                                    ├── raw/   (generated FFI bindings)
                                                    ├── safe/  (RAII wrapper)
                                                    └── vulkane_derive (proc macros)

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE)
• MIT License (LICENSE-MIT)

at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in vulkane by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual-licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.