gpu.js 2.24.1

A kernel may also be given as source text. This is the only form available where the engine does not retain function source — React Native's Hermes, for instance, returns "function name(a0, a1) { [bytecode] }" from Function.prototype.toString().

Compile a whole multi-kernel computation into one callable plan. The orchestration function runs once, at build time (first call), with opaque handles for arguments; the kernel calls it makes are recorded and replayed on later calls with intermediates kept resident. Calling the pipeline always returns a Promise.

why this kernel's work was degraded to the cpu backend, when it was (#868)

LRU bound on cached per-size-signature wasm instantiations (#870)

worker-pool size cap for threaded runs; null lets the pool decide

webasm sits last, one step above the cpu fallback: any working GL backend outranks it, so auto modes only reach it where no GL context exists

The GPU.js library class which manages the GPU context for the creating kernels

Creates an instance of GPU.

mode 'async' only: the adapter probe's settled answer (true/false), or null while it is in flight. Started at construction so that by kernel creation -- usually at least a task later in real applications -- the backend for a graphical kernel can be decided BEFORE its canvas is exposed, since a canvas is permanently committed to its first context type and can never be swapped between backends afterwards.

Choose kernel type and save on .Kernel property of GPU

Create a super kernel which executes sub kernels and saves their output to be used with the next sub kernel. This can be useful if we want to save the output on one kernel, and then use it as an input to another kernel. Machine Learning

Combine different kernels into one super Kernel, useful to perform multiple operations inside one kernel without the penalty of data transfer between cpu and gpu.

The number of kernel functions sent to this method can be variable. You can send in one, two, etc.

Inject a string just before translated kernel functions

Makes kernels easier for mortals (including me)

Run kernel in async mode

Pipeline compilation (docs/design/pipeline-compilation.md): the orchestration function runs ONCE, at build time, against opaque handles; every kernel call made while the trace is open is recorded into a static plan, and later pipeline calls execute the plan without re-entering user code. JS loops in the orchestration therefore unroll at trace time, and closure-captured plain values freeze into the plan the same way constants do.

The class exists for instanceof and for its name in errors; all state lives in the trace's WeakMap so the frozen instance has no own properties for the Proxy get trap to conflict with.

Consulted by kernelRunShortcut on every call; non-null only while an orchestration function is being traced, which is always synchronous, so a module-level slot cannot see two traces at once.

Trace-time state: records kernel calls as plan steps and mints the opaque handles that stand in for values the orchestration never gets to see.

distinct kernel run-shortcuts, in first-use order; steps refer to them by index so the ping-pong loop shape compiles to ONE kernel entry

Entry point from kernelRunShortcut while a trace is open: validate the kernel, bind the arguments, and answer with a fresh step-output handle instead of running anything.

Call-time sampling: mutable JS values copy before the call promise can yield, so const p = pipeline(buf); buf[0] = 9; computes on the value buf held at the call. Handles never reach this function -- bindValue checks the WeakMap first -- so property access here cannot trip a handle trap.

Static liveness over the unrolled DAG, then greedy slot reuse: a step may write a buffer only when the previous occupant's last reader ran strictly earlier -- a reader AT the writing step still needs the old contents while the new ones are produced, which is exactly what forces u = sweep(u, q) in a loop onto two alternating buffers. Slots are only shared between steps of identical output shape so the fused executor can lay them out as fixed regions.

executor identity probe for tests and later phases: 'generic' executes step-by-step through the normal kernel machinery on every backend; 'fused-sync' is the webasm executor running every step over one shared wasm memory; 'fused-threaded' is that executor with pool workers walking the whole plan on an Atomics barrier; 'fused-encoder' is the webgpu executor recording every step into one command encoder over persistent storage buffers

why the fused executor declined this plan; null while fused (or before the first call decides)

undefined: not yet attempted for this plan; false: attempted and declined (generic runs); otherwise the compiled fused executor

test/benchmark hook: forces the generic executor when true

test/benchmark hook: keeps a fused executor off the worker pool

concurrent calls to one pipeline serialize on this tail, the same contract as threaded webasm kernels

The threaded executor rejects asynchronously (worker death, stalled barrier, destroy mid-run); any such failure leaves its barrier state unusable, so the executor is dropped and the next call compiles a fresh one. Fallback decisions stay synchronous — the signature check throws before dispatch — so a FusionFallback can never surface here.

Runs the orchestration function once with handles for arguments; the recorded steps become the plan. Math.random is barred for the duration because a trace-time draw would freeze into every later call.

The generic executor's writer for one (kernel, seat signature, output slot) triple. One MUTABLE, STATICALLY-TYPED clone per triple reproduces the hand-rolled two-kernel ping-pong mechanically: each clone owns one output texture/array for the life of the plan (steady state allocates nothing per step) and sees one argument-type signature (no per-call dynamicArguments re-typing -- the forced re-typing was most of a 7x loss even after the texture churn was gone). Static liveness (assignBuffers) is what makes mutability safe: no step ever reads a slot while that slot's writer renders. Argument drift across CALLS is the clones' own switch machinery's business, as for any kernel.

Attempts the backend's fused executor for the current plan against this call's sampled arguments: the single-encoder lowering on webgpu (async — kernel builds await the device), the wasm-memory lowering everywhere else. Anything the fused compile cannot take degrades to the generic executor with the reason recorded, its usual degradation contract.

The plan runs on private instances configured for pipeline use -- pipeline: true, immutable: true -- so intermediates stay resident (textures on GL, fresh arrays on cpu) and the user's kernel settings are never observably touched. Kernels stay shared between pipelines and direct use through their own shortcuts.

Array pipeline arguments upload ONCE per call on backends where an upload costs (GL textures, webgpu buffers): a lazy per-arg identity kernel parks the value device-side and every consuming step binds the handle -- feeding the raw array to a 200-step plan re-uploaded it 200 times, which was most of the remaining gap to hand-rolled ping-pong. cpu/webasm consume arrays natively, so there the raw value is optimal.

Eager uploads are only sound where the upload call is SYNCHRONOUS (the GL family): the texture materializes before user code can run again. webgpu uploads return promises, so its generic path keeps copies.

A texture takes up four

Puts a nested 2d array into a one-dimensional target array

Puts a nested 3d array into a one-dimensional target array

Puts a nested 4d array into a one-dimensional target array

Puts a nested 1d, 2d, or 3d array into a one-dimensional target array

A number as a GLSL float literal. Integer-valued numbers at 1e21 and beyond stringify in exponential form, which is already a valid GLSL float literal — appending .0 to it is not (#864).

A visual debug utility

https://github.com/gpujs/gpu.js/issues/207 if dependent function is already in the list, because a function depends on it, and because it has already been traced, we know that we must move the dependent function to the end of the the retList.

https://github.com/gpujs/gpu.js/issues/207 if dependent function is already in the list, because a function depends on it, and because it has already been traced, we know that we must move the dependent function to the end of the the retList.

Whether this backend needs for (a, b; ...) inits hoisted to statements before the loop -- WGSL cannot express the comma; GLSL and JS take it natively.

Generally used to lookup the value type returned from a member expressions

Recursively looks up type for ast expression until it's found

De-minification: minifiers (esbuild, terser) fold statements into expressions -- if (c) { x = 1; } becomes c && (x = 1), statement sequences become comma expressions, if/else becomes a ternary of assignments. In statement position the folded expression's VALUE is discarded, so unfolding back into statements is always semantics-preserving, no side-effect analysis required. Runs on the parsed AST before FunctionTracer records anything, so every backend sees plain statements; on webgl it also runs before the FXC hoisting normalization, which only understands statement shapes.

Synthetic nodes are stamped with unique start/end: astKey and the literal-type cache are keyed by position. The 0x20000000 base is disjoint from real acorn offsets and from the 0x40000000 base the webgl hoisting machinery stamps its own synthetic nodes with.

A single-statement position (an unbraced loop body or if branch) that unfolds into several statements needs a block around them.

Loop simplification for minified for-headers. for (i = 0, j = 0; test; i++, j++) cannot be expressed on every backend (WGSL takes one statement per clause), so a comma INIT hoists to statements before the loop and a comma UPDATE moves to the end of the body -- with a copy ahead of every continue that belongs to this loop, preserving per-iteration timing. Returns the statements to place before the loop. A labeled continue makes the update rewrite unsafe, so such a loop is left exactly as written.

A deep copy with fresh synthetic positions on every node: the same update lands both at the body's end and ahead of each continue, and position-keyed caches must see distinct nodes.

Puts a copy of prefix ahead of every continue belonging to this loop. Nested loops keep their own continues. Returns the rewritten block, or null when a labeled continue makes the rewrite unsafe.

Recursively scans AST for declarations and functions, and add them to their respective context

Supplied by GPU.createKernel; swaps in a kernel compiled for the arguments this one was handed. Declared here rather than on the GL kernel so mergeSettings carries it onto every backend -- the cpu kernel needs it for the same argument-type changes.

Name of the arguments found from parsing source argument

The function source

The size of the kernel's output

Debug mode

Graphical mode

Maximum loops when using argument values to prevent infinity

Constants used in kernel via this.constants

Enforces kernel to write to a new array or texture on run

Enforces kernel to write to a texture on run

Makes the kernel return a Promise of its result on every backend. Backends with a genuinely non-blocking readback (webgl2 fences, webgpu natively) use it; the rest resolve their synchronous result, so the calling contract is uniform either way.

Make GPU use single precision or unsigned. Acceptable values: 'single' or 'unsigned'

Seed for Math.random() so kernel runs are reproducible; null seeds from Math.random()

Reasons this kernel cannot serve the call it was handed, collected for the caller's switch; null when it can.

Setup constants

Set writing to texture on/off

Set Promise-returning mode on/off

Set precision to 'unsigned' or 'single'

Set to immutable

Set a seed for Math.random(), so kernel runs are reproducible

bit storage ratio of source to target 'buffer', i.e. if 8bit array -> 32bit tex = 4

mulberry32, a fast counter-based PRNG with good distribution

A highly readable very forgiving micro-parser for a glsl function that gets argument types

Picks a render strategy for the now finally parsed kernel

A ternary with an integer consequent but a float alternate promotes to float (the WGSL node's rule); the type system must agree with what exprConditional emits or the enclosing expression converts wrongly.

FunctionBuilder drives tracing through toString(); for this backend that is the analysis pass — no text exists, the return value is always ''.

Bytecode pass. assembler carries the module builder, the kernel's baked memory layout and the shared global indices; it changes per size signature, so this may run repeatedly on one node.

Converts the wasm value on the stack top between categories. bool is an i32 constrained to 0/1, so bool→i32 is free and i32→bool renormalizes.

Emits ast guaranteed to leave want on the stack, choosing the cast path by the type system's verdict, like the WGSL node's per-case castValue/castLiteral dispatches.

JS truthiness for conditions: comparisons pass through, numbers test against zero. Guards short-circuit code from ever seeing a raw f32.

Array(n) locals live as n consecutive f32 locals — wasm has no aggregate values outside memory, and these never escape the function.

The root kernel stores into the output region at data_index (a shared global the run loop advances) and returns — the wasm-level return makes JS early returns exact at any nesting depth.

The WGSL node's exact safe-loop criteria: literal-init single declarator, safe test and init, both test and update present. Shared with the SIMD walk so the LOOP_MAX cap fires identically on both paths.

The switch lowers to an if/else chain on a discriminant local, exactly like the WGSL node: a case-terminating break is consumed, empty cases fall through by OR-ing their tests into the next case, a non-final default moves to the chain's end.

Fallthrough-empty-case grouping shared between the scalar and SIMD lowering: empty cases OR their tests into the next non-empty case, a non-final default moves to the chain's end.

Emits ast, leaving exactly one value on the stack; returns its wasm category: 'f32' | 'i32' | 'bool' (i32 0/1) | 'void'.

Short-circuit is load-bearing, not an optimization: the right side may guard an out-of-range memory read (x > 0 && a[x - 1] > 0).

Math.* calls compute in f32; native wasm opcodes where they exist, imports only for what the module actually uses (the kernel scans usedMathImports after analysis). All arguments go through the float ladder, matching the WGSL node's math-call casting.

Flat row-major load, index = x + sizeX * (y + sizeY * z) — the same formula as the GL path's get32 and web-gpu's get_user_X, with missing y/z as zero. Dims and the region offset are baked; the kernel rebuilds per size signature.

Clamps the i32 index on the stack top into [0, max]. i32 has no native min/max, so two selects.

Bytecode pass for kernel_simd. Root kernel only; may run once per size signature like emitFunction.

Emission-time variance analysis, run once per node and cached. Fixpoint over the local set: a local is varying when it is ever assigned a lane-varying value OR assigned at all under lane-varying control (divergent branch, varying-trip loop, ternary branch, short-circuit right side). A loop is varying-controlled when its test is varying or a break/continue reaches it from under a varying condition.

Rebuilds vCur from a saved base after a construct. Retire masks are monotone accumulators within their scope, so base & ~each is exact at any later point; break/continue always target the innermost loop and the analysis forces any loop with a masked exit to be a varying loop, so only the top varying entry's masks apply.

Stores the stack top into a v128 local; under a live branch mask the inactive lanes keep their previous value. bitselect copies exact bit patterns, so predication never perturbs IEEE results.

Leaves an i32x4 lane mask (all-ones/all-zeros) for ast as a condition; lane truth matches the scalar emitCondition exactly.

A break/continue/return retires every lane that reached it, so the rest of its block is dead on both paths; the walk stops emitting there, and termination never leaks past the construct boundary.

Stores the quad's output. componentCount 1 is 4 consecutive f32 — one v128 store (load+blend+store when a mask is live). componentCount n is lane-strided, so components store scalar with a per-lane select.

Emits ast in the vector walk. Uniform expressions go through the scalar walk untouched (one shared value; splatted only where a varying context needs it) and return scalar categories; varying expressions return 'vf32' | 'vi32' | 'vbool' (i32x4 lane mask) | 'void'.

i32x4 shifts take ONE scalar count for all lanes; a lane-varying count lane-scalarizes through the scalar opcode (same mod-32 masking).

Predicated logic evaluates BOTH operands as masks (per-lane skipping cannot exist); side effects in the right operand still predicate correctly because vCur narrows to the left verdict while it runs, and the gather clamps keep formerly short-circuit-guarded reads from trapping.

Helpers stay scalar; a varying call lane-scalarizes: per lane, set that lane's thread.x and PCG state, extract the lane's arguments, call, and rebuild the result vector. Same function bodies and imports as the scalar path, so every lane is bit-identical to its scalar run.

Lane-varying gather: flat row-major index in i32x4 (the scalar formula lane-wise), clamped into the region so lanes a divergent branch turned off cannot trap, then 4 scalar loads + lane inserts — v128 has no gather. In-bounds lanes are untouched by the clamp.

Conservative thread-dependence for the SIMD phase: thread.x is the lane axis (thread.y/z are uniform across an x-row), Math.random is per-cell, user helper calls may read thread state internally, tainted locals propagate in walk order and never clear.

SIMD quads must not cross an x-row (thread.y/z are uniform per quad): rows a multiple of 4 wide vectorize in one span, otherwise each row gets a vector span plus a scalar epilogue for its remainder cells. Shared with the pipeline executor, which drives per-step instances directly.

The analysis pass: FunctionBuilder's trace runs each node's toString(), which for this backend resolves types and collects math-import/random usage without emitting a byte. Returns false for a return type this backend cannot store, so build() can degrade to cpu.

[ args | constants | output ], each record 16-byte aligned, flat f32 (scalars are one 4-byte slot, Integer/Boolean viewed as i32). Dims come from the actual argument values, so the layout is per size signature.

Threaded only under the async contract, only when threads exist, and only when the output is big enough (4096 cells) that splitting beats the postMessage round trip.

Sharedness is part of the cache key: a wasm memory import declares shared or not at compile time, so the same size signature needs a distinct module when the async contract routes it to the pool.

The bytecode pass plus the run(start, end, seed) driver. The driver derives thread ids from the flat cell index with baked output dims (x fastest: x + sizeX * (y + sizeY * z), the storage order every backend shares) and seeds the PCG state per cell.

run_simd(start, end, seed): 4 consecutive x cells per step. The caller guarantees (end - start) % 4 == 0 AND that no quad crosses an x-row, so thread.y/z are uniform per quad and thread.x is base + [0,1,2,3].

The scalar pcg_random lane-wise on an i32x4 state. Uniform-count shifts vectorize; the RXS shift count is per-lane, so that one step runs through the scalar opcodes per lane. The mask parameter predicates the state advance: a draw evaluated for an inactive lane (the untaken side of a divergent branch) must not advance that lane's stream, or every later draw in reconverged code desynchronizes from the scalar run.

PCG (permuted congruential, RXS-M-XS output) — the web-gpu kernel's pcg_random verbatim in i32 ops: bit-exact across platforms, top 24 bits scale into [0, 1) at full f32 mantissa resolution.

Frees everything an entry pins. The Memory itself has no explicit free, but dropping every reference (including the workers' — their instantiations hold the shared buffer) is the most a library can do to let it die young (#870). A shared entry defers until the threaded tail settles so an in-flight dispatch keeps what it captured.

The pool path, only ever reached under the async contract. Two timing constraints shape it: arguments must be sampled at CALL time (the sync contract's semantics), but the shared args region may still be feeding an in-flight run — so arguments flatten into staging copies now and are copied into wasm memory only when this run's turn on the memory comes up (_threadedTail). The seed is also drawn now so an unseeded kernel reseeds per call, not per settlement order.

The split follows the contract: min(pool, ceil(cells/4096)) contiguous ranges, each start aligned down to a multiple of 4 so every worker can enter run_simd; the last worker absorbs the tail.

The output region is tightly packed, so scalar returns reuse the memory-optimized erectors; Array(n) returns are stride n, shaped locally — the web-gpu kernel's exact conventions.

Unsigned LEB128. Values are coerced through >>> so i32 bit patterns passed as negative JS numbers encode as their u32 counterpart.

Signed LEB128 for i32 immediates. The |0 coercion pins the value into i32 range so constants supplied as u32 bit patterns (0x9E3779B9-style hash multipliers) encode to the same 32 bits.

Fixed-width 5-byte ULEB128, written into an existing buffer. Used for call-target patch slots whose value is unknown when the body is emitted.

Minimal UTF-8 encoder so the builder stays dependency-free in both Node and the browser bundle (no Buffer, no assumed TextEncoder).

Target is a NAME (import or defined function); the index is patched in at toBytes() so declaration order never matters.

One imported memory (env.memory) so a single compiled module can bind either a plain or a shared WebAssembly.Memory. Shared memories require a maximum by spec.

The worker body. A template string with NO closure captures: it must survive being evaluated from a blob URL (browser) or eval: true (Node), where nothing from this module's scope exists. Everything a task needs arrives by message: the compiled WebAssembly.Module and the shared WebAssembly.Memory structured-clone once per (worker, entry), then {start, end, seed} per task — results are written straight into the shared memory, so acks carry no data.

The run dispatch mirrors the kernel's sync path: quads must not cross an x-row, so run_simd is used only when the row width is a multiple of 4 (a 4-aligned range start then lands every quad inside one row); other shapes take the scalar export, which is bit-identical by the SIMD contract.

Pipeline entries ('pipelineSetup'/'pipelineRun') execute a WHOLE fused plan per task: every step module is instantiated over the plan's shared memory once at setup, then one run message walks all steps with an Atomics barrier between them — a generation counter in the shared memory, so step boundaries cost no postMessage round trip. Waits are sliced to 100ms so a barrier that can never fill (a peer died) is escapable: the main thread sets the abort word and notifies the generation word, and every check of either releases the worker to ack and go idle.

Event-loop handle accounting, per worker: ref'd while it has a setup OR a task in flight, unref'd when idle. The setup window matters -- a pending Promise does not hold Node's event loop, so a pool unref'd during module setup lets the process exit silently mid-dispatch. Browser workers have no ref/unref and need none.

One setup message per (worker, entry) — concurrent tasks for the same entry share the in-flight ready wait rather than re-sending the module. Kernel entries and pipeline entries share this bookkeeping (a pool is owned by exactly one kernel or one pipeline executor, and pipeline ids are string-prefixed, so the id spaces cannot collide); only the setup message shape differs.

One task per worker for a WHOLE fused plan: the barrier between steps lives in the entry's shared memory, so this is the only postMessage round trip a pipeline call makes. Every worker in [0, workerCount) must receive its task — the barrier fills only at workerCount arrivals — and a worker that dies rejects its task through the pool's usual machinery, which is the caller's signal to set the entry's abort word.

Drops an entry's instantiation from every live worker: the worker-side instances are what keep an evicted entry's shared memory alive (#870). The caller guarantees no task for this entry is still in flight.