Buffers

Recommended reading

We assume that you are familiar with the following concepts:

• WebGPU Fundamentals
• Uniforms
• Storage Buffers

Memory on the GPU can be allocated and managed through buffers. That way, WGSL shaders can be provided with an additional context, or retrieve the results of parallel computation back to JS. When creating a buffer, a schema for the contained values has to be provided, which allows for:

• Calculating the required size of the buffer,
• Automatic conversion to-and-from a binary representation,
• Type-safe APIs for writing and reading.

As an example, let’s create a buffer for storing particles.

import tgpu from 'typegpu';
import * as d from 'typegpu/data';

// Defining a struct type
const Particle = d.struct({
  position: d.vec3f,
  velocity: d.vec3f,
  health: d.f32,
});

// Utility for creating a random particle
function createParticle(): d.Infer<typeof Particle> {
  return {
    position: d.vec3f(Math.random(), 2, Math.random()),
    velocity: d.vec3f(0, 9.8, 0),
    health: 100,
  };
}

const root = await tgpu.init();

// Creating and initializing a buffer.
const buffer = root
  .createBuffer(
    d.arrayOf(Particle, 100), // <- holds 100 particles
    Array.from({ length: 100 }).map(createParticle), // <- initial value
  )
  .$usage('storage'); // <- can be used as a "storage buffer"

// -
// --
// --- Shader omitted for brevity...
// --
// -

// Reading back from the buffer
const value = await buffer.read();
const value: {
    position: d.v3f;
    velocity: d.v3f;
    health: number;
}[]

This buffer can then be used and/or updated by a WGSL shader.

Creating a buffer

To create a buffer, you will need to define its schema by composing data types imported from typegpu/data. Every WGSL data-type can be represented as JS schemas, including structs and arrays. They will be explored in more detail in a following chapter.

const countBuffer = root.createBuffer(d.u32);
const countBuffer: TgpuBuffer<d.U32>

const listBuffer = root.createBuffer(d.arrayOf(d.f32, 10));
const listBuffer: TgpuBuffer<d.WgslArray<d.F32>>

const uniformsBuffer = root.createBuffer(d.struct({ a: d.f32, b: d.f32 }));
const uniformsBuffer: TgpuBuffer<d.WgslStruct<{
    a: d.F32;
    b: d.F32;
}>>

Usage flags

To be able to use these buffers in WGSL shaders, we have to declare their usage upfront with .$usage(...).

const buffer = root.createBuffer(d.u32)
  .$usage('uniform')
  .$usage(' ')
uniform
storage
vertex

You can also add all flags in a single $usage().

const buffer = root.createBuffer(d.u32)
  .$usage('uniform', 'storage', ' ');
uniform
storage
vertex

Note

Along with passing the appropriate flags to WebGPU, the methods will also embed type information into the buffer.

const buffer = root.createBuffer(d.u32).$usage('uniform', 'storage');
const buffer: TgpuBuffer<d.U32> & UniformFlag & StorageFlag

Additional flags

It is also possible to add any of the GPUBufferUsage flags to a typed buffer object, using the .$addFlags method. Though it shouldn’t be necessary in most scenarios as majority of the flags are handled automatically by the library or indirectly through the .$usage method.

buffer.$addFlags(GPUBufferUsage.QUERY_RESOLVE);

Note

Every typed buffer created without providing existing GPU buffer has COPY_DST and COPY_SRC flags included by default. However once the MAP_READ flag is provided, the only other flag set is COPY_DST. Similarly when setting MAP_WRITE it is paired with COPY_SRC.

Flags can only be added this way if the typed buffer was not created with an existing GPU buffer. If it was, then all flags need to be provided to the existing buffer when constructing it.

Initial value

You can also pass an initial value to the root.createBuffer function. When the buffer is created, it will be mapped at creation, and the initial value will be written to the buffer.

// Will be initialized to `100`
const buffer1 = root.createBuffer(d.u32, 100);

// Will be initialized to an array of two vec3fs with the specified values.
const buffer2 = root.createBuffer(d.arrayOf(d.vec3f, 2), [
  d.vec3f(0, 1, 2),
  d.vec3f(3, 4, 5),
]);

Using an existing buffer

You can also create a buffer using an existing WebGPU buffer. This is useful when you have existing logic but want to introduce type-safe data operations.

// A raw WebGPU buffer
const existingBuffer = root.device.createBuffer({
  size: 4,
  usage: GPUBufferUsage.STORAGE | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST,
});

const buffer = root.createBuffer(d.u32, existingBuffer);

buffer.write(12); // Writing to `existingBuffer` through a type-safe API

WebGPU Interoperability

Since the buffer is already created, you are responsible for the buffer’s lifecycle and ensuring the type matches the buffer’s contents.

Writing to a buffer

To write data to a buffer, you can use the .write(value) method. The typed schema enables auto-complete as well as static validation of this method’s arguments.

const Particle = d.struct({
  position: d.vec2f,
  health: d.u32,
});

const particleBuffer = root.createBuffer(Particle);

particleBuffer.write({
  position: d.vec2f(1.0, 2.0),
  heal 
health
});

WebGPU Interoperability

If you create a buffer from an existing WebGPU buffer that happens to be mapped, the data will be written directly to the buffer (the buffer will not be unmapped). If you pass an unmapped buffer, the data will be written to the buffer using GPUQueue.writeBuffer.

If you passed your own buffer to the root.createBuffer function, you need to ensure it has the GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST usage flag if you want to write to it using the write method.

Partial writes

When you want to update only a subset of a buffer’s fields, you can use the .writePartial(data) method. This method updates only the fields provided in the data object and leaves the rest unchanged.

The format of the data value depends on your schema type:

• For d.struct schemas: Provide an object with keys corresponding to the subset of the schema’s fields you wish to update.

• For d.array schemas: Provide an array of objects. Each object should specify:

  • idx: the index of the element to update.
  • value: the new value for that element.

const Planet = d.struct({
  radius: d.f32,
  mass: d.f32,
  position: d.vec3f,
  colors: d.arrayOf(d.vec3f, 5),
});

const planetBuffer = root.createBuffer(Planet);

planetBuffer.writePartial({
  mass: 123.1,
  colors: [
    { idx: 2, value: d.vec3f(1, 0, 0) },
    { idx: 4, value: d.vec3f(0, 0, 1) },
  ],
});

Copying

There’s also an option to copy value from another typed buffer using the .copyFrom(buffer) method, as long as both buffers have a matching data schema.

const backupParticleBuffer = root.createBuffer(Particle);
backupParticleBuffer.copyFrom(particleBuffer);

Reading from a buffer

To read data from a buffer, you can use the .read() method. It returns a promise that resolves to the data read from the buffer.

const buffer = root.createBuffer(d.arrayOf(d.u32, 10));

const data = await buffer.read();
const data: number[]

Inner Workings

How the reading operation is handled differs based on the different types of existing buffers that are passed to the createBuffer function.

1

If you pass a mapped buffer, the data will be read directly from the buffer (the buffer will not be unmapped).

2

If you pass a mappable but unmapped buffer, the buffer will be mapped and then unmapped after the data is read.

3

In the case of a buffer that is not mappable, a staging buffer will be created, and the data will be copied to the staging buffer before being read. After the data is read, the staging buffer will be destroyed.