Formats and Types

Every type below is a deftype exported from cl-gfx, so you can use it in check-type, typep and declarations. Format names follow WebGPU's: the channels and their bits, then the numeric kind.

texture-format

Format	Bytes per texel	Kind	Notes
:rgba8-unorm	4	colour
:rgba8-srgb	4	colour, sRGB
:bgra8-unorm	4	colour	common surface format
:bgra8-srgb	4	colour, sRGB	common surface format
:r8-unorm	1	colour	single channel, such as glyph masks
:rg8-unorm	2	colour
:r32-float	4	float
:rg16-float	4	float
:rg32-float	8	float
:rgba16-float	8	float	HDR colour
:rgba32-float	16	float
:r32-uint	4	unsigned integer
:rg16-uint	4	unsigned integer
:rgba8-uint	4	unsigned integer
:rgba16-uint	8	unsigned integer
:rgba32-uint	16	unsigned integer
:r32-sint	4	signed integer
:depth32-float	4	depth
:depth24-stencil8	4	depth

Predicates and helpers:

Function	Returns
(texel-size format)	The size of one texel in bytes.
(srgb-format-p format)	True for :rgba8-srgb and :bgra8-srgb.
(integer-format-p format)	True for the -uint and -sint formats, which shaders read unfiltered through integer sampler types.
(depth-format-p format)	True for :depth32-float and :depth24-stencil8.

Texel byte order is the format's channel order: :rgba8-unorm is red, green, blue, alpha; :bgra8-unorm is blue, green, red, alpha. Multi-byte channels are in the machine's byte order.

vertex-format

Format	Bytes	Shader type
:float32	4	float
:float32x2	8	vec2
:float32x3	12	vec3
:float32x4	16	vec4
:float64	8	double, needs :float64
:float64x2	16	dvec2, needs :float64
:float64x3	24	dvec3, needs :float64
:float64x4	32	dvec4, needs :float64
:uint32 … :uint32x4	4 … 16	uint … uvec4
:sint32 … :sint32x4	4 … 16	int … ivec4
:unorm8x4	4	vec4, four bytes mapped to 0 to 1

(vertex-format-size format) returns the size in bytes.

Other types

Type	Values
index-format	:uint16, :uint32
texture-dimension	:1d, :1d-array, :2d, :2d-array, :3d, :cube, :cube-array
sample-count	1, 2, 4, 8
filter	:nearest, :linear
address-mode	:clamp-to-edge, :repeat, :mirror-repeat
compare-function	:never, :less, :equal, :less-equal, :greater, :not-equal, :greater-equal, :always
binding-kind	:uniform-buffer, :texture, :storage-buffer, :read-only-storage-buffer, :storage-texture, :uniform-texel-buffer, :storage-texel-buffer
shader-stage	:vertex, :tessellation-control, :tessellation-evaluation, :geometry, :fragment, :compute
device-feature	:geometry-shaders, :tessellation-shaders, :float64, :multisample-storage-textures, :vertex-stores, :rounding-mode-rte-float32, :rounding-mode-rte-float64, :signed-zero-inf-nan-preserve-float32, :signed-zero-inf-nan-preserve-float64
validation-check	:synchronization, :best-practices
validation-severity	:error, :warning, :info, :verbose, the most severe first
buffer-usage	:vertex, :index, :uniform, :storage, :uniform-texel, :storage-texel, :copy-src, :copy-dst: what create-buffer :usage lists
texture-usage	:render-target, :sampled, :storage, :copy-src, :copy-dst: what create-texture :usage lists
data-vector	A simple vector of single-float, double-float, (unsigned-byte 8), (unsigned-byte 16) or (unsigned-byte 32): what write-buffer and write-texture take and read-buffer and read-texture return
data-element-type	single-float, double-float, (unsigned-byte 8), (unsigned-byte 16), (unsigned-byte 32): the :element-type of read-buffer and read-texture
bind-group-index	0 to 3, one less than +max-bind-groups+: what set-bind-group takes

Function	Returns
(array-dimension-p dimension)	True for :1d-array, :2d-array and :cube-array.
(cube-dimension-p dimension)	True for :cube and :cube-array.

Keyword sets that are not types

Where	Values
create-buffer :memory	:device, :upload
create-surface :present-mode	:fifo, :fifo-relaxed, :mailbox, :immediate
create-render-pipeline :topology	:triangle-list, :triangle-strip, :line-list, :line-strip, :point-list, :patch-list
create-render-pipeline :cull-mode	:none, :front, :back
create-render-pipeline :front-face	:counter-clockwise, :clockwise
create-render-pipeline :blend	:replace, :alpha, :premultiplied-alpha
vertex buffer layout :step	:vertex, :instance

Constants

Constant	Value	Meaning
+uniform-offset-alignment+	256	A uniform buffer range in a bind group starts at a multiple of this.
+storage-offset-alignment+	256	A storage or texel buffer range starts at a multiple of this.
+max-bind-groups+	4	A pipeline uses at most this many bind groups, numbered from 0, as bind-group-index says.