GPUCommandEncoder

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The GPUCommandEncoder interface of the WebGPU API represents a command encoder, used to encode commands to be issued to the GPU.

A GPUCommandEncoder object instance is created via the GPUDevice.createCommandEncoder() property.

Instance properties

label Experimental

A string providing a label that can be used to identify the object, for example in GPUError messages or console warnings.

Instance methods

beginComputePass() Experimental

Starts encoding a compute pass, returning a GPUComputePassEncoder that can be used to control computation.

beginRenderPass() Experimental

Starts encoding a render pass, returning a GPURenderPassEncoder that can be used to control rendering.

clearBuffer() Experimental

Encodes a command that fills a region of a GPUBuffer with zeroes.

copyBufferToBuffer() Experimental

Encodes a command that copies data from one GPUBuffer to another.

copyBufferToTexture() Experimental

Encodes a command that copies data from a GPUBuffer to a GPUTexture.

copyTextureToBuffer() Experimental

Encodes a command that copies data from a GPUTexture to a GPUBuffer.

copyTextureToTexture() Experimental

Encodes a command that copies data from one GPUTexture to another.

finish() Experimental

Completes recording of the command sequence encoded on this GPUCommandEncoder, returning a corresponding GPUCommandBuffer.

insertDebugMarker() Experimental

Marks a specific point in a series of encoded commands with a label.

popDebugGroup() Experimental

Ends a debug group, which is begun with a pushDebugGroup() call.

pushDebugGroup() Experimental

Begins a debug group, which is marked with a specified label, and will contain all subsequent encoded commands up until a popDebugGroup() method is invoked.

resolveQuerySet() Experimental

Encodes a command that resolves a GPUQuerySet, copying the results into a specified GPUBuffer.

writeTimestamp() Non-standard Deprecated

Encodes a command that writes a timestamp into a GPUQuerySet once the previous commands recorded into the same queued GPUCommandBuffer have been executed by the GPU.

Examples

In our basic render demo, several commands are recorded via a GPUCommandEncoder:

js
// ...

// Create GPUCommandEncoder
const commandEncoder = device.createCommandEncoder();

// Create GPURenderPassDescriptor to tell WebGPU which texture to draw into, then initiate render pass

const renderPassDescriptor = {
  colorAttachments: [
    {
      clearValue: clearColor,
      loadOp: "clear",
      storeOp: "store",
      view: context.getCurrentTexture().createView(),
    },
  ],
};

const passEncoder = commandEncoder.beginRenderPass(renderPassDescriptor);

// Draw a triangle

passEncoder.setPipeline(renderPipeline);
passEncoder.setVertexBuffer(0, vertexBuffer);
passEncoder.draw(3);

// End the render pass

passEncoder.end();

// ...

The commands encoded by the GPUCommandEncoder are recoded into a GPUCommandBuffer using the GPUCommandEncoder.finish() method. The command buffer is then passed into the queue via a submit() call, ready to be processed by the GPU.

js
device.queue.submit([commandEncoder.finish()]);

Note: Study the WebGPU samples to find more command encoding examples.

Specifications

Specification
WebGPU
# gpucommandencoder

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobileserver
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Deno
GPUCommandEncoder
Experimental
beginComputePass
Experimental
timestampWrites descriptor property
Experimental
beginRenderPass
Experimental
color attachment depthSlice option
Experimental
Set depthReadOnly and stencilReadOnly to true separately from one another.
Experimental
timestampWrites descriptor property
Experimental
clearBuffer
Experimental
copyBufferToBuffer
Experimental
copyBufferToTexture
Experimental
copyTextureToBuffer
Experimental
copyTextureToTexture
Experimental
finish
Experimental
insertDebugMarker
Experimental
label
Experimental
popDebugGroup
Experimental
pushDebugGroup
Experimental
resolveQuerySet
Experimental
writeTimestamp
DeprecatedNon-standard

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
In development. Supported in a pre-release version.
In development. Supported in a pre-release version.
No support
No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
Non-standard. Check cross-browser support before using.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.
Has more compatibility info.

See also