---
id: wiki-2026-0508-webgpu-compute-shaders
title: WebGPU Compute Shaders
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [WebGPU Compute, WGSL Compute, WebGPU Compute Shader]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.9
verification_status: applied
tags: [webgpu, compute, gpgpu, wgsl]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: WGSL/JavaScript
  framework: WebGPU
---

# WebGPU Compute Shaders

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 GPGPU 의 web — 매 finally"**. WebGPU compute shader 매 WGSL 의 modern Vulkan/Metal-style API 의 GPU 의 general compute. 2026 매 ML inference (ONNX Runtime Web, transformers.js GPU backend) / physics / image processing 의 standard.

## 매 핵심

### 매 vs WebGL
- **Compute shader**: WebGL X / WebGPU O — 매 game changer.
- **WGSL**: 매 statically typed, Rust-inspired — GLSL 보다 modern.
- **Bind groups**: explicit resource binding — 매 Vulkan-like.
- **Async pipeline**: command encoder + submit — 매 lower CPU overhead.

### 매 workgroup
- **`@workgroup_size(x, y, z)`**: thread block — typically 64 / 128 / 256 threads.
- **Dispatch**: `dispatchWorkgroups(gx, gy, gz)` — total threads = workgroup * dispatch.
- **Shared memory**: `var<workgroup>` — 매 fast on-chip.
- **Synchronization**: `workgroupBarrier()` — 매 within workgroup.

### 매 응용
1. **ML inference**: matrix multiply / attention — transformers.js / ONNX Runtime Web.
2. **Image processing**: blur / upscale (FSR-style) / segmentation.
3. **Physics**: cloth / particles / fluid sim.
4. **Sort / scan / reduce**: parallel primitives.

## 💻 패턴

### Init device + buffer
```js
const adapter = await navigator.gpu.requestAdapter();
const device = await adapter.requestDevice();

const input = new Float32Array(1024).fill(1);
const inBuf = device.createBuffer({
  size: input.byteLength,
  usage: GPUBufferUsage.STORAGE | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST,
});
device.queue.writeBuffer(inBuf, 0, input);

const outBuf = device.createBuffer({
  size: input.byteLength,
  usage: GPUBufferUsage.STORAGE | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_SRC,
});

const readBuf = device.createBuffer({
  size: input.byteLength,
  usage: GPUBufferUsage.MAP_READ | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST,
});
```

### Compute shader 매 element-wise
```js
const module = device.createShaderModule({
  code: `
    @group(0) @binding(0) var<storage, read> input: array<f32>;
    @group(0) @binding(1) var<storage, read_write> output: array<f32>;

    @compute @workgroup_size(64)
    fn main(@builtin(global_invocation_id) gid: vec3<u32>) {
      let i = gid.x;
      if (i >= arrayLength(&input)) { return; }
      output[i] = input[i] * 2.0 + 1.0;
    }
  `,
});

const pipeline = device.createComputePipeline({
  layout: 'auto',
  compute: { module, entryPoint: 'main' },
});

const bindGroup = device.createBindGroup({
  layout: pipeline.getBindGroupLayout(0),
  entries: [
    { binding: 0, resource: { buffer: inBuf } },
    { binding: 1, resource: { buffer: outBuf } },
  ],
});

const enc = device.createCommandEncoder();
const pass = enc.beginComputePass();
pass.setPipeline(pipeline);
pass.setBindGroup(0, bindGroup);
pass.dispatchWorkgroups(Math.ceil(1024 / 64));
pass.end();
enc.copyBufferToBuffer(outBuf, 0, readBuf, 0, input.byteLength);
device.queue.submit([enc.finish()]);

await readBuf.mapAsync(GPUMapMode.READ);
const result = new Float32Array(readBuf.getMappedRange().slice(0));
readBuf.unmap();
```

### Matmul 매 tiled (workgroup shared)
```wgsl
const TILE = 16u;
@group(0) @binding(0) var<storage, read> A: array<f32>;
@group(0) @binding(1) var<storage, read> B: array<f32>;
@group(0) @binding(2) var<storage, read_write> C: array<f32>;
@group(0) @binding(3) var<uniform> dims: vec3<u32>; // M, N, K

var<workgroup> Asub: array<array<f32, 16>, 16>;
var<workgroup> Bsub: array<array<f32, 16>, 16>;

@compute @workgroup_size(16, 16)
fn matmul(@builtin(global_invocation_id) gid: vec3<u32>,
          @builtin(local_invocation_id) lid: vec3<u32>) {
  let row = gid.y; let col = gid.x;
  var sum = 0.0;
  let tiles = (dims.z + TILE - 1u) / TILE;
  for (var t = 0u; t < tiles; t++) {
    Asub[lid.y][lid.x] = A[row * dims.z + t * TILE + lid.x];
    Bsub[lid.y][lid.x] = B[(t * TILE + lid.y) * dims.x + col];
    workgroupBarrier();
    for (var k = 0u; k < TILE; k++) { sum += Asub[lid.y][k] * Bsub[k][lid.x]; }
    workgroupBarrier();
  }
  C[row * dims.x + col] = sum;
}
```

### Reduction (parallel sum)
```wgsl
var<workgroup> shared_data: array<f32, 256>;

@compute @workgroup_size(256)
fn reduce(@builtin(local_invocation_id) lid: vec3<u32>,
          @builtin(workgroup_id) wid: vec3<u32>) {
  let tid = lid.x;
  let i = wid.x * 256u + tid;
  shared_data[tid] = select(0.0, input[i], i < arrayLength(&input));
  workgroupBarrier();

  var s = 128u;
  loop {
    if (s == 0u) { break; }
    if (tid < s) { shared_data[tid] += shared_data[tid + s]; }
    workgroupBarrier();
    s = s / 2u;
  }
  if (tid == 0u) { partial[wid.x] = shared_data[0]; }
}
```

### Image processing — texture in, texture out
```wgsl
@group(0) @binding(0) var inputTex: texture_2d<f32>;
@group(0) @binding(1) var outputTex: texture_storage_2d<rgba8unorm, write>;

@compute @workgroup_size(8, 8)
fn blur(@builtin(global_invocation_id) gid: vec3<u32>) {
  let dims = textureDimensions(inputTex);
  if (gid.x >= dims.x || gid.y >= dims.y) { return; }
  var sum = vec4<f32>(0.0);
  for (var dy = -1; dy <= 1; dy++) {
    for (var dx = -1; dx <= 1; dx++) {
      sum += textureLoad(inputTex, vec2<i32>(gid.xy) + vec2(dx, dy), 0);
    }
  }
  textureStore(outputTex, vec2<i32>(gid.xy), sum / 9.0);
}
```

### transformers.js GPU 매 inference
```js
import { pipeline, env } from '@xenova/transformers';
env.backends.onnx.wasm.simd = true;
const generator = await pipeline('text-generation', 'Xenova/Llama-3.2-1B', {
  device: 'webgpu', // 매 WebGPU compute backend
  dtype: 'q4',
});
const out = await generator('Hello', { max_new_tokens: 50 });
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| ML inference in browser | WebGPU compute (transformers.js / ORT-Web) |
| Particle / cloth sim | Compute shader |
| Image filter | Compute or fragment shader (compute 매 cleaner) |
| Sort / scan | Compute (no fragment hack) |
| Wide compatibility | WebGL fallback (no compute) |
| Mobile | WebGPU 매 iOS 18+ / Android Chrome 121+ |

**기본값**: WebGPU compute + WGSL + tiled algorithms + transformers.js for ML.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[WebGPU]] · [[GPGPU]]
- 변형: [[CUDA]] · [[Metal Compute]] · [[Vulkan Compute]]
- 응용: [[transformers.js]] · [[ONNX Runtime Web]] · [[Threejs WebGPURenderer]]
- Adjacent: [[WGSL]] · [[Web Worker (웹 워커)]] · [[WebAssembly]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: GPU compute in browser — ML / physics / image / parallel reduce-scan.
**언제 X**: trivial work — JS / Worker 매 충분 / CPU / Safari iOS <18 — WebGPU 의 unavailable.

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Tiny dispatch**: <1024 threads 매 launch overhead 의 net loss.
- **No barrier on shared memory**: race condition — `workgroupBarrier()` 의 between read/write.
- **`mapAsync` per frame**: GPU↔CPU sync 매 stall — pipeline + double-buffer.
- **Workgroup size 32**: 매 너무 small — 64-256 의 사용 (warp/wave occupancy).
- **No bounds check**: out-of-range invocation 매 garbage write.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (W3C WebGPU spec / WGSL spec / transformers.js docs).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — workgroup, tiled matmul, reduction, image, transformers.js |
