# Vulkan® 1.4.303 - A Specification (with all registered extensions)

The Khronos® Vulkan Working Group
version 1.4.303, 2024-12-15 00:58:43Z
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## 9. Shaders

A shader specifies programmable operations that execute for each vertex, control point, tessellated vertex, primitive, fragment, or workgroup in the corresponding stage(s) of the graphics and compute pipelines.

Graphics pipelines include vertex shader execution as a result of primitive assembly, followed, if enabled, by tessellation control and evaluation shaders operating on patches, geometry shaders, if enabled, operating on primitives, and fragment shaders, if present, operating on fragments generated by Rasterization. In this specification, vertex, tessellation control, tessellation evaluation and geometry shaders are collectively referred to as pre-rasterization shader stages and occur in the logical pipeline before rasterization. The fragment shader occurs logically after rasterization.

Only the compute shader stage is included in a compute pipeline. Compute shaders operate on compute invocations in a workgroup.

Shaders can read from input variables, and read from and write to output variables. Input and output variables can be used to transfer data between shader stages, or to allow the shader to interact with values that exist in the execution environment. Similarly, the execution environment provides constants describing capabilities.

Shader variables are associated with execution environment-provided inputs and outputs using built-in decorations in the shader. The available decorations for each stage are documented in the following subsections.

### 9.1. Shader Objects

Shaders may be compiled and linked into pipeline objects as described in Pipelines chapter, or if the `shaderObject` feature is enabled they may be compiled into individual per-stage shader objects which can be bound on a command buffer independently from one another. Unlike pipelines, shader objects are not intrinsically tied to any specific set of state. Instead, state is specified dynamically in the command buffer.

Each shader object represents a single compiled shader stage, which may optionally be linked with one or more other stages.

Shader objects are represented by `VkShaderEXT` handles:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkShaderEXT)

#### 9.1.1. Shader Object Creation

Shader objects may be created from shader code provided as SPIR-V, or in an opaque, implementation-defined binary format specific to the physical device.

To create one or more shader objects, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    VkResult vkCreateShadersEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        uint32_t                                    createInfoCount,
        const VkShaderCreateInfoEXT*                pCreateInfos,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkShaderEXT*                                pShaders);

- `device` is the logical device that creates the shader objects.

- `createInfoCount` is the length of the `pCreateInfos` and `pShaders` arrays.

- `pCreateInfos` is a pointer to an array of VkShaderCreateInfoEXT structures.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pShaders` is a pointer to an array of VkShaderEXT handles in which the resulting shader objects are returned.

When this function returns, whether or not it succeeds, it is guaranteed that every element of `pShaders` will have been overwritten by either VK_NULL_HANDLE or a valid `VkShaderEXT` handle.

This means that whenever shader creation fails, the application can determine which shader the returned error pertains to by locating the first VK_NULL_HANDLE element in `pShaders`. It also means that an application can reliably clean up from a failed call by iterating over the `pShaders` array and destroying every element that is not VK_NULL_HANDLE.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-stage-09670
  If the `stage` member of any element of `pCreateInfos` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT`, `device` must support at least one queue family with the `VK_QUEUE_COMPUTE_BIT` capability

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-stage-09671
  If the `stage` member of any element of `pCreateInfos` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, `device` must support at least one queue family with the `VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT` capability

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-None-08400
  The `shaderObject` feature must be enabled

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08402
  If the `flags` member of any element of `pCreateInfos` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, the `flags` member of all other elements of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` must also include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08403
  If the `flags` member of any element of `pCreateInfos` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, the `flags` member of all other elements of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` must also include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08404
  If the `flags` member of any element of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, there must be no member of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` and whose `flags` member includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08405
  If there is any element of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` and whose `flags` member includes both `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT`, there must be no element of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` and whose `flags` member includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08409
  For each element of `pCreateInfos` whose `flags` member includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, if there is any other element of `pCreateInfos` whose `stage` is logically later than the `stage` of the former and whose `flags` member also includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, the `nextStage` of the former must be equal to the `stage` of the element with the logically earliest `stage` following the `stage` of the former whose `flags` member also includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08410
  The `stage` member of each element of `pCreateInfos` whose `flags` member includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT` must be unique

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08411
  The `codeType` member of all elements of `pCreateInfos` whose `flags` member includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT` must be the same

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08867
  If `pCreateInfos` contains elements with both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, both elements' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, both elements' `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage’s `pCode` contains an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the type of subdivision, it must match the subdivision type specified in the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08868
  If `pCreateInfos` contains elements with both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, both elements' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, both elements' `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage’s `pCode` contains an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the orientation of triangles, it must match the triangle orientation specified in the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08869
  If `pCreateInfos` contains elements with both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, both elements' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, both elements' `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage’s `pCode` contains an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying `PointMode`, the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage must also contain an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying `PointMode`

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08870
  If `pCreateInfos` contains elements with both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, both elements' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, both elements' `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage’s `pCode` contains an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the spacing of segments on the edges of tessellated primitives, it must match the segment spacing specified in the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-08871
  If `pCreateInfos` contains elements with both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, both elements' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`, both elements' `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage’s `pCode` contains an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the output patch size, it must match the output patch size specified in the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-09632
  If `pCreateInfos` contains a `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` with `codeType` of `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT` is not set, then the mesh shader’s entry point must not declare a variable with a `DrawIndex` `BuiltIn` decoration

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pCreateInfos-parameter
  `pCreateInfos` must be a valid pointer to an array of `createInfoCount` valid VkShaderCreateInfoEXT structures

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-pShaders-parameter
  `pShaders` must be a valid pointer to an array of `createInfoCount` VkShaderEXT handles

- VUID-vkCreateShadersEXT-createInfoCount-arraylength
  `createInfoCount` must be greater than `0`

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPATIBLE_SHADER_BINARY_EXT`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED`

The `VkShaderCreateInfoEXT` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    typedef struct VkShaderCreateInfoEXT {
        VkStructureType                 sType;
        const void*                     pNext;
        VkShaderCreateFlagsEXT          flags;
        VkShaderStageFlagBits           stage;
        VkShaderStageFlags              nextStage;
        VkShaderCodeTypeEXT             codeType;
        size_t                          codeSize;
        const void*                     pCode;
        const char*                     pName;
        uint32_t                        setLayoutCount;
        const VkDescriptorSetLayout*    pSetLayouts;
        uint32_t                        pushConstantRangeCount;
        const VkPushConstantRange*      pPushConstantRanges;
        const VkSpecializationInfo*     pSpecializationInfo;
    } VkShaderCreateInfoEXT;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `flags` is a bitmask of VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT describing additional parameters of the shader.

- `stage` is a VkShaderStageFlagBits value specifying a single shader stage.

- `nextStage` is a bitmask of VkShaderStageFlagBits specifying zero or stages which may be used as a logically next bound stage when drawing with the shader bound.

- `codeType` is a VkShaderCodeTypeEXT value specifying the type of the shader code pointed to be `pCode`.

- `codeSize` is the size in bytes of the shader code pointed to be `pCode`.

- `pCode` is a pointer to the shader code to use to create the shader.

- `pName` is a pointer to a null-terminated UTF-8 string specifying the entry point name of the shader for this stage.

- `setLayoutCount` is the number of descriptor set layouts pointed to by `pSetLayouts`.

- `pSetLayouts` is a pointer to an array of VkDescriptorSetLayout objects used by the shader stage.

- `pushConstantRangeCount` is the number of push constant ranges pointed to by `pPushConstantRanges`.

- `pPushConstantRanges` is a pointer to an array of VkPushConstantRange structures used by the shader stage.

- `pSpecializationInfo` is a pointer to a VkSpecializationInfo structure, as described in Specialization Constants, or `NULL`.

Valid Usage

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeSize-08735
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `codeSize` must be a multiple of 4

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08736
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must point to valid SPIR-V code, formatted and packed as described by the Khronos SPIR-V Specification

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08737
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must adhere to the validation rules described by the Validation Rules within a Module section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08738
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must declare the `Shader` capability for SPIR-V code

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08739
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must not declare any capability that is not supported by the API, as described by the Capabilities section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08740
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `pCode` declares any of the capabilities listed in the SPIR-V Environment appendix, one of the corresponding requirements must be satisfied

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08741
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must not declare any SPIR-V extension that is not supported by the API, as described by the Extension section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08742
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `pCode` declares any of the SPIR-V extensions listed in the SPIR-V Environment appendix, one of the corresponding requirements must be satisfied

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08412
  If `stage` is not `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08486
  If `stage` is not `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08487
  If the `attachmentFragmentShadingRate` feature is not enabled, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08488
  If `stage` is not `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08489
  If the `fragmentDensityMap` feature is not enabled, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-09404
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT`, the `subgroupSizeControl` feature must be enabled

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-09405
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT`, the `computeFullSubgroups` feature must be enabled

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-11005
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT`, then the `VkPhysicalDeviceDeviceGeneratedCommandsFeaturesEXT`::`deviceGeneratedCommands` feature must be enabled

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-11006
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT`, then the identified entry point must not specify `Xfb` execution mode

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08992
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT`, `stage` must be one of `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08485
  If `stage` is not `VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT`, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_DISPATCH_BASE_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08414
  If `stage` is not `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, `flags` must not include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08416
  If `flags` includes both `VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT`, the local workgroup size in the X dimension of the shader must be a multiple of `maxSubgroupSize`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-08417
  If `flags` includes `VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT` but not `VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT` and no VkShaderRequiredSubgroupSizeCreateInfoEXT structure is included in the `pNext` chain, the local workgroup size in the X dimension of the shader must be a multiple of `subgroupSize`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08418
  `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_ALL_GRAPHICS` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_ALL`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08419
  If the `tessellationShader` feature is not enabled, `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08420
  If the `geometryShader` feature is not enabled, `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08421
  If the `taskShader` feature is not enabled, `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08422
  If the `meshShader` feature is not enabled, `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08425
  `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_SUBPASS_SHADING_BIT_HUAWEI`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-08426
  `stage` must not be `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CLUSTER_CULLING_BIT_HUAWEI`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08427
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08428
  If the `tessellationShader` feature is not enabled, `nextStage` must not include `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08429
  If the `geometryShader` feature is not enabled, `nextStage` must not include `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08430
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08431
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08433
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08434
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT`, `nextStage` must be 0

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08435
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-08436
  If `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, `nextStage` must not include any bits other than `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pName-08440
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pName` must be the name of an `OpEntryPoint` in `pCode` with an execution model that matches `stage`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08492
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_BINARY_EXT`, `pCode` must be aligned to `16` bytes

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08493
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, `pCode` must be aligned to `4` bytes

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08448
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the identified entry point includes any variable in its interface that is declared with the `ClipDistance` `BuiltIn` decoration, that variable must not have an array size greater than `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxClipDistances`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08449
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the identified entry point includes any variable in its interface that is declared with the `CullDistance` `BuiltIn` decoration, that variable must not have an array size greater than `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxCullDistances`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08450
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the identified entry point includes variables in its interface that are declared with the `ClipDistance` `BuiltIn` decoration and variables in its interface that are declared with the `CullDistance` `BuiltIn` decoration, those variables must not have array sizes which sum to more than `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxCombinedClipAndCullDistances`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08451
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and the identified entry point includes any variable in its interface that is declared with the `SampleMask` `BuiltIn` decoration, that variable must not have an array size greater than `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxSampleMaskWords`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08452
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, the identified entry point must not include any input variable in its interface that is decorated with `CullDistance`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08453
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, and the identified entry point has an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying a patch size with `OutputVertices`, the patch size must be greater than `0` and less than or equal to `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxTessellationPatchSize`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08454
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, the identified entry point must have an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying a maximum output vertex count that is greater than `0` and less than or equal to `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxGeometryOutputVertices`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08455
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, the identified entry point must have an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying an invocation count that is greater than `0` and less than or equal to `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxGeometryShaderInvocations`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08456
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is a pre-rasterization shader stage, and the identified entry point writes to `Layer` for any primitive, it must write the same value to `Layer` for all vertices of a given primitive

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08457
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is a pre-rasterization shader stage, and the identified entry point writes to `ViewportIndex` for any primitive, it must write the same value to `ViewportIndex` for all vertices of a given primitive

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08458
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, the identified entry point must not include any output variables in its interface decorated with `CullDistance`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08459
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, and the identified entry point writes to `FragDepth` in any execution path, all execution paths that are not exclusive to helper invocations must either discard the fragment, or write or initialize the value of `FragDepth`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-08460
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, the shader code in `pCode` must be valid as described by the Khronos SPIR-V Specification after applying the specializations provided in `pSpecializationInfo`, if any, and then converting all specialization constants into fixed constants

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-08872
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `pCode` must contain an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the type of subdivision

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-08873
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `pCode` must contain an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the orientation of triangles generated by the tessellator

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-08874
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `pCode` must contain an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the spacing of segments on the edges of tessellated primitives

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-08875
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and `stage` is `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `pCode` must contain an `OpExecutionMode` instruction specifying the output patch size

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pPushConstantRanges-10063
  Any two elements of `pPushConstantRanges` must not include the same stage in `stageFlags`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-10064
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and if a push constant block is declared in a shader, then an element of `pPushConstantRanges`::`stageFlags` must match `stage`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-10065
  If `codeType` is `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT`, and if a push constant block is declared in a shader, the block must be contained inside the element of `pPushConstantRanges` that matches the stage

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_CREATE_INFO_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pNext-pNext
  Each `pNext` member of any structure (including this one) in the `pNext` chain must be either `NULL` or a pointer to a valid instance of VkPipelineShaderStageRequiredSubgroupSizeCreateInfo or VkValidationFeaturesEXT

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-sType-unique
  The `sType` value of each struct in the `pNext` chain must be unique

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-flags-parameter
  `flags` must be a valid combination of VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT values

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-stage-parameter
  `stage` must be a valid VkShaderStageFlagBits value

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-nextStage-parameter
  `nextStage` must be a valid combination of VkShaderStageFlagBits values

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeType-parameter
  `codeType` must be a valid VkShaderCodeTypeEXT value

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pCode-parameter
  `pCode` must be a valid pointer to an array of `codeSize` bytes

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pName-parameter
  If `pName` is not `NULL`, `pName` must be a null-terminated UTF-8 string

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pSetLayouts-parameter
  If `setLayoutCount` is not `0`, and `pSetLayouts` is not `NULL`, `pSetLayouts` must be a valid pointer to an array of `setLayoutCount` valid VkDescriptorSetLayout handles

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pPushConstantRanges-parameter
  If `pushConstantRangeCount` is not `0`, and `pPushConstantRanges` is not `NULL`, `pPushConstantRanges` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pushConstantRangeCount` valid VkPushConstantRange structures

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-pSpecializationInfo-parameter
  If `pSpecializationInfo` is not `NULL`, `pSpecializationInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSpecializationInfo structure

- VUID-VkShaderCreateInfoEXT-codeSize-arraylength
  `codeSize` must be greater than `0`

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    typedef VkFlags VkShaderCreateFlagsEXT;

`VkShaderCreateFlagsEXT` is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT.

Possible values of the `flags` member of VkShaderCreateInfoEXT specifying how a shader object is created, are:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    typedef enum VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT {
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000001,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control or VK_VERSION_1_3
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000002,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control or VK_VERSION_1_3
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT = 0x00000004,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_mesh_shader or VK_NV_mesh_shader
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT = 0x00000008,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_KHR_device_group or VK_VERSION_1_1
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_DISPATCH_BASE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000010,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_fragment_shading_rate with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT = 0x00000020,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_fragment_density_map with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT = 0x00000040,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_device_generated_commands
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000080,
    } VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT;

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT` specifies that a shader is linked to all other shaders created in the same vkCreateShadersEXT call whose VkShaderCreateInfoEXT structures' `flags` include `VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT`.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT` specifies that the `SubgroupSize` may vary in a task, mesh, or compute shader.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT` specifies that the subgroup sizes must be launched with all invocations active in a task, mesh, or compute shader.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT` specifies that a mesh shader must only be used without a task shader. Otherwise, the mesh shader must only be used with a task shader.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_DISPATCH_BASE_BIT_EXT` specifies that a compute shader can be used with vkCmdDispatchBase with a non-zero base workgroup.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT` specifies that a fragment shader can be used with a fragment shading rate attachment.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT` specifies that a fragment shader can be used with a fragment density map attachment.

- `VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT` specifies that the shader can be used in combination with Device-Generated Commands.

Note | The behavior of `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT` differs subtly from the behavior of `VK_PIPELINE_CREATE_RENDERING_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_KHR` and `VK_PIPELINE_CREATE_RENDERING_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT` in that the shader bit allows, but does not require the shader to be used with that type of attachment. This means that the application need not create multiple shaders when it does not know in advance whether the shader will be used with or without the attachment type, or when it needs the same shader to be compatible with usage both with and without. This may come at some performance cost on some implementations, so applications should still only set bits that are actually necessary.

Shader objects can be created using different types of shader code. Possible values of VkShaderCreateInfoEXT::`codeType`, are:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    typedef enum VkShaderCodeTypeEXT {
        VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_BINARY_EXT = 0,
        VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT = 1,
    } VkShaderCodeTypeEXT;

- `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_BINARY_EXT` specifies shader code in an opaque, implementation-defined binary format specific to the physical device.

- `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_SPIRV_EXT` specifies shader code in SPIR-V format.

#### 9.1.2. Binary Shader Code

Binary shader code can be retrieved from a shader object using the command:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    VkResult vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkShaderEXT                                 shader,
        size_t*                                     pDataSize,
        void*                                       pData);

- `device` is the logical device that shader object was created from.

- `shader` is the shader object to retrieve binary shader code from.

- `pDataSize` is a pointer to a `size_t` value related to the size of the binary shader code, as described below.

- `pData` is either `NULL` or a pointer to a buffer.

If `pData` is `NULL`, then the size of the binary shader code of the shader object, in bytes, is returned in `pDataSize`. Otherwise, `pDataSize` must point to a variable set by the application to the size of the buffer, in bytes, pointed to by `pData`, and on return the variable is overwritten with the amount of data actually written to `pData`. If `pDataSize` is less than the size of the binary shader code, nothing is written to `pData`, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`.

Note | The behavior of this command when `pDataSize` is too small differs from how some other getter-type commands work in Vulkan. Because shader binary data is only usable in its entirety, it would never be useful for the implementation to return partial data. Because of this, nothing is written to `pData` unless `pDataSize` is large enough to fit the data in its entirety.

Binary shader code retrieved using `vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT` can be passed to a subsequent call to vkCreateShadersEXT on a compatible physical device by specifying `VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_BINARY_EXT` in the `codeType` member of `VkShaderCreateInfoEXT`.

The shader code returned by repeated calls to this function with the same `VkShaderEXT` is guaranteed to be invariant for the lifetime of the `VkShaderEXT` object.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-None-08461
  The `shaderObject` feature must be enabled

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-None-08499
  If `pData` is not `NULL`, it must be aligned to `16` bytes

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-shader-parameter
  `shader` must be a valid VkShaderEXT handle

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-pDataSize-parameter
  `pDataSize` must be a valid pointer to a `size_t` value

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-pData-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pDataSize` is not `0`, and `pData` is not `NULL`, `pData` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pDataSize` bytes

- VUID-vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT-shader-parent
  `shader` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

#### 9.1.3. Binary Shader Compatibility

Binary shader compatibility means that binary shader code returned from a call to vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT can be passed to a later call to vkCreateShadersEXT, potentially on a different logical and/or physical device, and that this will result in the successful creation of a shader object functionally equivalent to the shader object that the code was originally queried from.

Binary shader code queried from vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT is not guaranteed to be compatible across all devices, but implementations are required to provide some compatibility guarantees. Applications may determine binary shader compatibility using either (or both) of two mechanisms.

Guaranteed compatibility of shader binaries is expressed through a combination of the `shaderBinaryUUID` and `shaderBinaryVersion` members of the VkPhysicalDeviceShaderObjectPropertiesEXT structure queried from a physical device. Binary shaders retrieved from a physical device with a certain `shaderBinaryUUID` are guaranteed to be compatible with all other physical devices reporting the same `shaderBinaryUUID` and the same or higher `shaderBinaryVersion`.

Whenever a new version of an implementation incorporates any changes that affect the output of vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT, the implementation should either increment `shaderBinaryVersion` if binary shader code retrieved from older versions remains compatible with the new implementation, or else replace `shaderBinaryUUID` with a new value if backward compatibility has been broken. Binary shader code queried from a device with a matching `shaderBinaryUUID` and lower `shaderBinaryVersion` relative to the device on which vkCreateShadersEXT is being called may be suboptimal for the new device in ways that do not change shader functionality, but it is still guaranteed to be usable to successfully create the shader object(s).

Note | Implementations are encouraged to share `shaderBinaryUUID` between devices and driver versions to the maximum extent their hardware naturally allows, and are strongly discouraged from ever changing the `shaderBinaryUUID` for the same hardware except unless absolutely necessary.

In addition to the shader compatibility guarantees described above, it is valid for an application to call vkCreateShadersEXT with binary shader code created on a device with a different or unknown `shaderBinaryUUID` and/or higher `shaderBinaryVersion`. In this case, the implementation may use any unspecified means of its choosing to determine whether the provided binary shader code is usable. If it is, vkCreateShadersEXT must return `VK_SUCCESS`, and the created shader object is guaranteed to be valid. Otherwise, in the absence of some error, vkCreateShadersEXT must return `VK_INCOMPATIBLE_SHADER_BINARY_EXT` to indicate that the provided binary shader code is not compatible with the device.

#### 9.1.4. Binding Shader Objects

Once shader objects have been created, they can be bound to the command buffer using the command:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    void vkCmdBindShadersEXT(
        VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
        uint32_t                                    stageCount,
        const VkShaderStageFlagBits*                pStages,
        const VkShaderEXT*                          pShaders);

- `commandBuffer` is the command buffer that the shader object will be bound to.

- `stageCount` is the length of the `pStages` and `pShaders` arrays.

- `pStages` is a pointer to an array of VkShaderStageFlagBits values specifying one stage per array index that is affected by the corresponding value in the `pShaders` array.

- `pShaders` is a pointer to an array of `VkShaderEXT` handles and/or VK_NULL_HANDLE values describing the shader binding operations to be performed on each stage in `pStages`.

When binding linked shaders, an application may bind them in any combination of one or more calls to `vkCmdBindShadersEXT` (i.e., shaders that were created linked together do not need to be bound in the same `vkCmdBindShadersEXT` call).

Any shader object bound to a particular stage may be unbound by setting its value in `pShaders` to VK_NULL_HANDLE. If `pShaders` is `NULL`, `vkCmdBindShadersEXT` behaves as if `pShaders` was an array of `stageCount` VK_NULL_HANDLE values (i.e., any shaders bound to the stages specified in `pStages` are unbound).

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-None-08462
  The `shaderObject` feature must be enabled

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-08463
  Every element of `pStages` must be unique

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-08464
  `pStages` must not contain `VK_SHADER_STAGE_ALL_GRAPHICS` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_ALL`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-08465
  `pStages` must not contain `VK_SHADER_STAGE_RAYGEN_BIT_KHR`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_ANY_HIT_BIT_KHR`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CLOSEST_HIT_BIT_KHR`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MISS_BIT_KHR`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_INTERSECTION_BIT_KHR`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CALLABLE_BIT_KHR`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-08467
  `pStages` must not contain `VK_SHADER_STAGE_SUBPASS_SHADING_BIT_HUAWEI`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-08468
  `pStages` must not contain `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CLUSTER_CULLING_BIT_HUAWEI`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08469
  For each element of `pStages`, if `pShaders` is not `NULL`, and the element of the `pShaders` array with the same index is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, it must have been created with a `stage` equal to the corresponding element of `pStages`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08470
  If `pStages` contains both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, and the same index in `pShaders` as `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` in `pStages` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, the same index in `pShaders` as `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` in `pStages` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08471
  If `pStages` contains both `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` and `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, and the same index in `pShaders` as `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` in `pStages` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, the same index in `pShaders` as `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` in `pStages` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08474
  If the `tessellationShader` feature is not enabled, and `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, the same index or indices in `pShaders` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08475
  If the `geometryShader` feature is not enabled, and `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, the same index in `pShaders` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08490
  If the `taskShader` feature is not enabled, and `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, the same index in `pShaders` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08491
  If the `meshShader` feature is not enabled, and `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT`, and `pShaders` is not `NULL`, the same index in `pShaders` must be VK_NULL_HANDLE

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08476
  If `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT`, the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support compute operations

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08477
  If `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT`, `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT`, or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT`, the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support graphics operations

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-08478
  If `pStages` contains `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT`, the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support graphics operations

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-commandBuffer-parameter
  `commandBuffer` must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pStages-parameter
  `pStages` must be a valid pointer to an array of `stageCount` valid VkShaderStageFlagBits values

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-pShaders-parameter
  If `pShaders` is not `NULL`, `pShaders` must be a valid pointer to an array of `stageCount` valid or VK_NULL_HANDLE VkShaderEXT handles

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-commandBuffer-recording
  `commandBuffer` must be in the recording state

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-commandBuffer-cmdpool
  The `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support graphics, or compute operations

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-videocoding
  This command must only be called outside of a video coding scope

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-stageCount-arraylength
  `stageCount` must be greater than `0`

- VUID-vkCmdBindShadersEXT-commonparent
  Both of `commandBuffer`, and the elements of `pShaders` that are valid handles of non-ignored parameters must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `commandBuffer` must be externally synchronized

- Host access to the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels | Render Pass Scope | Video Coding Scope | Supported Queue Types | Command Type
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Primary Secondary | Both | Outside | Graphics Compute | State

#### 9.1.5. Setting State

Whenever shader objects are used to issue drawing commands, the appropriate dynamic state setting commands must have been called to set the relevant state in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetViewportWithCount

- vkCmdSetScissorWithCount

- vkCmdSetRasterizerDiscardEnable

If a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` stage, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT

- vkCmdSetPrimitiveTopology

- vkCmdSetPrimitiveRestartEnable

If a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` stage, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT, if `primitiveTopology` is `VK_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_PATCH_LIST`

If a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` stage, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetTessellationDomainOriginEXT

If `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetRasterizationSamplesEXT

- vkCmdSetSampleMaskEXT

- vkCmdSetAlphaToCoverageEnableEXT

- vkCmdSetAlphaToOneEnableEXT, if the alphaToOne feature is enabled

- vkCmdSetPolygonModeEXT

- vkCmdSetLineWidth, if `polygonMode` is `VK_POLYGON_MODE_LINE`, or if a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` stage and `primitiveTopology` is a line topology, or if a shader which outputs line primitives is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT` stage

- vkCmdSetCullMode

- vkCmdSetFrontFace

- vkCmdSetDepthTestEnable

- vkCmdSetDepthWriteEnable

- vkCmdSetDepthCompareOp, if `depthTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetDepthBoundsTestEnable, if the depthBounds feature is enabled

- vkCmdSetDepthBounds, if `depthBoundsTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetDepthBiasEnable

- vkCmdSetDepthBias or vkCmdSetDepthBias2EXT, if `depthBiasEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetDepthClampEnableEXT, if the depthClamp feature is enabled

- vkCmdSetStencilTestEnable

- vkCmdSetStencilOp, if `stencilTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetStencilCompareMask, if `stencilTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetStencilWriteMask, if `stencilTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetStencilReference, if `stencilTestEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` stage, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetLogicOpEnableEXT, if the `logicOp` feature is enabled

- vkCmdSetLogicOpEXT, if `logicOpEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetColorBlendEnableEXT and vkCmdSetColorWriteMaskEXT, if color attachments are bound, with values set for every color attachment in the render pass instance active at draw time

- vkCmdSetColorBlendEquationEXT or vkCmdSetColorBlendAdvancedEXT, if color attachments are bound, for every attachment whose index in `pColorBlendEnables` is a pointer to a value of `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetBlendConstants, if any index in `pColorBlendEnables` is `VK_TRUE`, and the same index in `pColorBlendEquations` is a `VkColorBlendEquationEXT` structure with any VkBlendFactor member with a value of `VK_BLEND_FACTOR_CONSTANT_COLOR`, `VK_BLEND_FACTOR_ONE_MINUS_CONSTANT_COLOR`, `VK_BLEND_FACTOR_CONSTANT_ALPHA`, or `VK_BLEND_FACTOR_ONE_MINUS_CONSTANT_ALPHA`

If the `pipelineFragmentShadingRate` feature is enabled, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` stage, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetFragmentShadingRateKHR

If the `geometryStreams` feature is enabled, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT` stage, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetRasterizationStreamEXT

If the `VK_EXT_discard_rectangles` extension is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetDiscardRectangleEnableEXT

- vkCmdSetDiscardRectangleModeEXT, if `discardRectangleEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

- vkCmdSetDiscardRectangleEXT, if `discardRectangleEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `VK_EXT_conservative_rasterization` extension is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetConservativeRasterizationModeEXT

- vkCmdSetExtraPrimitiveOverestimationSizeEXT, if `conservativeRasterizationMode` is `VK_CONSERVATIVE_RASTERIZATION_MODE_OVERESTIMATE_EXT`

If the `depthClipEnable` feature is enabled, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetDepthClipEnableEXT

If the `VK_EXT_sample_locations` extension is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetSampleLocationsEnableEXT

- vkCmdSetSampleLocationsEXT, if `sampleLocationsEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `VK_EXT_provoking_vertex` extension is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` stage, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetProvokingVertexModeEXT

If any of the <features-stippledRectangularLines, `stippledRectangularLines`>>, <features-stippledBresenhamLines, `stippledBresenhamLines`>>, or <features-stippledSmoothLines, `stippledSmoothLines`>> features are enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, and if `polygonMode` is `VK_POLYGON_MODE_LINE` or a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` stage and `primitiveTopology` is a line topology or a shader which outputs line primitives is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` or `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT` stage, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetLineRasterizationModeEXT

- vkCmdSetLineStippleEnableEXT

- vkCmdSetLineStipple, if `stippledLineEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `depthClipControl` feature is enabled, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetDepthClipNegativeOneToOneEXT

If the `colorWriteEnable` feature is enabled, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` stage, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetColorWriteEnableEXT, with values set for every color attachment in the render pass instance active at draw time

If the attachmentFeedbackLoopDynamicState feature is enabled, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` stage, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetAttachmentFeedbackLoopEnableEXT

If the `VK_NV_clip_space_w_scaling` extension is enabled, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetViewportWScalingEnableNV

- vkCmdSetViewportWScalingNV, if `viewportWScalingEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the depthClamp and `depthClampControl` features are enabled, and `depthClampEnable` is `VK_TRUE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetDepthClampRangeEXT

If the `VK_NV_viewport_swizzle` extension is enabled, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetViewportSwizzleNV

If the `VK_NV_fragment_coverage_to_color` extension is enabled, and a shader is bound to the `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` stage, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetCoverageToColorEnableNV

- vkCmdSetCoverageToColorLocationNV, if `coverageToColorEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `VK_NV_framebuffer_mixed_samples` extension is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetCoverageModulationModeNV

- vkCmdSetCoverageModulationTableEnableNV, if `coverageModulationMode` is not `VK_COVERAGE_MODULATION_MODE_NONE_NV`

- vkCmdSetCoverageModulationTableNV, if `coverageModulationTableEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `coverageReductionMode` feature is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetCoverageReductionModeNV

If the `representativeFragmentTest` feature is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following command must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetRepresentativeFragmentTestEnableNV

If the `shadingRateImage` feature is enabled, and `rasterizerDiscardEnable` is `VK_FALSE`, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetCoarseSampleOrderNV

- vkCmdSetShadingRateImageEnableNV

- vkCmdSetViewportShadingRatePaletteNV, if `shadingRateImageEnable` is `VK_TRUE`

If the `exclusiveScissor` feature is enabled, the following commands must have been called in the command buffer prior to drawing:

- vkCmdSetExclusiveScissorEnableNV

- vkCmdSetExclusiveScissorNV, if any value in `pExclusiveScissorEnables` is `VK_TRUE`

State can be set either at any time before or after shader objects are bound, but all required state must be set prior to issuing drawing commands.

If the `commandBufferInheritance` feature is enabled, graphics and compute state is inherited from the previously executed command buffer in the queue. Any valid state inherited in this way does not need to be set again in the current command buffer.

#### 9.1.6. Interaction With Pipelines

Calling vkCmdBindShadersEXT causes the pipeline bind points corresponding to each stage in `pStages` to be disturbed, meaning that any pipelines that had previously been bound to those pipeline bind points are no longer bound.

If `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_GRAPHICS` is disturbed (i.e., if `pStages` contains any graphics stage), any graphics pipeline state that the previously bound pipeline did not specify as dynamic becomes undefined, and must be set in the command buffer before issuing drawing commands using shader objects.

Calls to vkCmdBindPipeline likewise disturb the shader stage(s) corresponding to `pipelineBindPoint`, meaning that any shaders that had previously been bound to any of those stages are no longer bound, even if the pipeline was created without shaders for some of those stages.

#### 9.1.7. Shader Object Destruction

To destroy a shader object, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    void vkDestroyShaderEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkShaderEXT                                 shader,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the shader object.

- `shader` is the handle of the shader object to destroy.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Destroying a shader object used by one or more command buffers in the recording or executable state causes those command buffers to move into the invalid state.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-None-08481
  The `shaderObject` feature must be enabled

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-shader-08482
  All submitted commands that refer to `shader` must have completed execution

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-pAllocator-08483
  If `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `shader` was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-pAllocator-08484
  If no `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `shader` was created, `pAllocator` must be `NULL`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-shader-parameter
  If `shader` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, `shader` must be a valid VkShaderEXT handle

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderEXT-shader-parent
  If `shader` is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `shader` must be externally synchronized

### 9.2. Shader Modules

Shader modules contain shader code and one or more entry points. Shaders are selected from a shader module by specifying an entry point as part of pipeline creation. The stages of a pipeline can use shaders that come from different modules. The shader code defining a shader module must be in the SPIR-V format, as described by the Vulkan Environment for SPIR-V appendix.

Shader modules are represented by `VkShaderModule` handles:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkShaderModule)

To create a shader module, call:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    VkResult vkCreateShaderModule(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        const VkShaderModuleCreateInfo*             pCreateInfo,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkShaderModule*                             pShaderModule);

- `device` is the logical device that creates the shader module.

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pShaderModule` is a pointer to a VkShaderModule handle in which the resulting shader module object is returned.

Once a shader module has been created, any entry points it contains can be used in pipeline shader stages as described in Compute Pipelines and Graphics Pipelines.

Note | If the `maintenance5` feature is enabled, shader module creation can be omitted entirely. Instead, applications should provide the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure directly in to pipeline creation by chaining it to VkPipelineShaderStageCreateInfo. This avoids the overhead of creating and managing an additional object.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCreateShaderModule-pCreateInfo-06904
  If `pCreateInfo` is not `NULL`, `pCreateInfo->pNext` must be `NULL` or a pointer to a valid instance of

  - VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT

  - VkValidationFeaturesEXT

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateShaderModule-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkCreateShaderModule-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure

- VUID-vkCreateShaderModule-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateShaderModule-pShaderModule-parameter
  `pShaderModule` must be a valid pointer to a VkShaderModule handle

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_INVALID_SHADER_NV`

The `VkShaderModuleCreateInfo` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    typedef struct VkShaderModuleCreateInfo {
        VkStructureType              sType;
        const void*                  pNext;
        VkShaderModuleCreateFlags    flags;
        size_t                       codeSize;
        const uint32_t*              pCode;
    } VkShaderModuleCreateInfo;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `flags` is reserved for future use.

- `codeSize` is the size, in bytes, of the code pointed to by `pCode`.

- `pCode` is a pointer to code that is used to create the shader module. The type and format of the code is determined from the content of the memory addressed by `pCode`.

Valid Usage

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-codeSize-08735
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `codeSize` must be a multiple of 4

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08736
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `pCode` must point to valid SPIR-V code, formatted and packed as described by the Khronos SPIR-V Specification

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08737
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `pCode` must adhere to the validation rules described by the Validation Rules within a Module section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08738
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `pCode` must declare the `Shader` capability for SPIR-V code

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08739
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `pCode` must not declare any capability that is not supported by the API, as described by the Capabilities section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08740
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, and `pCode` declares any of the capabilities listed in the SPIR-V Environment appendix, one of the corresponding requirements must be satisfied

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08741
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, `pCode` must not declare any SPIR-V extension that is not supported by the API, as described by the Extension section of the SPIR-V Environment appendix

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-08742
  If pCode is a pointer to SPIR-V code, and `pCode` declares any of the SPIR-V extensions listed in the SPIR-V Environment appendix, one of the corresponding requirements must be satisfied

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-07912
  If the VK_NV_glsl_shader extension is not enabled, `pCode` must be a pointer to SPIR-V code

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-01379
  If `pCode` is a pointer to GLSL code, it must be valid GLSL code written to the `GL_KHR_vulkan_glsl` GLSL extension specification

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-codeSize-01085
  `codeSize` must be greater than 0

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_CREATE_INFO`

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-flags-zerobitmask
  `flags` must be `0`

- VUID-VkShaderModuleCreateInfo-pCode-parameter
  `pCode` must be a valid pointer to an array of 4 codeSize​ `uint32_t` values

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    typedef VkFlags VkShaderModuleCreateFlags;

`VkShaderModuleCreateFlags` is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

To use a VkValidationCacheEXT to cache shader validation results, add a VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT structure to the `pNext` chain of the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure, specifying the cache object to use.

The `VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT` struct is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    typedef struct VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT {
        VkStructureType         sType;
        const void*             pNext;
        VkValidationCacheEXT    validationCache;
    } VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `validationCache` is the validation cache object from which the results of prior validation attempts will be written, and to which new validation results for this VkShaderModule will be written (if not already present).

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_VALIDATION_CACHE_CREATE_INFO_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-validationCache-parameter
  `validationCache` must be a valid VkValidationCacheEXT handle

To destroy a shader module, call:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    void vkDestroyShaderModule(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkShaderModule                              shaderModule,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the shader module.

- `shaderModule` is the handle of the shader module to destroy.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

A shader module can be destroyed while pipelines created using its shaders are still in use.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-shaderModule-01092
  If `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `shaderModule` was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-shaderModule-01093
  If no `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `shaderModule` was created, `pAllocator` must be `NULL`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-shaderModule-parameter
  If `shaderModule` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, `shaderModule` must be a valid VkShaderModule handle

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkDestroyShaderModule-shaderModule-parent
  If `shaderModule` is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `shaderModule` must be externally synchronized

### 9.3. Shader Module Identifiers

Shader modules have unique identifiers associated with them. To query an implementation provided identifier, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_module_identifier
    void vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkShaderModule                              shaderModule,
        VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT*                pIdentifier);

- `device` is the logical device that created the shader module.

- `shaderModule` is the handle of the shader module.

- `pIdentifier` is a pointer to the returned VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT.

The identifier returned by the implementation must only depend on `shaderIdentifierAlgorithmUUID` and information provided in the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo which created `shaderModule`. The implementation may return equal identifiers for two different VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structures if the difference does not affect pipeline compilation. Identifiers are only meaningful on different VkDevice objects if the device the identifier was queried from had the same `shaderModuleIdentifierAlgorithmUUID` as the device consuming the identifier.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-shaderModuleIdentifier-06884
  `shaderModuleIdentifier` feature must be enabled

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-shaderModule-parameter
  `shaderModule` must be a valid VkShaderModule handle

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-pIdentifier-parameter
  `pIdentifier` must be a valid pointer to a VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT structure

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-shaderModule-parent
  `shaderModule` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structures have unique identifiers associated with them. To query an implementation provided identifier, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_module_identifier
    void vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        const VkShaderModuleCreateInfo*             pCreateInfo,
        VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT*                pIdentifier);

- `device` is the logical device that can create a VkShaderModule from `pCreateInfo`.

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure.

- `pIdentifier` is a pointer to the returned VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT.

The identifier returned by implementation must only depend on `shaderIdentifierAlgorithmUUID` and information provided in the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo. The implementation may return equal identifiers for two different VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structures if the difference does not affect pipeline compilation. Identifiers are only meaningful on different VkDevice objects if the device the identifier was queried from had the same `shaderModuleIdentifierAlgorithmUUID` as the device consuming the identifier.

The identifier returned by the implementation in vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT must be equal to the identifier returned by vkGetShaderModuleIdentifierEXT given equivalent definitions of VkShaderModuleCreateInfo and any chained `pNext` structures.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT-shaderModuleIdentifier-06885
  `shaderModuleIdentifier` feature must be enabled

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure

- VUID-vkGetShaderModuleCreateInfoIdentifierEXT-pIdentifier-parameter
  `pIdentifier` must be a valid pointer to a VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT structure

VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT represents a shader module identifier returned by the implementation.

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_module_identifier
    typedef struct VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT {
        VkStructureType    sType;
        void*              pNext;
        uint32_t           identifierSize;
        uint8_t            identifier[VK_MAX_SHADER_MODULE_IDENTIFIER_SIZE_EXT];
    } VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `identifierSize` is the size, in bytes, of valid data returned in `identifier`.

- `identifier` is a buffer of opaque data specifying an identifier.

Any returned values beyond the first `identifierSize` bytes are undefined. Implementations must return an `identifierSize` greater than 0, and less-or-equal to `VK_MAX_SHADER_MODULE_IDENTIFIER_SIZE_EXT`.

Two identifiers are considered equal if `identifierSize` is equal and the first `identifierSize` bytes of `identifier` compare equal.

Implementations may return a different `identifierSize` for different modules. Implementations should ensure that `identifierSize` is large enough to uniquely define a shader module.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_IDENTIFIER_EXT`

- VUID-VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

`VK_MAX_SHADER_MODULE_IDENTIFIER_SIZE_EXT` is the length in bytes of a shader module identifier, as returned in VkShaderModuleIdentifierEXT::`identifierSize`.

    #define VK_MAX_SHADER_MODULE_IDENTIFIER_SIZE_EXT 32U

### 9.4. Binding Shaders

Before a shader can be used it must be first bound to the command buffer.

Calling vkCmdBindPipeline binds all stages corresponding to the VkPipelineBindPoint. Calling vkCmdBindShadersEXT binds all stages in `pStages`

The following table describes the relationship between shader stages and pipeline bind points:

Shader stage | Pipeline bind point | behavior controlled
--- | --- | ---
`VK_SHADER_STAGE_VERTEX_BIT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_BIT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_BIT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_GEOMETRY_BIT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_TASK_BIT_EXT` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MESH_BIT_EXT` | `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_GRAPHICS` | all drawing commands
`VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT` | `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_COMPUTE` | all dispatch commands
`VK_SHADER_STAGE_ANY_HIT_BIT_KHR` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CALLABLE_BIT_KHR` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CLOSEST_HIT_BIT_KHR` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_INTERSECTION_BIT_KHR` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_MISS_BIT_KHR` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_RAYGEN_BIT_KHR` | `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_RAY_TRACING_KHR` | vkCmdTraceRaysNV vkCmdTraceRaysKHR and vkCmdTraceRaysIndirectKHR
`VK_SHADER_STAGE_SUBPASS_SHADING_BIT_HUAWEI` `VK_SHADER_STAGE_CLUSTER_CULLING_BIT_HUAWEI` | `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_SUBPASS_SHADING_HUAWEI` | vkCmdSubpassShadingHUAWEI
`VK_SHADER_STAGE_COMPUTE_BIT` | `VK_PIPELINE_BIND_POINT_EXECUTION_GRAPH_AMDX` | all execution graph commands

### 9.5. Shader Execution

At each stage of the pipeline, multiple invocations of a shader may execute simultaneously. Further, invocations of a single shader produced as the result of different commands may execute simultaneously. The relative execution order of invocations of the same shader type is undefined. Shader invocations may complete in a different order than that in which the primitives they originated from were drawn or dispatched by the application. However, fragment shader outputs are written to attachments in rasterization order.

The relative execution order of invocations of different shader types is largely undefined. However, when invoking a shader whose inputs are generated from a previous pipeline stage, the shader invocations from the previous stage are guaranteed to have executed far enough to generate input values for all required inputs.

#### 9.5.1. Shader Termination

A shader invocation that is terminated has finished executing instructions.

Executing `OpReturn` in the entry point, or executing `OpTerminateInvocation` in any function will terminate an invocation. Implementations may also terminate a shader invocation when `OpKill` is executed in any function; otherwise it becomes a helper invocation.

In addition to the above conditions, helper invocations may be terminated when all non-helper invocations in the same derivative group either terminate or become helper invocations.

A shader stage for a given command completes execution when all invocations for that stage have terminated.

Note | Depending on the implementation, `OpKill` will be functionally equivalent to either `OpTerminateInvocation` or `OpDemoteToHelperInvocation`. To obtain the most predictable behavior, shader authors should use `OpTerminateInvocation` or `OpDemoteToHelperInvocation` rather than `OpKill` wherever possible.

### 9.6. Shader Memory Access Ordering

The order in which image or buffer memory is read or written by shaders is largely undefined. For some shader types (vertex, tessellation evaluation, and in some cases, fragment), even the number of shader invocations that may perform loads and stores is undefined.

In particular, the following rules apply:

- Vertex and tessellation evaluation shaders will be invoked at least once for each unique vertex, as defined in those sections.

- Fragment shaders will be invoked zero or more times, as defined in that section.

- The relative execution order of invocations of the same shader type is undefined. A store issued by a shader when working on primitive B might complete prior to a store for primitive A, even if primitive A is specified prior to primitive B. This applies even to fragment shaders; while fragment shader outputs are always written to the framebuffer in rasterization order, stores executed by fragment shader invocations are not.

- The relative execution order of invocations of different shader types is largely undefined.

Note | The above limitations on shader invocation order make some forms of synchronization between shader invocations within a single set of primitives unimplementable. For example, having one invocation poll memory written by another invocation assumes that the other invocation has been launched and will complete its writes in finite time.

The Memory Model appendix defines the terminology and rules for how to correctly communicate between shader invocations, such as when a write is Visible-To a read, and what constitutes a Data Race.

Applications must not cause a data race.

The SPIR-V SubgroupMemory, CrossWorkgroupMemory, and AtomicCounterMemory memory semantics are ignored. Sequentially consistent atomics and barriers are not supported and SequentiallyConsistent is treated as AcquireRelease. SequentiallyConsistent should not be used.

### 9.7. Shader Inputs and Outputs

Data is passed into and out of shaders using variables with input or output storage class, respectively. User-defined inputs and outputs are connected between stages by matching their `Location` decorations. Additionally, data can be provided by or communicated to special functions provided by the execution environment using `BuiltIn` decorations.

In many cases, the same `BuiltIn` decoration can be used in multiple shader stages with similar meaning. The specific behavior of variables decorated as `BuiltIn` is documented in the following sections.

### 9.8. Task Shaders

Task shaders operate in conjunction with the mesh shaders to produce a collection of primitives that will be processed by subsequent stages of the graphics pipeline. Its primary purpose is to create a variable amount of subsequent mesh shader invocations.

Task shaders are invoked via the execution of the programmable mesh shading pipeline.

The task shader has no fixed-function inputs other than variables identifying the specific workgroup and invocation. In the `TaskNV` `Execution` `Model` the number of mesh shader workgroups to create is specified via a `TaskCountNV` decorated output variable. In the `TaskEXT` `Execution` `Model` the number of mesh shader workgroups to create is specified via the `OpEmitMeshTasksEXT` instruction.

The task shader can write additional outputs to task memory, which can be read by all of the mesh shader workgroups it created.

#### 9.8.1. Task Shader Execution

Task workloads are formed from groups of work items called workgroups and processed by the task shader in the current graphics pipeline. A workgroup is a collection of shader invocations that execute the same shader, potentially in parallel. Task shaders execute in global workgroups which are divided into a number of local workgroups with a size that can be set by assigning a value to the `LocalSize` or `LocalSizeId` execution mode or via an object decorated by the `WorkgroupSize` decoration. An invocation within a local workgroup can share data with other members of the local workgroup through shared variables and issue memory and control flow barriers to synchronize with other members of the local workgroup. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, a Task shader using `TaskEXT` `Execution` `Model` may be invoked separately for each view.

### 9.9. Mesh Shaders

Mesh shaders operate in workgroups to produce a collection of primitives that will be processed by subsequent stages of the graphics pipeline. Each workgroup emits zero or more output primitives and the group of vertices and their associated data required for each output primitive.

Mesh shaders are invoked via the execution of the programmable mesh shading pipeline.

The only inputs available to the mesh shader are variables identifying the specific workgroup and invocation and, if applicable, any outputs written to task memory by the task shader that spawned the mesh shader’s workgroup. The mesh shader can operate without a task shader as well.

The invocations of the mesh shader workgroup write an output mesh, comprising a set of primitives with per-primitive attributes, a set of vertices with per-vertex attributes, and an array of indices identifying the mesh vertices that belong to each primitive. The primitives of this mesh are then processed by subsequent graphics pipeline stages, where the outputs of the mesh shader form an interface with the fragment shader.

#### 9.9.1. Mesh Shader Execution

Mesh workloads are formed from groups of work items called workgroups and processed by the mesh shader in the current graphics pipeline. A workgroup is a collection of shader invocations that execute the same shader, potentially in parallel. Mesh shaders execute in global workgroups which are divided into a number of local workgroups with a size that can be set by assigning a value to the `LocalSize` or `LocalSizeId` execution mode or via an object decorated by the `WorkgroupSize` decoration. An invocation within a local workgroup can share data with other members of the local workgroup through shared variables and issue memory and control flow barriers to synchronize with other members of the local workgroup.

The global workgroups may be generated explicitly via the API, or implicitly through the task shader’s work creation mechanism. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, a Mesh shader using `MeshEXT` `Execution` `Model` may be invoked separately for each view.

### 9.10. Cluster Culling Shaders

Cluster Culling shaders are invoked via the execution of the Programmable Cluster Culling Shading pipeline.

The only inputs available to the cluster culling shader are variables identifying the specific workgroup and invocation.

Cluster Culling shaders operate in workgroups to perform cluster-based culling and produce zero or more cluster drawing command that will be processed by subsequent stages of the graphics pipeline.

The Cluster Drawing Command(CDC) is very similar to the MDI command, invocations in workgroup can emit zero of more CDC to draw zero or more visible cluster.

#### 9.10.1. Cluster Culling Shader Execution

Cluster Culling workloads are formed from groups of work items called workgroups and processed by the cluster culling shader in the current graphics pipeline. A workgroup is a collection of shader invocations that execute the same shader, potentially in parallel. Cluster Culling shaders execute in global workgroups which are divided into a number of local workgroups with a size that can be set by assigning a value to the `LocalSize` or `LocalSizeId` execution mode or via an object decorated by the `WorkgroupSize` decoration. An invocation within a local workgroup can share data with other members of the local workgroup through shared variables and issue memory and control flow barriers to synchronize with other members of the local workgroup.

### 9.11. Vertex Shaders

Each vertex shader invocation operates on one vertex and its associated vertex attribute data, and outputs one vertex and associated data. Graphics pipelines using primitive shading must include a vertex shader, and the vertex shader stage is always the first shader stage in the graphics pipeline.

#### 9.11.1. Vertex Shader Execution

A vertex shader must be executed at least once for each vertex specified by a drawing command. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, the shader may be invoked separately for each view. During execution, the shader is presented with the index of the vertex and instance for which it has been invoked. Input variables declared in the vertex shader are filled by the implementation with the values of vertex attributes associated with the invocation being executed.

If the same vertex is specified multiple times in a drawing command (e.g. by including the same index value multiple times in an index buffer) the implementation may reuse the results of vertex shading if it can statically determine that the vertex shader invocations will produce identical results.

Note | It is implementation-dependent when and if results of vertex shading are reused, and thus how many times the vertex shader will be executed. This is true also if the vertex shader contains stores or atomic operations (see `vertexPipelineStoresAndAtomics`).

### 9.12. Tessellation Control Shaders

The tessellation control shader is used to read an input patch provided by the application and to produce an output patch. Each tessellation control shader invocation operates on an input patch (after all control points in the patch are processed by a vertex shader) and its associated data, and outputs a single control point of the output patch and its associated data, and can also output additional per-patch data. The input patch is sized according to the `patchControlPoints` member of VkPipelineTessellationStateCreateInfo, as part of input assembly.

The input patch can also be dynamically sized with `patchControlPoints` parameter of vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT.

To dynamically set the number of control points per patch, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state2, VK_EXT_shader_object
    void vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT(
        VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
        uint32_t                                    patchControlPoints);

- `commandBuffer` is the command buffer into which the command will be recorded.

- `patchControlPoints` specifies the number of control points per patch.

This command sets the number of control points per patch for subsequent drawing commands when drawing using shader objects, or when the graphics pipeline is created with `VK_DYNAMIC_STATE_PATCH_CONTROL_POINTS_EXT` set in VkPipelineDynamicStateCreateInfo::`pDynamicStates`. Otherwise, this state is specified by the VkPipelineTessellationStateCreateInfo::`patchControlPoints` value used to create the currently active pipeline.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-None-09422
  At least one of the following must be true:

  - The `extendedDynamicState2PatchControlPoints` feature is enabled

  - The `shaderObject` feature is enabled

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-patchControlPoints-04874
  `patchControlPoints` must be greater than zero and less than or equal to `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxTessellationPatchSize`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-commandBuffer-parameter
  `commandBuffer` must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-commandBuffer-recording
  `commandBuffer` must be in the recording state

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-commandBuffer-cmdpool
  The `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support graphics operations

- VUID-vkCmdSetPatchControlPointsEXT-videocoding
  This command must only be called outside of a video coding scope

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `commandBuffer` must be externally synchronized

- Host access to the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels | Render Pass Scope | Video Coding Scope | Supported Queue Types | Command Type
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Primary Secondary | Both | Outside | Graphics | State

The size of the output patch is controlled by the `OpExecutionMode` `OutputVertices` specified in the tessellation control or tessellation evaluation shaders, which must be specified in at least one of the shaders. The size of the input and output patches must each be greater than zero and less than or equal to `VkPhysicalDeviceLimits`::`maxTessellationPatchSize`.

#### 9.12.1. Tessellation Control Shader Execution

A tessellation control shader is invoked at least once for each output vertex in a patch. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, the shader may be invoked separately for each view.

Inputs to the tessellation control shader are generated by the vertex shader. Each invocation of the tessellation control shader can read the attributes of any incoming vertices and their associated data. The invocations corresponding to a given patch execute logically in parallel, with undefined relative execution order. However, the `OpControlBarrier` instruction can be used to provide limited control of the execution order by synchronizing invocations within a patch, effectively dividing tessellation control shader execution into a set of phases. Tessellation control shaders will read undefined values if one invocation reads a per-vertex or per-patch output written by another invocation at any point during the same phase, or if two invocations attempt to write different values to the same per-patch output in a single phase.

### 9.13. Tessellation Evaluation Shaders

The Tessellation Evaluation Shader operates on an input patch of control points and their associated data, and a single input barycentric coordinate indicating the invocation’s relative position within the subdivided patch, and outputs a single vertex and its associated data.

#### 9.13.1. Tessellation Evaluation Shader Execution

A tessellation evaluation shader is invoked at least once for each unique vertex generated by the tessellator. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, the shader may be invoked separately for each view.

### 9.14. Geometry Shaders

The geometry shader operates on a group of vertices and their associated data assembled from a single input primitive, and emits zero or more output primitives and the group of vertices and their associated data required for each output primitive.

#### 9.14.1. Geometry Shader Execution

A geometry shader is invoked at least once for each primitive produced by the tessellation stages, or at least once for each primitive generated by primitive assembly when tessellation is not in use. A shader can request that the geometry shader runs multiple instances. A geometry shader is invoked at least once for each instance. If the subpass includes multiple views in its view mask, the shader may be invoked separately for each view.

### 9.15. Fragment Shaders

Fragment shaders are invoked as a fragment operation in a graphics pipeline. Each fragment shader invocation operates on a single fragment and its associated data. With few exceptions, fragment shaders do not have access to any data associated with other fragments and are considered to execute in isolation of fragment shader invocations associated with other fragments.

### 9.16. Compute Shaders

Compute shaders are invoked via _dispatching commands. In general, they have access to similar resources as shader stages executing as part of a graphics pipeline.

Compute workloads are formed from groups of work items called workgroups and processed by the compute shader in the current compute pipeline. A workgroup is a collection of shader invocations that execute the same shader, potentially in parallel. Compute shaders execute in global workgroups which are divided into a number of local workgroups with a size that can be set by assigning a value to the `LocalSize` or `LocalSizeId` execution mode or via an object decorated by the `WorkgroupSize` decoration. An invocation within a local workgroup can share data with other members of the local workgroup through shared variables and issue memory and control flow barriers to synchronize with other members of the local workgroup.

### 9.17. Ray Generation Shaders

A ray generation shader is similar to a compute shader. Its main purpose is to execute ray tracing queries using pipeline trace ray instructions (such as `OpTraceRayKHR`) and process the results.

#### 9.17.1. Ray Generation Shader Execution

One ray generation shader is executed per ray tracing dispatch. Its location in the shader binding table (see Shader Binding Table for details) is passed directly into vkCmdTraceRaysKHR using the `pRaygenShaderBindingTable` parameter or vkCmdTraceRaysNV using the `raygenShaderBindingTableBuffer` and `raygenShaderBindingOffset` parameters .

### 9.18. Intersection Shaders

Intersection shaders enable the implementation of arbitrary, application defined geometric primitives. An intersection shader for a primitive is executed whenever its axis-aligned bounding box is hit by a ray.

Like other ray tracing shader domains, an intersection shader operates on a single ray at a time. It also operates on a single primitive at a time. It is therefore the purpose of an intersection shader to compute the ray-primitive intersections and report them. To report an intersection, the shader calls the `OpReportIntersectionKHR` instruction.

An intersection shader communicates with any-hit and closest shaders by generating attribute values that they can read. Intersection shaders cannot read or modify the ray payload.

#### 9.18.1. Intersection Shader Execution

The order in which intersections are found along a ray, and therefore the order in which intersection shaders are executed, is unspecified.

The intersection shader of the closest AABB which intersects the ray is guaranteed to be executed at some point during traversal, unless the ray is forcibly terminated.

### 9.19. Any-Hit Shaders

The any-hit shader is executed after the intersection shader reports an intersection that lies within the current [tmin,tmax] of the ray. The main use of any-hit shaders is to programmatically decide whether or not an intersection will be accepted. The intersection will be accepted unless the shader calls the `OpIgnoreIntersectionKHR` instruction. Any-hit shaders have read-only access to the attributes generated by the corresponding intersection shader, and can read or modify the ray payload.

#### 9.19.1. Any-Hit Shader Execution

The order in which intersections are found along a ray, and therefore the order in which any-hit shaders are executed, is unspecified.

The any-hit shader of the closest hit is guaranteed to be executed at some point during traversal, unless the ray is forcibly terminated.

### 9.20. Closest Hit Shaders

Closest hit shaders have read-only access to the attributes generated by the corresponding intersection shader, and can read or modify the ray payload. They also have access to a number of system-generated values. Closest hit shaders can call pipeline trace ray instructions to recursively trace rays.

#### 9.20.1. Closest Hit Shader Execution

Exactly one closest hit shader is executed when traversal is finished and an intersection has been found and accepted.

### 9.21. Miss Shaders

Miss shaders can access the ray payload and can trace new rays through the pipeline trace ray instructions, but cannot access attributes since they are not associated with an intersection.

#### 9.21.1. Miss Shader Execution

A miss shader is executed instead of a closest hit shader if no intersection was found during traversal.

### 9.22. Callable Shaders

Callable shaders can access a callable payload that works similarly to ray payloads to do subroutine work.

#### 9.22.1. Callable Shader Execution

A callable shader is executed by calling `OpExecuteCallableKHR` from an allowed shader stage.

### 9.23. Interpolation Decorations

Variables in the `Input` storage class in a fragment shader’s interface are interpolated from the values specified by the primitive being rasterized.

Note | Interpolation decorations can be present on input and output variables in pre-rasterization shaders but have no effect on the interpolation performed.

An undecorated input variable will be interpolated with perspective-correct interpolation according to the primitive type being rasterized. Lines and polygons are interpolated in the same way as the primitive’s clip coordinates. If the `NoPerspective` decoration is present, linear interpolation is instead used for lines and polygons. For points, as there is only a single vertex, input values are never interpolated and instead take the value written for the single vertex.

If the `Flat` decoration is present on an input variable, the value is not interpolated, and instead takes its value directly from the provoking vertex. Fragment shader inputs that are signed or unsigned integers, integer vectors, or any double-precision floating-point type must be decorated with `Flat`.

Interpolation of input variables is performed at an implementation-defined position within the fragment area being shaded. The position is further constrained as follows:

- If the `Centroid` decoration is used, the interpolation position used for the variable must also fall within the bounds of the primitive being rasterized.

- If the `Sample` decoration is used, the interpolation position used for the variable must be at the position of the sample being shaded by the current fragment shader invocation.

- If a sample count of 1 is used, the interpolation position must be at the center of the fragment area.

Note | As `Centroid` constrains the interpolation position to lie within the covered area of the primitive, using it may cause the position to differ between neighboring fragments when it otherwise would not. Derivatives calculated based on these differing locations can produce inconsistent results compared to undecorated inputs. Thus using `Centroid` with input variables used in derivative calculations is not recommended.

If the `PerVertexKHR` decoration is present on an input variable, the value is not interpolated, and instead values from all input vertices are available in an array. Each index of the array corresponds to one of the vertices of the primitive that produced the fragment.

If the `CustomInterpAMD` decoration is present on an input variable, the value cannot be accessed directly; instead the extended instruction `InterpolateAtVertexAMD` must be used to obtain values from the input vertices.

### 9.24. Static Use

A SPIR-V module declares a global object in memory using the `OpVariable` instruction, which results in a pointer `x` to that object. A specific entry point in a SPIR-V module is said to statically use that object if that entry point’s call tree contains a function containing a instruction with `x` as an `id` operand. A shader entry point also statically uses any variables explicitly declared in its interface.

### 9.25. Scope

A scope describes a set of shader invocations, where each such set is a scope instance. Each invocation belongs to one or more scope instances, but belongs to no more than one scope instance for each scope.

The operations available between invocations in a given scope instance vary, with smaller scopes generally able to perform more operations, and with greater efficiency.

#### 9.25.1. Cross Device

All invocations executed in a Vulkan instance fall into a single cross device scope instance.

Whilst the `CrossDevice` scope is defined in SPIR-V, it is disallowed in Vulkan. API synchronization commands can be used to communicate between devices.

#### 9.25.2. Device

All invocations executed on a single device form a device scope instance.

If the `vulkanMemoryModel` and `vulkanMemoryModelDeviceScope` features are enabled, this scope is represented in SPIR-V by the `Device` `Scope`, which can be used as a `Memory` `Scope` for barrier and atomic operations.

If both the `shaderDeviceClock` and `vulkanMemoryModelDeviceScope` features are enabled, using the `Device` `Scope` with the `OpReadClockKHR` instruction will read from a clock that is consistent across invocations in the same device scope instance.

There is no method to synchronize the execution of these invocations within SPIR-V, and this can only be done with API synchronization primitives.

Invocations executing on different devices in a device group operate in separate device scope instances.

#### 9.25.3. Queue Family

Invocations executed by queues in a given queue family form a queue family scope instance.

This scope is identified in SPIR-V as the `QueueFamily` `Scope` if the `vulkanMemoryModel` feature is enabled, or if not, the `Device` `Scope`, which can be used as a `Memory` `Scope` for barrier and atomic operations.

If the `shaderDeviceClock` feature is enabled, but the `vulkanMemoryModelDeviceScope` feature is not enabled, using the `Device` `Scope` with the `OpReadClockKHR` instruction will read from a clock that is consistent across invocations in the same queue family scope instance.

There is no method to synchronize the execution of these invocations within SPIR-V, and this can only be done with API synchronization primitives.

Each invocation in a queue family scope instance must be in the same device scope instance.

#### 9.25.4. Command

Any shader invocations executed as the result of a single command such as vkCmdDispatch or vkCmdDraw form a command scope instance. For indirect drawing commands with `drawCount` greater than one, invocations from separate draws are in separate command scope instances. For ray tracing shaders, an invocation group is an implementation-dependent subset of the set of shader invocations of a given shader stage which are produced by a single trace rays command.

There is no specific `Scope` for communication across invocations in a command scope instance. As this has a clear boundary at the API level, coordination here can be performed in the API, rather than in SPIR-V.

Each invocation in a command scope instance must be in the same queue-family scope instance.

For shaders without defined workgroups, this set of invocations forms an invocation group as defined in the SPIR-V specification.

#### 9.25.5. Primitive

Any fragment shader invocations executed as the result of rasterization of a single primitive form a primitive scope instance.

There is no specific `Scope` for communication across invocations in a primitive scope instance.

Any generated helper invocations are included in this scope instance.

Each invocation in a primitive scope instance must be in the same command scope instance.

Any input variables decorated with `Flat` are uniform within a primitive scope instance.

#### 9.25.6. Shader Call

Any shader-call-related invocations that are executed in one or more ray tracing execution models form a shader call scope instance.

The `ShaderCallKHR` `Scope` can be used as `Memory` `Scope` for barrier and atomic operations.

Each invocation in a shader call scope instance must be in the same queue family scope instance.

#### 9.25.7. Workgroup

A local workgroup is a set of invocations that can synchronize and share data with each other using memory in the `Workgroup` storage class.

The `Workgroup` `Scope` can be used as both an `Execution` `Scope` and `Memory` `Scope` for barrier and atomic operations.

Each invocation in a local workgroup must be in the same command scope instance.

Only task, mesh, and compute shaders have defined workgroups - other shader types cannot use workgroup functionality. For shaders that have defined workgroups, this set of invocations forms an invocation group as defined in the SPIR-V specification.

When variables declared with the `Workgroup` storage class are explicitly laid out (hence they are also decorated with `Block`), the amount of storage consumed is the size of the largest Block variable, not counting any padding at the end. The amount of storage consumed by the non-Block variables declared with the `Workgroup` storage class is implementation-dependent. However, the amount of storage consumed may not exceed the largest block size that would be obtained if all active non-Block variables declared with `Workgroup` storage class were assigned offsets in an arbitrary order by successively taking the smallest valid offset according to the Standard Storage Buffer Layout rules, and with `Boolean` values considered as 32-bit integer values for the purpose of this calculation. (This is equivalent to using the GLSL std430 layout rules.)

#### 9.25.8. Subgroup

A subgroup (see the subsection “Control Flow” of section 2 of the SPIR-V 1.3 Revision 1 specification) is a set of invocations that can synchronize and share data with each other efficiently.

The `Subgroup` `Scope` can be used as both an `Execution` `Scope` and `Memory` `Scope` for barrier and atomic operations. Other subgroup features allow the use of group operations with subgroup scope.

If the `shaderSubgroupClock` feature is enabled, using the `Subgroup` `Scope` with the `OpReadClockKHR` instruction will read from a clock that is consistent across invocations in the same subgroup.

For shaders that have defined workgroups, each invocation in a subgroup must be in the same local workgroup.

In other shader stages, each invocation in a subgroup must be in the same device scope instance.

Only shader stages that support subgroup operations have defined subgroups.

Note | Subgroups are not guaranteed to be a subset of a single command in shaders that do not have defined workgroups. Values that are guaranteed to be uniform for a given command or sub command may then not be uniform for the subgroup, and vice versa. As such, applications must take care when dealing with mixed uniformity. A somewhat common example of this would something like trying to optimize access to per-draw data using subgroup operations:
    buffer { uint draw_data[]; };

    flat in int vDrawID; // Passed through from vertex shader

    void main()
    {
        uint local_draw_data = subgroupBroadcastFirst(draw_data[local_draw_data]);
    }
This can be done in an attempt to optimize the shader to only perform the loads once per subgroup. However, if the implementation packs multiple draws into a single subgroup, invocations from draws with a different drawID are now receiving data from the wrong invocation. Applications should rely on implementations to do this kind of optimization automatically where the implementation can, rather than trying to force it.

#### 9.25.9. Quad

A quad scope instance is formed of four shader invocations.

In a fragment shader, each invocation in a quad scope instance is formed of invocations in neighboring framebuffer locations (xi, yi), where:

- i is the index of the invocation within the scope instance.

- w and h are the number of pixels the fragment covers in the x and y axes.

- w and h are identical for all participating invocations.

- (x0) = (x1 - w) = (x2) = (x3 - w)

- (y0) = (y1) = (y2 - h) = (y3 - h)

- Each invocation has the same layer and sample indices.

In a mesh, task, or compute shader, if the `DerivativeGroupQuadsKHR` execution mode is specified, each invocation in a quad scope instance is formed of invocations with adjacent local invocation IDs (xi, yi), where:

- i is the index of the invocation within the quad scope instance.

- (x0) = (x1 - 1) = (x2) = (x3 - 1)

- (y0) = (y1) = (y2 - 1) = (y3 - 1)

- x0 and y0 are integer multiples of 2.

- Each invocation has the same z coordinate.

In a mesh, task, or compute shader, if the `DerivativeGroupLinearKHR` execution mode is specified, each invocation in a quad scope instance is formed of invocations with adjacent local invocation indices (li), where:

- i is the index of the invocation within the quad scope instance.

- (l0) = (l1 - 1) = (l2 - 2) = (l3 - 3)

- l0 is an integer multiple of 4.

In all shaders, each invocation in a quad scope instance is formed of invocations in adjacent subgroup invocation indices (si), where:

- i is the index of the invocation within the quad scope instance.

- (s0) = (s1 - 1) = (s2 - 2) = (s3 - 3)

- s0 is an integer multiple of 4.

Each invocation in a quad scope instance must be in the same subgroup.

In a fragment shader, each invocation in a quad scope instance must be in the same primitive scope instance.

Fragment , mesh, task, and compute shaders have defined quad scope instances. If the `quadOperationsInAllStages` limit is supported, any shader stages that support subgroup operations also have defined quad scope instances.

#### 9.25.10. Fragment Interlock

A fragment interlock scope instance is formed of fragment shader invocations based on their framebuffer locations (x,y,layer,sample), executed by commands inside a single subpass.

The specific set of invocations included varies based on the execution mode as follows:

- If the `SampleInterlockOrderedEXT` or `SampleInterlockUnorderedEXT` execution modes are used, only invocations with identical framebuffer locations (x,y,layer,sample) are included.

- If the `PixelInterlockOrderedEXT` or `PixelInterlockUnorderedEXT` execution modes are used, fragments with different sample ids are also included.

- If the `ShadingRateInterlockOrderedEXT` or `ShadingRateInterlockUnorderedEXT` execution modes are used, fragments from neighboring framebuffer locations are also included. The shading rate image or fragment shading rate determines these fragments.

Only fragment shaders with one of the above execution modes have defined fragment interlock scope instances.

There is no specific `Scope` value for communication across invocations in a fragment interlock scope instance. However, this is implicitly used as a memory scope by `OpBeginInvocationInterlockEXT` and `OpEndInvocationInterlockEXT`.

Each invocation in a fragment interlock scope instance must be in the same queue family scope instance.

#### 9.25.11. Invocation

The smallest scope is a single invocation; this is represented by the `Invocation` `Scope` in SPIR-V.

Fragment shader invocations must be in a primitive scope instance.

Invocations in fragment shaders that have a defined fragment interlock scope must be in a fragment interlock scope instance.

Invocations in shaders that have defined workgroups must be in a local workgroup.

Invocations in shaders that have a defined subgroup scope must be in a subgroup.

Invocations in shaders that have a defined quad scope must be in a quad scope instance.

All invocations in all stages must be in a command scope instance.

### 9.26. Group Operations

Group operations are executed by multiple invocations within a scope instance; with each invocation involved in calculating the result. This provides a mechanism for efficient communication between invocations in a particular scope instance.

Group operations all take a `Scope` defining the desired scope instance to operate within. Only the `Subgroup` scope can be used for these operations; the `subgroupSupportedOperations` limit defines which types of operation can be used.

#### 9.26.1. Basic Group Operations

Basic group operations include the use of `OpGroupNonUniformElect`, `OpControlBarrier`, `OpMemoryBarrier`, and atomic operations.

`OpGroupNonUniformElect` can be used to choose a single invocation to perform a task for the whole group. Only the invocation with the lowest id in the group will return `true`.

The Memory Model appendix defines the operation of barriers and atomics.

#### 9.26.2. Vote Group Operations

The vote group operations allow invocations within a group to compare values across a group. The types of votes enabled are:

- Do all active group invocations agree that an expression is true?

- Do any active group invocations evaluate an expression to true?

- Do all active group invocations have the same value of an expression?

Note | These operations are useful in combination with control flow in that they allow for developers to check whether conditions match across the group and choose potentially faster code-paths in these cases.

#### 9.26.3. Arithmetic Group Operations

The arithmetic group operations allow invocations to perform scans and reductions across a group. The operators supported are add, mul, min, max, and, or, xor.

For reductions, every invocation in a group will obtain the cumulative result of these operators applied to all values in the group. For exclusive scans, each invocation in a group will obtain the cumulative result of these operators applied to all values in invocations with a lower index in the group. Inclusive scans are identical to exclusive scans, except the cumulative result includes the operator applied to the value in the current invocation.

The order in which these operators are applied is implementation-dependent.

#### 9.26.4. Ballot Group Operations

The ballot group operations allow invocations to perform more complex votes across the group. The ballot functionality allows all invocations within a group to provide a boolean value and get as a result what each invocation provided as their boolean value. The broadcast functionality allows values to be broadcast from an invocation to all other invocations within the group.

#### 9.26.5. Shuffle Group Operations

The shuffle group operations allow invocations to read values from other invocations within a group.

#### 9.26.6. Shuffle Relative Group Operations

The shuffle relative group operations allow invocations to read values from other invocations within the group relative to the current invocation in the group. The relative operations supported allow data to be shifted up and down through the invocations within a group.

#### 9.26.7. Clustered Group Operations

The clustered group operations allow invocations to perform an operation among partitions of a group, such that the operation is only performed within the group invocations within a partition. The partitions for clustered group operations are consecutive power-of-two size groups of invocations and the cluster size must be known at pipeline creation time. The operations supported are add, mul, min, max, and, or, xor.

#### 9.26.8. Rotate Group Operations

The rotate group operations allow invocations to read values from other invocations within the group relative to the current invocation and modulo the size of the group. Clustered rotate group operations perform the same operation within individual partitions of a group.

The partitions for clustered rotate group operations are consecutive power-of-two size groups of invocations and the cluster size must be known at pipeline creation time.

### 9.27. Quad Group Operations

Quad group operations (`OpGroupNonUniformQuad*`) are a specialized type of group operations that only operate on quad scope instances. Whilst these instructions do include a `Scope` parameter, this scope is always overridden; only the quad scope instance is included in its execution scope.

Fragment shaders that statically execute either `OpGroupNonUniformQuadBroadcast` or `OpGroupNonUniformQuadSwap` must launch sufficient invocations to ensure their correct operation; additional helper invocations are launched for framebuffer locations not covered by rasterized fragments if necessary.

The index used to select participating invocations is i, as described for a quad scope instance, defined as the quad index in the SPIR-V specification.

For `OpGroupNonUniformQuadBroadcast` this value is equal to `Index`. For `OpGroupNonUniformQuadSwap`, it is equal to the implicit `Index` used by each participating invocation.

### 9.28. Derivative Operations

Derivative operations calculate the partial derivative for an expression P as a function of an invocation’s x and y coordinates.

Derivative operations operate on a set of invocations known as a derivative group as defined in the SPIR-V specification.

A derivative group in a fragment shader is equivalent to the quad scope instance if the `QuadDerivativesKHR` execution mode is specified, otherwise it is equivalent to the primitive scope instance. A derivative group in a mesh, task, or compute shader is equivalent to the quad scope instance.

Derivatives are calculated assuming that P is piecewise linear and continuous within the derivative group.

The following control-flow restrictions apply to derivative operations:

- If the `QuadDerivativesKHR` execution mode is specified, dynamic instances of any derivative operations must be executed in control flow that is uniform within the current quad scope instance.

- If the `QuadDerivativesKHR` execution mode is not specified:

  - dynamic instances of explicit derivative instructions (`OpDPdx*`, `OpDPdy*`, and `OpFwidth*`) must be executed in control flow that is uniform within a derivative group.

  - dynamic instances of implicit derivative operations can be executed in control flow that is not uniform within the derivative group, but results are undefined.

Fragment shaders that statically execute derivative operations must launch sufficient invocations to ensure their correct operation; additional helper invocations are launched for framebuffer locations not covered by rasterized fragments if necessary.

Note | In a mesh, task, or compute shader, it is the application’s responsibility to ensure that sufficient invocations are launched.

Derivative operations calculate their results as the difference between the result of P across invocations in the quad. For fine derivative operations (`OpDPdxFine` and `OpDPdyFine`), the values of DPdx(Pi) are calculated as

  DPdx(P0) = DPdx(P1) = P1 - P0

  DPdx(P2) = DPdx(P3) = P3 - P2

and the values of DPdy(Pi) are calculated as

  DPdy(P0) = DPdy(P2) = P2 - P0

  DPdy(P1) = DPdy(P3) = P3 - P1

where i is the index of each invocation as described in Quad.

Coarse derivative operations (`OpDPdxCoarse` and `OpDPdyCoarse`), calculate their results in roughly the same manner, but may only calculate two values instead of four (one for each of DPdx and DPdy), reusing the same result no matter the originating invocation. If an implementation does this, it should use the fine derivative calculations described for P0.

Note | Derivative values are calculated between fragments rather than pixels. If the fragment shader invocations involved in the calculation cover multiple pixels, these operations cover a wider area, resulting in larger derivative values. This in turn will result in a coarser LOD being selected for image sampling operations using derivatives. Applications may want to account for this when using multi-pixel fragments; if pixel derivatives are desired, applications should use explicit derivative operations and divide the results by the size of the fragment in each dimension as follows: DPdx(Pn)' = DPdx(Pn) / w DPdy(Pn)' = DPdy(Pn) / h where w and h are the size of the fragments in the quad, and DPdx(Pn)' and DPdy(Pn)' are the pixel derivatives.

The results for `OpDPdx` and `OpDPdy` may be calculated as either fine or coarse derivatives, with implementations favoring the most efficient approach. Implementations must choose coarse or fine consistently between the two.

Executing `OpFwidthFine`, `OpFwidthCoarse`, or `OpFwidth` is equivalent to executing the corresponding `OpDPdx*` and `OpDPdy*` instructions, taking the absolute value of the results, and summing them.

Executing an `OpImage*Sample*ImplicitLod` instruction is equivalent to executing `OpDPdx`(`Coordinate`) and `OpDPdy`(`Coordinate`), and passing the results as the `Grad` operands `dx` and `dy`.

Note | It is expected that using the `ImplicitLod` variants of sampling functions will be substantially more efficient than using the `ExplicitLod` variants with explicitly generated derivatives.

### 9.29. Helper Invocations

When performing derivative or quad group operations in a fragment shader, additional invocations may be spawned in order to ensure correct results. These additional invocations are known as helper invocations and can be identified by a non-zero value in the `HelperInvocation` built-in. Stores and atomics performed by helper invocations must not have any effect on memory except for the `Function`, `Private` and `Output` storage classes, and values returned by atomic instructions in helper invocations are undefined.

Note | While storage to `Output` storage class has an effect even in helper invocations, it does not mean that helper invocations have an effect on the framebuffer. `Output` variables in fragment shaders can be read from as well, and they behave more like `Private` variables for the duration of the shader invocation.

If the `MaximallyReconvergesKHR` execution mode is applied to the entry point, helper invocations must remain active for all instructions for the lifetime of the quad scope instance they are a part of. If the `MaximallyReconvergesKHR` execution mode is not applied to the entry point, helper invocations may be considered inactive for group operations other than derivative and quad group operations. All invocations in a quad scope instance may become permanently inactive at any point once the only remaining invocations in that quad scope instance are helper invocations.

### 9.30. Cooperative Matrices

A cooperative matrix type is a SPIR-V type where the storage for and computations performed on the matrix are spread across the invocations in a scope instance. These types give the implementation freedom in how to optimize matrix multiplies.

SPIR-V defines the types and instructions, but does not specify rules about what sizes/combinations are valid, and it is expected that different implementations may support different sizes.

To enumerate the supported cooperative matrix types and operations, call:

    // Provided by VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix
    VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR(
        VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
        uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
        VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR*           pProperties);

- `physicalDevice` is the physical device.

- `pPropertyCount` is a pointer to an integer related to the number of cooperative matrix properties available or queried.

- `pProperties` is either `NULL` or a pointer to an array of VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR structures.

If `pProperties` is `NULL`, then the number of cooperative matrix properties available is returned in `pPropertyCount`. Otherwise, `pPropertyCount` must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the `pProperties` array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to `pProperties`. If `pPropertyCount` is less than the number of cooperative matrix properties available, at most `pPropertyCount` structures will be written, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`, to indicate that not all the available cooperative matrix properties were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR-physicalDevice-parameter
  `physicalDevice` must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR-pPropertyCount-parameter
  `pPropertyCount` must be a valid pointer to a `uint32_t` value

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR-pProperties-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pPropertyCount` is not `0`, and `pProperties` is not `NULL`, `pProperties` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pPropertyCount` VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR structures

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

To enumerate additional supported cooperative matrix types and operations, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix2
    VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV(
        VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
        uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
        VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV* pProperties);

- `physicalDevice` is the physical device.

- `pPropertyCount` is a pointer to an integer related to the number of cooperative matrix properties available or queried.

- `pProperties` is either `NULL` or a pointer to an array of VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV structures.

If `pProperties` is `NULL`, then the number of flexible dimensions properties available is returned in `pPropertyCount`. Otherwise, `pPropertyCount` must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the `pProperties` array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to `pProperties`. If `pPropertyCount` is less than the number flexible dimensions properties available, at most `pPropertyCount` structures will be written, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`, to indicate that not all the available flexible dimensions properties were returned.

If the `cooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensions` feature is not supported, the implementation must advertise zero properties.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV-physicalDevice-parameter
  `physicalDevice` must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV-pPropertyCount-parameter
  `pPropertyCount` must be a valid pointer to a `uint32_t` value

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV-pProperties-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pPropertyCount` is not `0`, and `pProperties` is not `NULL`, `pProperties` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pPropertyCount` VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV structures

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

To enumerate the supported cooperative matrix types and operations, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
    VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV(
        VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
        uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
        VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV*            pProperties);

- `physicalDevice` is the physical device.

- `pPropertyCount` is a pointer to an integer related to the number of cooperative matrix properties available or queried.

- `pProperties` is either `NULL` or a pointer to an array of VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV structures.

If `pProperties` is `NULL`, then the number of cooperative matrix properties available is returned in `pPropertyCount`. Otherwise, `pPropertyCount` must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the `pProperties` array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to `pProperties`. If `pPropertyCount` is less than the number of cooperative matrix properties available, at most `pPropertyCount` structures will be written, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`, to indicate that not all the available cooperative matrix properties were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV-physicalDevice-parameter
  `physicalDevice` must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV-pPropertyCount-parameter
  `pPropertyCount` must be a valid pointer to a `uint32_t` value

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV-pProperties-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pPropertyCount` is not `0`, and `pProperties` is not `NULL`, `pProperties` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pPropertyCount` VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV structures

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

Each VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR or VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV structure describes a single supported combination of types for a matrix multiply/add operation ( `OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddKHR` or `OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddNV` ). The multiply can be described in terms of the following variables and types (in SPIR-V pseudocode):

        %A is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixKHR %AType %scope %MSize %KSize %MatrixAKHR
        %B is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixKHR %BType %scope %KSize %NSize %MatrixBKHR
        %C is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixKHR %CType %scope %MSize %NSize %MatrixAccumulatorKHR
        %Result is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixKHR %ResultType %scope %MSize %NSize %MatrixAccumulatorKHR

        %Result = %A * %B + %C // using OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddKHR

        %A is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixNV %AType %scope %MSize %KSize
        %B is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixNV %BType %scope %KSize %NSize
        %C is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixNV %CType %scope %MSize %NSize
        %D is of type OpTypeCooperativeMatrixNV %DType %scope %MSize %NSize

        %D = %A * %B + %C // using OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddNV

A matrix multiply with these dimensions is known as an MxNxK matrix multiply.

The `VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix
    typedef struct VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR {
        VkStructureType       sType;
        void*                 pNext;
        uint32_t              MSize;
        uint32_t              NSize;
        uint32_t              KSize;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    AType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    BType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    CType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    ResultType;
        VkBool32              saturatingAccumulation;
        VkScopeKHR            scope;
    } VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `MSize` is the number of rows in matrices `A`, `C`, and `Result`.

- `KSize` is the number of columns in matrix `A` and rows in matrix `B`.

- `NSize` is the number of columns in matrices `B`, `C`, `Result`.

- `AType` is the component type of matrix `A`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `BType` is the component type of matrix `B`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `CType` is the component type of matrix `C`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `ResultType` is the component type of matrix `Result`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `saturatingAccumulation` indicates whether the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand to `OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddKHR` must be present or not. If it is `VK_TRUE`, the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand must be present. If it is `VK_FALSE`, the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand must not be present.

- `scope` is the scope of all the matrix types, of type VkScopeKHR.

If some types are preferred over other types (e.g. for performance), they should appear earlier in the list enumerated by vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR.

At least one entry in the list must have power of two values for all of `MSize`, `KSize`, and `NSize`.

If the `cooperativeMatrixWorkgroupScope` feature is not supported, `scope` must be `VK_SCOPE_SUBGROUP_KHR`.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_COOPERATIVE_MATRIX_PROPERTIES_KHR`

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesKHR-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

The `VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix2
    typedef struct VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV {
        VkStructureType       sType;
        void*                 pNext;
        uint32_t              MGranularity;
        uint32_t              NGranularity;
        uint32_t              KGranularity;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    AType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    BType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    CType;
        VkComponentTypeKHR    ResultType;
        VkBool32              saturatingAccumulation;
        VkScopeKHR            scope;
        uint32_t              workgroupInvocations;
    } VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `MGranularity` is the granularity of the number of rows in matrices `A`, `C`, and `Result`. The rows must be an integer multiple of this value.

- `KGranularity` is the granularity of columns in matrix `A` and rows in matrix `B`. The columns/rows must be an integer multiple of this value.

- `NGranularity` is the granularity of columns in matrices `B`, `C`, `Result`. The columns must be an integer multiple of this value.

- `AType` is the component type of matrix `A`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `BType` is the component type of matrix `B`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `CType` is the component type of matrix `C`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `ResultType` is the component type of matrix `Result`, of type VkComponentTypeKHR.

- `saturatingAccumulation` indicates whether the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand to `OpCooperativeMatrixMulAddKHR` must be present or not. If it is `VK_TRUE`, the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand must be present. If it is `VK_FALSE`, the `SaturatingAccumulation` operand must not be present.

- `scope` is the scope of all the matrix types, of type VkScopeKHR.

- `workgroupInvocations` is the number of invocations in the local workgroup when this combination of values is supported.

Rather than explicitly enumerating a list of supported sizes, `VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV` advertises size granularities, where the matrix must be a multiple of the advertised size. The M and K granularities apply to rows and columns of matrices with `Use` of `MatrixA`, K, and N apply to rows and columns of matrices with `Use` of `MatrixB`, M, and N apply to rows and columns of matrices with `Use` of `MatrixAccumulator`.

For a given type combination, if multiple workgroup sizes are supported there may be multiple `VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV` structures with different granularities.

All granularity values must be powers of two.

Note | Different A/B types may require different granularities but share the same accumulator type. In such a case, the supported granularity for a matrix with the accumulator type would be the smallest advertised granularity.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_COOPERATIVE_MATRIX_FLEXIBLE_DIMENSIONS_PROPERTIES_NV`

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixFlexibleDimensionsPropertiesNV-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

The `VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
    typedef struct VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV {
        VkStructureType      sType;
        void*                pNext;
        uint32_t             MSize;
        uint32_t             NSize;
        uint32_t             KSize;
        VkComponentTypeNV    AType;
        VkComponentTypeNV    BType;
        VkComponentTypeNV    CType;
        VkComponentTypeNV    DType;
        VkScopeNV            scope;
    } VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `MSize` is the number of rows in matrices A, C, and D.

- `KSize` is the number of columns in matrix A and rows in matrix B.

- `NSize` is the number of columns in matrices B, C, D.

- `AType` is the component type of matrix A, of type VkComponentTypeNV.

- `BType` is the component type of matrix B, of type VkComponentTypeNV.

- `CType` is the component type of matrix C, of type VkComponentTypeNV.

- `DType` is the component type of matrix D, of type VkComponentTypeNV.

- `scope` is the scope of all the matrix types, of type VkScopeNV.

If some types are preferred over other types (e.g. for performance), they should appear earlier in the list enumerated by vkGetPhysicalDeviceCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV.

At least one entry in the list must have power of two values for all of `MSize`, `KSize`, and `NSize`.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_COOPERATIVE_MATRIX_PROPERTIES_NV`

- VUID-VkCooperativeMatrixPropertiesNV-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

Possible values for VkScopeKHR include:

    // Provided by VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix
    typedef enum VkScopeKHR {
        VK_SCOPE_DEVICE_KHR = 1,
        VK_SCOPE_WORKGROUP_KHR = 2,
        VK_SCOPE_SUBGROUP_KHR = 3,
        VK_SCOPE_QUEUE_FAMILY_KHR = 5,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_SCOPE_DEVICE_NV = VK_SCOPE_DEVICE_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_SCOPE_WORKGROUP_NV = VK_SCOPE_WORKGROUP_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_SCOPE_SUBGROUP_NV = VK_SCOPE_SUBGROUP_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_SCOPE_QUEUE_FAMILY_NV = VK_SCOPE_QUEUE_FAMILY_KHR,
    } VkScopeKHR;

or the equivalent

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
    typedef VkScopeKHR VkScopeNV;

- `VK_SCOPE_DEVICE_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `Device` scope.

- `VK_SCOPE_WORKGROUP_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `Workgroup` scope.

- `VK_SCOPE_SUBGROUP_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `Subgroup` scope.

- `VK_SCOPE_QUEUE_FAMILY_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `QueueFamily` scope.

All enum values match the corresponding SPIR-V value.

Possible values for VkComponentTypeKHR include:

    // Provided by VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix
    typedef enum VkComponentTypeKHR {
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT16_KHR = 0,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT32_KHR = 1,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT64_KHR = 2,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT8_KHR = 3,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT16_KHR = 4,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT32_KHR = 5,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT64_KHR = 6,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT8_KHR = 7,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT16_KHR = 8,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT32_KHR = 9,
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT64_KHR = 10,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT16_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT16_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT32_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT32_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT64_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT64_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT8_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT8_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT16_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT16_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT32_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT32_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT64_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT64_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT8_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT8_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT16_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT16_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT32_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT32_KHR,
      // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
        VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT64_NV = VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT64_KHR,
    } VkComponentTypeKHR;

or the equivalent

    // Provided by VK_NV_cooperative_matrix
    typedef VkComponentTypeKHR VkComponentTypeNV;

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT16_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeFloat` 16.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT32_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeFloat` 32.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT64_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeFloat` 64.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT8_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 8 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT16_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 16 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT32_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 32 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_SINT64_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 64 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT8_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 8 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT16_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 16 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT32_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 32 0/1.

- `VK_COMPONENT_TYPE_UINT64_KHR` corresponds to SPIR-V `OpTypeInt` 64 0/1.

### 9.31. Validation Cache

Validation cache objects allow the result of internal validation to be reused, both within a single application run and between multiple runs. Reuse within a single run is achieved by passing the same validation cache object when creating supported Vulkan objects. Reuse across runs of an application is achieved by retrieving validation cache contents in one run of an application, saving the contents, and using them to preinitialize a validation cache on a subsequent run. The contents of the validation cache objects are managed by the validation layers. Applications can manage the host memory consumed by a validation cache object and control the amount of data retrieved from a validation cache object.

Validation cache objects are represented by `VkValidationCacheEXT` handles:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkValidationCacheEXT)

To create validation cache objects, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    VkResult vkCreateValidationCacheEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        const VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT*       pCreateInfo,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkValidationCacheEXT*                       pValidationCache);

- `device` is the logical device that creates the validation cache object.

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT structure containing the initial parameters for the validation cache object.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pValidationCache` is a pointer to a VkValidationCacheEXT handle in which the resulting validation cache object is returned.

Note | Applications can track and manage the total host memory size of a validation cache object using the `pAllocator`. Applications can limit the amount of data retrieved from a validation cache object in `vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT`. Implementations should not internally limit the total number of entries added to a validation cache object or the total host memory consumed.

Once created, a validation cache can be passed to the `vkCreateShaderModule` command by adding this object to the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo structure’s `pNext` chain. If a VkShaderModuleValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT object is included in the VkShaderModuleCreateInfo::`pNext` chain, and its `validationCache` field is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, the implementation will query it for possible reuse opportunities and update it with new content. The use of the validation cache object in these commands is internally synchronized, and the same validation cache object can be used in multiple threads simultaneously.

Note | Implementations should make every effort to limit any critical sections to the actual accesses to the cache, which is expected to be significantly shorter than the duration of the `vkCreateShaderModule` command.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateValidationCacheEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkCreateValidationCacheEXT-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT structure

- VUID-vkCreateValidationCacheEXT-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateValidationCacheEXT-pValidationCache-parameter
  `pValidationCache` must be a valid pointer to a VkValidationCacheEXT handle

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

The `VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    typedef struct VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT {
        VkStructureType                    sType;
        const void*                        pNext;
        VkValidationCacheCreateFlagsEXT    flags;
        size_t                             initialDataSize;
        const void*                        pInitialData;
    } VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `flags` is reserved for future use.

- `initialDataSize` is the number of bytes in `pInitialData`. If `initialDataSize` is zero, the validation cache will initially be empty.

- `pInitialData` is a pointer to previously retrieved validation cache data. If the validation cache data is incompatible (as defined below) with the device, the validation cache will be initially empty. If `initialDataSize` is zero, `pInitialData` is ignored.

Valid Usage

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-initialDataSize-01534
  If `initialDataSize` is not `0`, it must be equal to the size of `pInitialData`, as returned by `vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT` when `pInitialData` was originally retrieved

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-initialDataSize-01535
  If `initialDataSize` is not `0`, `pInitialData` must have been retrieved from a previous call to `vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_VALIDATION_CACHE_CREATE_INFO_EXT`

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-flags-zerobitmask
  `flags` must be `0`

- VUID-VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT-pInitialData-parameter
  If `initialDataSize` is not `0`, `pInitialData` must be a valid pointer to an array of `initialDataSize` bytes

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    typedef VkFlags VkValidationCacheCreateFlagsEXT;

`VkValidationCacheCreateFlagsEXT` is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

Validation cache objects can be merged using the command:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    VkResult vkMergeValidationCachesEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkValidationCacheEXT                        dstCache,
        uint32_t                                    srcCacheCount,
        const VkValidationCacheEXT*                 pSrcCaches);

- `device` is the logical device that owns the validation cache objects.

- `dstCache` is the handle of the validation cache to merge results into.

- `srcCacheCount` is the length of the `pSrcCaches` array.

- `pSrcCaches` is a pointer to an array of validation cache handles, which will be merged into `dstCache`. The previous contents of `dstCache` are included after the merge.

Note | The details of the merge operation are implementation-dependent, but implementations should merge the contents of the specified validation caches and prune duplicate entries.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-dstCache-01536
  `dstCache` must not appear in the list of source caches

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-dstCache-parameter
  `dstCache` must be a valid VkValidationCacheEXT handle

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-pSrcCaches-parameter
  `pSrcCaches` must be a valid pointer to an array of `srcCacheCount` valid VkValidationCacheEXT handles

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-srcCacheCount-arraylength
  `srcCacheCount` must be greater than `0`

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-dstCache-parent
  `dstCache` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

- VUID-vkMergeValidationCachesEXT-pSrcCaches-parent
  Each element of `pSrcCaches` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `dstCache` must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

Data can be retrieved from a validation cache object using the command:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    VkResult vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkValidationCacheEXT                        validationCache,
        size_t*                                     pDataSize,
        void*                                       pData);

- `device` is the logical device that owns the validation cache.

- `validationCache` is the validation cache to retrieve data from.

- `pDataSize` is a pointer to a value related to the amount of data in the validation cache, as described below.

- `pData` is either `NULL` or a pointer to a buffer.

If `pData` is `NULL`, then the maximum size of the data that can be retrieved from the validation cache, in bytes, is returned in `pDataSize`. Otherwise, `pDataSize` must point to a variable set by the application to the size of the buffer, in bytes, pointed to by `pData`, and on return the variable is overwritten with the amount of data actually written to `pData`. If `pDataSize` is less than the maximum size that can be retrieved by the validation cache, at most `pDataSize` bytes will be written to `pData`, and `vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT` will return `VK_INCOMPLETE` instead of `VK_SUCCESS`, to indicate that not all of the validation cache was returned.

Any data written to `pData` is valid and can be provided as the `pInitialData` member of the VkValidationCacheCreateInfoEXT structure passed to `vkCreateValidationCacheEXT`.

Two calls to `vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT` with the same parameters must retrieve the same data unless a command that modifies the contents of the cache is called between them.

Applications can store the data retrieved from the validation cache, and use these data, possibly in a future run of the application, to populate new validation cache objects. The results of validation, however, may depend on the vendor ID, device ID, driver version, and other details of the device. To enable applications to detect when previously retrieved data is incompatible with the device, the initial bytes written to `pData` must be a header consisting of the following members:

Table 12. Layout for Validation Cache Header Version `VK_VALIDATION_CACHE_HEADER_VERSION_ONE_EXT`
Offset | Size | Meaning
--- | --- | ---
0 | 4 | length in bytes of the entire validation cache header written as a stream of bytes, with the least significant byte first
4 | 4 | a VkValidationCacheHeaderVersionEXT value written as a stream of bytes, with the least significant byte first
8 | `VK_UUID_SIZE` | a layer commit ID expressed as a UUID, which uniquely identifies the version of the validation layers used to generate these validation results

The first four bytes encode the length of the entire validation cache header, in bytes. This value includes all fields in the header including the validation cache version field and the size of the length field.

The next four bytes encode the validation cache version, as described for VkValidationCacheHeaderVersionEXT. A consumer of the validation cache should use the cache version to interpret the remainder of the cache header.

If `pDataSize` is less than what is necessary to store this header, nothing will be written to `pData` and zero will be written to `pDataSize`.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT-validationCache-parameter
  `validationCache` must be a valid VkValidationCacheEXT handle

- VUID-vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT-pDataSize-parameter
  `pDataSize` must be a valid pointer to a `size_t` value

- VUID-vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT-pData-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pDataSize` is not `0`, and `pData` is not `NULL`, `pData` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pDataSize` bytes

- VUID-vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT-validationCache-parent
  `validationCache` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

Possible values of the second group of four bytes in the header returned by vkGetValidationCacheDataEXT, encoding the validation cache version, are:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    typedef enum VkValidationCacheHeaderVersionEXT {
        VK_VALIDATION_CACHE_HEADER_VERSION_ONE_EXT = 1,
    } VkValidationCacheHeaderVersionEXT;

- `VK_VALIDATION_CACHE_HEADER_VERSION_ONE_EXT` specifies version one of the validation cache.

To destroy a validation cache, call:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_validation_cache
    void vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkValidationCacheEXT                        validationCache,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the validation cache object.

- `validationCache` is the handle of the validation cache to destroy.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-validationCache-01537
  If `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `validationCache` was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-validationCache-01538
  If no `VkAllocationCallbacks` were provided when `validationCache` was created, `pAllocator` must be `NULL`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-validationCache-parameter
  If `validationCache` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, `validationCache` must be a valid VkValidationCacheEXT handle

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkDestroyValidationCacheEXT-validationCache-parent
  If `validationCache` is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `validationCache` must be externally synchronized

### 9.32. CUDA Modules

#### 9.32.1. Creating a CUDA Module

CUDA modules must contain some kernel code and must expose at least one function entry point.

CUDA modules are represented by `VkCudaModuleNV` handles:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkCudaModuleNV)

To create a CUDA module, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    VkResult vkCreateCudaModuleNV(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        const VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV*             pCreateInfo,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkCudaModuleNV*                             pModule);

- `device` is the logical device that creates the shader module.

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV structure.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pModule` is a pointer to a VkCudaModuleNV handle in which the resulting CUDA module object is returned.

Once a CUDA module has been created, the application may create the function entry point, which must refer to one function in the module.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateCudaModuleNV-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkCreateCudaModuleNV-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV structure

- VUID-vkCreateCudaModuleNV-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateCudaModuleNV-pModule-parameter
  `pModule` must be a valid pointer to a VkCudaModuleNV handle

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

The `VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    typedef struct VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV {
        VkStructureType    sType;
        const void*        pNext;
        size_t             dataSize;
        const void*        pData;
    } VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` may be `NULL` or may be a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `dataSize` is the length of the `pData` array.

- `pData` is a pointer to CUDA code

Valid Usage

- VUID-VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV-dataSize-09413
  `dataSize` must be the total size in bytes of the PTX files or binary cache passed to `pData`

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_CUDA_MODULE_CREATE_INFO_NV`

- VUID-VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

- VUID-VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV-pData-parameter
  `pData` must be a valid pointer to an array of `dataSize` bytes

- VUID-VkCudaModuleCreateInfoNV-dataSize-arraylength
  `dataSize` must be greater than `0`

#### 9.32.2. Creating a CUDA Function Handle

CUDA functions are represented by `VkCudaFunctionNV` handles. Handles to `global` functions may then be used to issue a kernel launch (i.e. dispatch) from a commandbuffer. See Dispatching Command for CUDA PTX kernel.

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkCudaFunctionNV)

To create a CUDA function, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    VkResult vkCreateCudaFunctionNV(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        const VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV*           pCreateInfo,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkCudaFunctionNV*                           pFunction);

- `device` is the logical device that creates the shader module.

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV structure.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pFunction` is a pointer to a VkCudaFunctionNV handle in which the resulting CUDA function object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateCudaFunctionNV-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkCreateCudaFunctionNV-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV structure

- VUID-vkCreateCudaFunctionNV-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateCudaFunctionNV-pFunction-parameter
  `pFunction` must be a valid pointer to a VkCudaFunctionNV handle

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

The `VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV` structure is defined as:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    typedef struct VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV {
        VkStructureType    sType;
        const void*        pNext;
        VkCudaModuleNV     module;
        const char*        pName;
    } VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV;

- `sType` is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

- `pNext` is `NULL` or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

- `module` is the CUDA VkCudaModuleNV module in which the function resides.

- `pName` is a null-terminated UTF-8 string containing the name of the shader entry point for this stage.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV-sType-sType
  `sType` must be `VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_CUDA_FUNCTION_CREATE_INFO_NV`

- VUID-VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV-pNext-pNext
  `pNext` must be `NULL`

- VUID-VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV-module-parameter
  `module` must be a valid VkCudaModuleNV handle

- VUID-VkCudaFunctionCreateInfoNV-pName-parameter
  `pName` must be a null-terminated UTF-8 string

#### 9.32.3. Destroying a CUDA Function

To destroy a CUDA function handle, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    void vkDestroyCudaFunctionNV(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkCudaFunctionNV                            function,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the Function.

- `function` is the handle of the CUDA function to destroy.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaFunctionNV-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaFunctionNV-function-parameter
  `function` must be a valid VkCudaFunctionNV handle

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaFunctionNV-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaFunctionNV-function-parent
  `function` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

#### 9.32.4. Destroying a CUDA Module

To destroy a CUDA shader module, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    void vkDestroyCudaModuleNV(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkCudaModuleNV                              module,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the shader module.

- `module` is the handle of the CUDA module to destroy.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaModuleNV-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaModuleNV-module-parameter
  `module` must be a valid VkCudaModuleNV handle

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaModuleNV-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkDestroyCudaModuleNV-module-parent
  `module` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

#### 9.32.5. Reading back CUDA Module Cache

After uploading the PTX kernel code, the module compiles the code to generate a binary cache with all the necessary information for the device to execute it. It is possible to read back this cache for later use, such as accelerating the initialization of further executions.

To get the CUDA module cache call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
    VkResult vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV(
        VkDevice                                    device,
        VkCudaModuleNV                              module,
        size_t*                                     pCacheSize,
        void*                                       pCacheData);

- `device` is the logical device that destroys the Function.

- `module` is the CUDA module.

- `pCacheSize` is a pointer containing the amount of bytes to be copied in `pCacheData`

- `pCacheData` is a pointer to a buffer in which to copy the binary cache

If `pCacheData` is `NULL`, then the size of the binary cache, in bytes, is returned in `pCacheSize`. Otherwise, `pCacheSize` must point to a variable set by the application to the size of the buffer, in bytes, pointed to by `pCacheData`, and on return the variable is overwritten with the amount of data actually written to `pCacheData`. If `pCacheSize` is less than the size of the binary shader code, nothing is written to `pCacheData`, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`.

The returned cache may then be used later for further initialization of the CUDA module, by sending this cache instead of the PTX code when using vkCreateCudaModuleNV.

Note | Using the binary cache instead of the original PTX code should significantly speed up initialization of the CUDA module, given that the whole compilation and validation will not be necessary. As with VkPipelineCache, the binary cache depends on the specific implementation. The application must assume the cache upload might fail in many circumstances and thus may have to get ready for falling back to the original PTX code if necessary. Most often, the cache may succeed if the same device driver and architecture is used between the cache generation from PTX and the use of this cache. In the event of a new driver version or if using a different device architecture, this cache may become invalid.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV-device-parameter
  `device` must be a valid VkDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV-module-parameter
  `module` must be a valid VkCudaModuleNV handle

- VUID-vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV-pCacheSize-parameter
  `pCacheSize` must be a valid pointer to a `size_t` value

- VUID-vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV-pCacheData-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pCacheSize` is not `0`, and `pCacheData` is not `NULL`, `pCacheData` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pCacheSize` bytes

- VUID-vkGetCudaModuleCacheNV-module-parent
  `module` must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from `device`

Return Codes

Success

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

Failure

  - `VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED`

#### 9.32.6. Limitations

CUDA and Vulkan do not use the device in the same configuration. The following limitations must be taken into account:

- It is not possible to read or write global parameters from Vulkan. The only way to share resources or send values to the PTX kernel is to pass them as arguments of the function. See Resources sharing between CUDA Kernel and Vulkan for more details.

- No calls to functions external to the module PTX are supported.

- Vulkan disables some shader/kernel exceptions, which could break CUDA kernels relying on exceptions.

- CUDA kernels submitted to Vulkan are limited to the amount of shared memory, which can be queried from the physical capabilities. It may be less than what CUDA can offer.

- CUDA instruction-level preemption (CILP) does not work.

- CUDA Unified Memory will not work in this extension.

- CUDA Dynamic parallelism is not supported.

- `vk*DispatchIndirect` is not available.