Apple shares new demos of its proposed WebGPU browser engine

Earlier this year, Apple proposed a new GPU on the Web Community Group to work towards more powerful graphics on the web. The WebGPU standard Apple proposed is much more object-oriented than WebGPU and allows developers to create and store objects that represent state. Additionally, it allows for objects that can process a broader set of commands. This reduces the work needed to perform during a drawing operation.

Now, Apple has shared a WebGPU prototype and demos to show developers what the new standard is capable of…

Apple announced the prototype and demos on its WebKit blog, explaining that the new feature comes as part of the Safari Technology Preview version. Apple notes several times throughout the announcement, however, that this is a demo and nothing more. In fact, in many cases, Apple says the demo code is behind the proposal:

We also have written some simple demos to give you an idea of how the API works. Note that our implementation and documented proposal are not quite aligned, so the code in these demos will change over time. We’ve tried to indicate the places in the code where the prototype is behind the proposal. And, to reiterate, this is a proposal – the final API will almost certainly be quite different.

If you want to try out the new WebGPU demos, you can do so by heading to Apple’s WebKit blog. Here, you’ll see four examples. One depicting a “Hello World Triangle,” another showing a “2d-drawing like Shadertoy,” a third showing a “Simple Spinning Cube,” and finally a fourth showing “Animating Cubes.”

In order to try the demos, you must be using Apple’s Safari Technology Preview and enable WebGPU in the Developer Menu:

Make sure you are on a system with WebGPU enabled. In Safari, first make sure the Developer Menu is visible (Preferences → Advanced), then Develop → Experimental Features → Enable WebGPU.

More information and gritty details on Apple’s WebGPU proposal can be found on the company’s WebKit blog. If you’re a web developer, what do you think of Apple’s the first demonstrations of Apple’s proposed WebGPU standard? Let us know in the comments.