WebGPU Headers
The WebGPU C API
 
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Errors

Errors are surfaced in several ways.

Most errors only result from incorrect use of the API and should not need to be handled at runtime. However, a few (WGPUErrorType_OutOfMemory, WGPUErrorType_Internal) are potentially useful to handle.

Device Error

These behave the same way as in the WebGPU JavaScript API specification. They are receivable via wgpuDevicePopErrorScope() and WGPUDeviceDescriptor::uncapturedErrorCallbackInfo.

These errors include:

  • All device-timeline errors in the WebGPU specification.
  • Enum values which are numerically invalid (this is not possible in JavaScript).
  • Enum values which are require features not enabled on the device (a content-timeline error in JavaScript), for example compressed texture formats.
  • Other content-timeline errors where specified.

Callback Error

These behave similarly to the Promise-returning JavaScript APIs. Instead of there being two callbacks like in JavaScript (one for resolve and one for reject), there is a single callback which receives a status code, and depending on the status, either a valid result with an empty message string ({NULL, 0}), or an invalid result with a non-empty message string.

Synchronous Error

These errors include:

Generally these will return some kind of failure status (like WGPUStatus_Error) or NULL, and produce an Implementation-Defined Logging message.

Implementation-Defined Logging

Entry points may also specify that they produce "implementation-defined logging". These messages are logged in an implementation defined way (e.g. to an implementation-specific callback, or to a logging runtime). They are intended to be intended to be read by humans, useful primarily for development and crash reporting.

Struct-Chaining Error

A struct-chaining error happens when the WGPUSType of a struct in a struct chain is not valid for that chain.

Struct chains which are used in device-timeline validation/operations (e.g. WGPUBufferDescriptor in wgpuDeviceCreateBuffer) have their chain errors surfaced asynchronously, like any other validation error.

Out-Struct-Chain Error

Operations which take out-struct-chains (e.g. WGPULimits, in wgpuAdapterGetLimits and wgpuDeviceGetLimits, but not in WGPUDeviceDescriptor) handle struct-chaining errors as follows:

  • The output struct and struct chain is not modified.
  • The operation produces a Synchronous Error (return value and log message).