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WebGPU Subset

Status: experimental v0.4 browser subset.

Datoviz v0.4 can run selected examples in a browser. This uses WebGPU, a browser feature for drawing with the computer's graphics hardware.

The browser path is useful for demos, documentation, and early testing. It is smaller than the desktop path. Check each example's browser status before assuming it works online.

How To Find Browser Examples

Start from the Examples section. On each generated example page, check the example details:

Browser support: Live in browser

Live examples use this route shape:

examples/webgpu/live.html?id=<example-id>

The example manifest changes as routes are promoted. Use the generated WebGPU matrix for the current example-by-example list and status; this authored page deliberately does not copy counts from that generated source.

What Is Supported

The browser subset covers the visuals and features needed by the live gallery routes. Current coverage includes:

  • point, pixel, marker, segment, path, primitive, image, labels, glyph, text, mesh, sphere, and vector examples;
  • common 2D layout and annotation features, including panels, linked panels, axes, guides, colorbars, scale bars, legends, and readouts;
  • panzoom for 2D scenes and selected 3D controller examples such as arcball, fly, and turntable;
  • selected picking, probing, selection, animation, update, compute, and showcase routes.

Browser support is narrower than desktop support. When a feature matters to your application, check the specific example page and the Feature status page.

What Is Not Supported

The browser subset intentionally does not include:

  • native windows, Qt hosting, video export, GUI widgets, or low-level desktop runtime modules;
  • every desktop application feature;
  • stable public JavaScript or TypeScript bindings for building arbitrary Datoviz scenes directly in browser code;
  • custom shader replacement;
  • broad volume, advanced technique, rich-label, query/readback, and zero-copy transport support.

These limits may change after v0.4, but they should not be described as current browser support until the example matrix and validation checks prove them.

What webgpu-live Means

webgpu-live means a public browser route is registered for the example. It does not mean every browser, graphics card, driver, and CI runner has rendered that route successfully.

When a live route omits or reduces a rendering effect used by its desktop counterpart, the live page and gallery preview show a WebGPU rendering differences warning. Treat that warning as part of the example's support status; webgpu-live alone does not imply pixel-level parity.

Keep these facts separate:

Fact Where to check
Public route exists The generated example page and WebGPU matrix.
Browser smoke coverage passes Maintainer validation output from just webgpu-browser-smoke.
A specific machine renders correctly Manual or CI evidence for that browser, operating system, and graphics card.

If a browser route fails, record the browser version, operating system, graphics card, and diagnostic message. Do not silently relabel an example as native-only unless the public browser-support status is changed at the example source.

Validation

Maintainers use these checks before promoting or publishing browser routes:

just webgpu-fixture-preflight
just webgpu-runner-smoke
just wasm-scene-smoke
just webgpu-browser-smoke

For local manual testing, serve the site over HTTP and open a live route:

http://localhost:8294/examples/webgpu/live.html?id=features_basic_scene

Port 8294 is the default. just serve chooses the next free port when necessary and prints the actual URL. Do not open WebGPU routes through file://; browser WebGPU APIs require a proper browser security context.

See Also