What's New in WebGPU (Chrome 138)

François Beaufort

Published: Jun 17, 2025

Shorthand for using buffer as a binding resource

Developers can now use a GPUBuffer directly as a GPUBindingResource to expose to the shader for binding. This makes it consistent with other binding types and even simpler to use than a GPUBufferBinding when both size and offset use default values. See issue 419223794.

const bindGroup = myDevice.createBindGroup({
  layout: myPipeline.getBindGroupLayout(0),
  entries: [
    { binding: 0, resource: mySampler },
    { binding: 1, resource: myTextureView },
    { binding: 2, resource: myExternalTexture },
    { binding: 3, resource: myBuffer }, // Same as { buffer: myBuffer }
    { binding: 4, resource: { buffer: myOtherBuffer, offset: 42 },
  ],
});

Size requirement changes for buffers mapped at creation

Creating a buffer with mappedAtCreation set to true now throws a RangeError if size is not a multiple of 4. This was previously enforced with a GPUValidationError only. See issue 405883445.

myDevice.createBuffer({
  mappedAtCreation: true,
  size: 42,
  usage: GPUBufferUsage.STORAGE,
});
// Throws RangeError

Architecture report for recent GPUs

The latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD now report their architecture in GPUAdapterInfo as "blackwell" and "rdna4" respectively, as well as a few other minor additions to the GPU architecture listings. See issue 417202748.

Deprecate GPUAdapter isFallbackAdapter attribute

The GPUAdapter isFallbackAdapter attribute is deprecated. It's replaced by the GPUAdapterInfo isFallbackAdapter attribute that was introduced in Chrome 136. See intent to deprecate.

Dawn updates

Emscripten is supported in Dawn GLFW for CMake builds allowing developers to simplify even further their WebGPU cross-platform app code when using Emdawnwebgpu, which implements the latest standardized webgpu.h over the browser API. See change dawn:242894.

For a complete guide, check out the updated Build an app with WebGPU documentation.