WebGPU Three.js with TSL

TSL (Three.js Shading Language) is a node-based shader abstraction that lets you write GPU shaders in JavaScript instead of GLSL/WGSL strings.

Quick Start

import * as THREE from 'three/webgpu';
import { color, time, oscSine } from 'three/tsl';

const renderer = new THREE.WebGPURenderer();
await renderer.init();

const material = new THREE.MeshStandardNodeMaterial();
material.colorNode = color(0xff0000).mul(oscSine(time));

Skill Contents

Documentation

• docs/core-concepts.md – Types, operators, uniforms, control flow
• docs/materials.md – Node materials and all properties
• docs/compute-shaders.md – GPU compute with instanced arrays
• docs/post-processing.md – Built-in and custom effects
• docs/wgsl-integration.md – Custom WGSL functions
• docs/device-loss.md – Handling GPU device loss and recovery

Examples

• examples/basic-setup.js – Minimal WebGPU project
• examples/custom-material.js – Custom shader material
• examples/particle-system.js – GPU compute particles
• examples/post-processing.js – Effect pipeline
• examples/earth-shader.js – Complete Earth with atmosphere

Templates

• templates/webgpu-project.js – Starter project template
• templates/compute-shader.js – Compute shader template

Reference

• REFERENCE.md – Quick reference cheatsheet

Key Concepts

Import Pattern

// Always use the WebGPU entry point
import * as THREE from 'three/webgpu';
import { /* TSL functions */ } from 'three/tsl';

Node Materials

Replace standard material properties with TSL nodes:

material.colorNode = texture(map);        // instead of material.map
material.roughnessNode = float(0.5);      // instead of material.roughness
material.positionNode = displaced;         // vertex displacement

Method Chaining

TSL uses method chaining for operations:

// Instead of: sin(time * 2.0 + offset) * 0.5 + 0.5
time.mul(2.0).add(offset).sin().mul(0.5).add(0.5)

Custom Functions

Use Fn() for reusable shader logic:

const fresnel = Fn(([power = 2.0]) => {
  const nDotV = normalWorld.dot(viewDir).saturate();
  return float(1.0).sub(nDotV).pow(power);
});

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up Three.js with WebGPU renderer
• Creating custom shader materials with TSL
• Writing GPU compute shaders
• Building post-processing pipelines
• Migrating from GLSL to TSL
• Implementing visual effects (particles, water, terrain, etc.)

Resources

• Three.js TSL Wiki
• WebGPU Examples (files prefixed with webgpu_)