Rust GPU Chimera Demo

A cross-platform demo of a single Rust codebase running on both the CPU and GPU via CUDA, Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX. There are no shader or kernel languages used, only Rust.

Supported Configurations

| Platform | Rust Features | Host | Backend | Driver | How it Works | Status | | ------------ | ------------- | ------ | ------- | ------------- | -------------------- | ------------------ | | Linux | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | Linux | wgpu | [wgpu] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Linux | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Linux | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | Native | Rust → NVVM → PTX | ✅ Working | | macOS | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | macOS | wgpu | [wgpu] | Metal | Metal | Rust → SPIR-V → MSL | ✅ Working | | macOS | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | macOS | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [SwiftShader] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | macOS | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | macOS | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [SwiftShader] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | macOS | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | - | - | ❌ Unavailable[^1] | | Windows | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | Windows | wgpu | [wgpu] | DX12 | Native | Rust → SPIR-V → HLSL | ✅ Working | | Windows | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Windows | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [SwiftShader] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Windows | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Windows | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [SwiftShader] | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Windows | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | Native | Rust → NVVM → PTX | ✅ Working | | Android | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | Android | wgpu | [wgpu] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Android | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | Native | Rust → SPIR-V | ✅ Working | | Android | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | - | - | ❌ Unavailable[^2] | | iOS | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | iOS | wgpu | [wgpu] | Metal | Metal | Rust → SPIR-V → MSL | 🔷 Should work | | iOS | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | iOS | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | iOS | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | - | - | ❌ Unavailable[^1] | | tvOS | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | tvOS | wgpu | [wgpu] | Metal | Metal | Rust → SPIR-V → MSL | 🔷 Should work | | tvOS | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | tvOS | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | tvOS | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | - | - | ❌ Unavailable[^1] | | visionOS | - | CPU | - | - | Rust → Native | ✅ Working | | visionOS | wgpu | [wgpu] | Metal | Metal | Rust → SPIR-V → MSL | 🔷 Should work | | visionOS | wgpu,vulkan | [wgpu] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | visionOS | ash | [ash] | Vulkan | [MoltenVK] | Rust → SPIR-V | 🔷 Should work | | visionOS | cuda | [cust] | CUDA | - | - | ❌ Unavailable[^1] |

[^1]: CUDA is not supported on macOS/iOS/tvOS/visionOS. ZLUDA could potentially enable CUDA on these platforms in the future.

[^2]: CUDA is not supported on Android. ZLUDA could potentially enable CUDA on Android in the future.

Running the Demo

The demo runs a bitonic sort on various data types (u32, i32, f32) with different sizes and configurations.

Linux

# CPU execution
cargo run --release
Vulkan via wgpu
cargo run --release --features wgpu
Vulkan via ash
cargo run --release --features ash
CUDA (NVIDIA GPU required)
cargo run --release --features cuda

macOS

# CPU execution
cargo run --release
Metal via wgpu (SPIR-V → MSL translation)
cargo run --release --features wgpu
Vulkan via wgpu (requires MoltenVK)
cargo run --release --features wgpu,vulkan
Vulkan via ash (requires MoltenVK)
cargo run --release --features ash

Windows

# CPU execution
cargo run --release
DirectX 12 via wgpu (SPIR-V → HLSL translation)
cargo run --release --features wgpu
Vulkan via wgpu
cargo run --release --features wgpu,vulkan
Vulkan via ash
cargo run --release --features ash
CUDA (NVIDIA GPU required)
cargo run --release --features cuda

Instead of cargo run you can replace it with cargo test to run unit tests for the same configuration.

Project Structure

rust-gpu-chimera-demo/
├── kernel/           # Compute kernel logic and entrypoints
│   └── src/
│       └── lib.rs
├── shared/           # Code that runs on both the CPU and GPU
│   └── src/
│       └── lib.rs
├── src/
│   ├── runners/      # Code that runs on the CPU/host and interfaces with the GPU
│   │   ├── cpu.rs
│   │   ├── cuda.rs
│   │   ├── wgpu.rs
│   │   └── ash.rs
│   ├── lib.rs
│   └── main.rs       # Demo application binary
└── build.rs          # Kernel compilation orchestration

[wgpu]: https://github.com/gfx-rs/wgpu [ash]: https://github.com/ash-rs/ash [cust]: https://github.com/Rust-GPU/Rust-CUDA/tree/main/crates/cust [MoltenVK]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK [SwiftShader]: https://github.com/google/swiftshader

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