vkforge 0.5.2

VkForge: A Vulkan User-End API Implementation Generator for Renderer Development

VkForge

VkForge (Vulkan Forge) is a Vulkan User-End API Implementation Generator written in Python. It's purpose is to quickly generate the code needed for Graphics Renderer development.

VkForge is the opposite of using a wrapper layer (like SDL_GPU or shVulkan).
Instead of abstracting Vulkan, you use the Vulkan API directly — but VkForge saves you from writing all the repetitive boilerplate by generating it for you, based on your shaders and a simple config.

VkForge does not force any design pattern — you have the same freedom as hand-written Vulkan.
By design, VkForge does not generate an entire renderer — it generates components for you to connect as you wish.

VkForge also provides a list of utility code that makes it quicker to code in Vulkan. If the utility function abstracts away something you want to control, just use the direct Vulkan function.

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VkForge Source

The input for VkForge is:

• Shaders: Provide type, location, descriptor sets, and bindings.
• Config: Defines pipeline details and other setup.

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VkForge Output

VkForge generates C99 source code for your Vulkan implementation.
Platform integration is done via SDL3. We are hoping to improve VkForge — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Feel free to contribute by using it, reporting issues, making pull requests and via othe produtive ways!

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Todo

• Add support for Renderpass and earlier versions: Currently only support Vulkan >= 1.3 and Dynamic Rendering.
• Platform abstraction: Allow users to pass a flag vkforge --platform SDL3 with options like Raylib, GLFW, etc. VkForge will generate the code specific for the platform you want.
• Sub-Platform abstraction: I can combined SDL3 as my main platform and then use SDL3_image, stb_image, etc to load images and so on. vkforge --platform-image SDL3_image.
• 3D utility functions: Utility functions specific for 3D rendering
• Extended version utility functions: Extended utility functions provide additional parameters that allow the user to pass pNext and pAllocationCallbacks.

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Connections

• VkForge Python Package - Check out for stable release
• VkForge Github - Check out for latest release and updates

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Purpose

Vulkan is extremely detailed — this is a good thing!
But it can mean tedious and repetitive coding.
VkForge solves this by letting you describe your Vulkan setup in a simple Config file.
A config is short, easy to write, and saves hours of manual work.

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Closing

VkForge is free and MIT licensed — contributions are welcome!
I hope you find it useful for your projects.

VkForge is led and maintained by its benevolent leader, Alrick Grandison.

(c) 2025 Alrick Grandison, Algodal