# 
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@thi.ng/shader-ast-js)
[](https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi)
> [!NOTE]
> This is one of 205 standalone projects, maintained as part
> of the [@thi.ng/umbrella](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/) monorepo
> and anti-framework.
>
> 🚀 Please help me to work full-time on these projects by [sponsoring me on
> GitHub](https://github.com/sponsors/postspectacular). Thank you! ❤️
- [About](#about)
- [Unsupported features](#unsupported-features)
- [Status](#status)
- [Related packages](#related-packages)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Dependencies](#dependencies)
- [Usage examples](#usage-examples)
- [API](#api)
- [Authors](#authors)
- [License](#license)
## About
Customizable JS codegen, compiler & runtime for [@thi.ng/shader-ast](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast).
Due to the lack of native vector operations in JS, this compile target
is much more involved than the
[@thi.ng/shader-ast-glsl](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast-glsl)
code gen and uses a pluggable backend to perform all math ops. The
default backend delegates all ops to
[@thi.ng/vectors](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/vectors)
and
[@thi.ng/matrices](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/matrices),
which altogether provide ~750 optimized vector/matrix functions.
### Unsupported features
- texture lookups (see [texture tunnel
demo](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-tunnel)
for a monkey-patched solution)
- derivatives (`dFdx`, `dFdy`, `fwidth`) - probably never supported in
this env
- `out` / `inout` function args (see
[#96](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/issues/96) for discussion)
## Status
**STABLE** - used in production
[Search or submit any issues for this package](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/issues?q=%5Bshader-ast-js%5D+in%3Atitle)
## Related packages
- [@thi.ng/pixel](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/pixel) - Typedarray integer & float pixel buffers w/ customizable formats, blitting, drawing, convolution
- [@thi.ng/shader-ast-glsl](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast-glsl) - Customizable GLSL codegen for [@thi.ng/shader-ast](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast)
- [@thi.ng/shader-ast-stdlib](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast-stdlib) - Function collection for modular GPGPU / shader programming with [@thi.ng/shader-ast](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast)
## Installation
```bash
yarn add @thi.ng/shader-ast-js
```
ESM import:
```ts
import * as js from "@thi.ng/shader-ast-js";
```
Browser ESM import:
```html
```
[JSDelivr documentation](https://www.jsdelivr.com/)
For Node.js REPL:
```js
const js = await import("@thi.ng/shader-ast-js");
```
Package sizes (brotli'd, pre-treeshake): ESM: 6.56 KB
## Dependencies
- [@thi.ng/api](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/api)
- [@thi.ng/checks](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/checks)
- [@thi.ng/errors](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/errors)
- [@thi.ng/math](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/math)
- [@thi.ng/matrices](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/matrices)
- [@thi.ng/pixel](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/pixel)
- [@thi.ng/shader-ast](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/shader-ast)
- [@thi.ng/vectors](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/vectors)
Note: @thi.ng/api is in _most_ cases a type-only import (not used at runtime)
## Usage examples
Eight projects in this repo's
[/examples](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples)
directory are using this package:
| Screenshot | Description | Live demo | Source |
|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 
| ASCII art raymarching with thi.ng/shader-ast & thi.ng/text-canvas | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/ascii-raymarch/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/ascii-raymarch) |
| 
| 2D canvas shader emulation | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-canvas2d/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-canvas2d) |
| 
| HOF shader procedural noise function composition | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-noise/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-noise) |
| 
| WebGL & JS canvas2D raymarch shader cross-compilation | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-raymarch/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-raymarch) |
| 
| WebGL & JS canvas 2D SDF | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-sdf2d/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-sdf2d) |
| 
| WebGL & Canvas2D textured tunnel shader | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-tunnel/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-tunnel) |
| 
| Fork-join worker-based raymarch renderer (JS/CPU only) | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-workers/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/shader-ast-workers) |
| 
| Interactive ridge-line plot | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/viz-ridge-lines/) | [Source](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/examples/viz-ridge-lines) |
## API
[Generated API docs](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/shader-ast-js/)
```ts
// AST node functions from main shader-ast pkg
import {
mul,
defn,
float,
ret,
vec3
} from "@thi.ng/shader-ast";
// codegen / compiler
import { targetJS } from "@thi.ng/shader-ast-js";
const js = targetJS();
const hello = defn("vec4", "hello", ["float"], (n) => [
ret(vec4(mul(vec3(1, 2, 3), n), -1))
]);
js(hello)
const Module = js.compile(hello);
Module.hello(10);
// [10, 20, 30, -1]
```
## Authors
- [Karsten Schmidt](https://thi.ng)
If this project contributes to an academic publication, please cite it as:
```bibtex
@misc{thing-shader-ast-js,
title = "@thi.ng/shader-ast-js",
author = "Karsten Schmidt",
note = "https://thi.ng/shader-ast-js",
year = 2019
}
```
## License
© 2019 - 2025 Karsten Schmidt // Apache License 2.0