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	-	-	❌ Unavailable1
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	-	-	❌ Unavailable2
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	-	-	❌ Unavailable1
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	-	-	❌ Unavailable1
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	-	-	❌ Unavailable1

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

Footnotes

1. CUDA is not supported on macOS/iOS/tvOS/visionOS.
   ZLUDA could potentially enable CUDA on these platforms in the future. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. CUDA is not supported on Android.
   ZLUDA could potentially enable CUDA on Android in the future. ↩