VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT(3)

# VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT(3) Manual Page

## Name

VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT - Bitmask controlling how a shader object is created

## C Specification

Possible values of the `flags` member of VkShaderCreateInfoEXT specifying how a shader object is created, are:

    // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object
    typedef enum VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT {
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000001,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_descriptor_heap with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_DESCRIPTOR_HEAP_BIT_EXT = 0x00000400,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_maintenance5 with VK_ARM_shader_instrumentation, VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_ARM_shader_instrumentation
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_INSTRUMENT_SHADER_BIT_ARM = 0x00000800,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control or VK_VERSION_1_3
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000002,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control or VK_VERSION_1_3
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT = 0x00000004,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_EXT_mesh_shader or VK_NV_mesh_shader
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT = 0x00000008,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_object with VK_KHR_device_group or VK_VERSION_1_1
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_DISPATCH_BASE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000010,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_fragment_shading_rate with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT = 0x00000020,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_fragment_density_map with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT = 0x00000040,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_device_generated_commands
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT = 0x00000080,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_opacity_micromap with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_OPACITY_MICROMAP_DISALLOW_MIXED_SPECIAL_INDEX_BIT_EXT = 0x00001000,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_shader_64bit_indexing
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_64_BIT_INDEXING_BIT_EXT = 0x00008000,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_maintenance11 with VK_EXT_shader_object
        VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDEPENDENT_SETS_BIT_KHR = 0x00040000,
    } VkShaderCreateFlagBitsEXT;

## Description

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT specifies that a shader is linked to all other shaders created in the same vkCreateShadersEXT call whose VkShaderCreateInfoEXT structures' `flags` include VK_SHADER_CREATE_LINK_STAGE_BIT_EXT.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_ALLOW_VARYING_SUBGROUP_SIZE_BIT_EXT specifies that the `SubgroupSize` may vary in a task, mesh, or compute shader.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_REQUIRE_FULL_SUBGROUPS_BIT_EXT specifies that the subgroup sizes must be launched with all invocations active in a task, mesh, or compute shader.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_NO_TASK_SHADER_BIT_EXT specifies that a mesh shader must only be used without a task shader. Otherwise, the mesh shader must only be used with a task shader.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_DISPATCH_BASE_BIT_EXT specifies that a compute shader can be used with vkCmdDispatchBase with a non-zero base workgroup.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_SHADING_RATE_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT specifies that a fragment shader can be used with a fragment shading rate attachment.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_ATTACHMENT_BIT_EXT specifies that a fragment shader can be used with a fragment density map attachment.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDIRECT_BINDABLE_BIT_EXT specifies that the shader can be used in combination with https://registry.khronos.org/vulkan/specs/latest/html/vkspec.html#device-generated-commands.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_OPACITY_MICROMAP_DISALLOW_MIXED_SPECIAL_INDEX_BIT_EXT specifies that shader objects cannot be used with acceleration structures which are built with geometry that have an index buffer including both special indices and indices pointing to an associated micromap array. Geometry which has an index buffer using only special indices without an associated micromap array can be used with this flag.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_INDEPENDENT_SETS_BIT_KHR specifies that implementations must ensure that the properties and/or absence of a particular descriptor set do not influence any other descriptor sets for the shader. This allows shader objects to be created with a subset of the total descriptor sets.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_64_BIT_INDEXING_BIT_EXT specifies that the shader enables 64-bit indexing.

- VK_SHADER_CREATE_DESCRIPTOR_HEAP_BIT_EXT specifies that the shader will use descriptor heap mappings instead of descriptor set layouts.

## See Also

VK_EXT_shader_object, VkShaderCreateFlagsEXT

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification.

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0