Native WebGL ANGLE

@geastack/native-webgl-angle owns the native WebGL compatibility layer used by the Three.js macOS path.

Installation

Install @geastack/native-webgl-angle and its Three.js peer. The package requires compiler 1.0.9 or later within the 1.x line and Three.js 0.185.x, and resolves Apple bindings from npm; it does not require a sibling Apple checkout.

npm install @geastack/native-webgl-angle three

The exports intentionally contain TypeScript sources for geatsc compilation, not precompiled browser JavaScript. Load the compiler plugin from @geastack/native-webgl-angle/geatsc-plugin. Native source files ship under native/ and can be located with, for example, require.resolve('@geastack/native-webgl-angle/native/angle_webgl_host.mm'). The platform build still supplies the generated host headers, platform SDK, and ANGLE libraries; this package does not bundle those binaries.

The experimental BatchedMesh plugin is excluded from the npm archive. Packaging validation loads the plugin and all of its eager imports directly from the npm archive in memory, without falling back to the source checkout. Run it with npm run test:package -- <archive.tgz>.

upstream three
  -> WebGLRenderingContext / WebGL2RenderingContext facade
  -> geatsc host shims
  -> native ANGLE host
  -> Metal

This package is infrastructure. Examples should consume it; they should not define their own ANGLE/WebGL bridge.

Contents

src/nativeWebGL.ts       current TS WebGL facade used by Three.WebGLRenderer
src/nativeWebGLHost.ts   typed declarations for geatsc native host functions
geatsc-plugin.mjs        host shim metadata for geatsc
native/angle_webgl_host.mm
                         Objective-C++ ANGLE/Metal host implementation

Native sources in apps

Gea app manifests currently accept only app-relative nativeSources. Until that resolver can consume package native sources directly, app consumers keep a small app-local .mm wrapper that includes this package's native implementation.

The bridge implementation itself lives here.

Direction

The current TS facade still routes many WebGL calls through transitional opcode-style host functions. The intended end state is direct typed native methods and typed WebGL handles, with no gea_cpp_value/gea_cpp_key in the bridge hot path.

Synchronous numeric uploads

GL upload functions opt into hostShims.hostNativeArrayFunctions. The compiler preserves their native array carriers; the plugin owns the physical element format and buffer/texture dispatch in geatsc-plugin-uploads.mjs.

HostNumericArgument<E> converts ordinary arrays directly to the requested float/integer format, using inline storage through 16 elements and one heap allocation beyond that. Matching typed arrays retain and borrow their backing storage, preserving view offsets. Shared views use synchronized reads into an owned copy. Uniform arrays and buffer subranges are passed without a JavaScript number-array temporary. Sparse arrays fail closed.

These hosts must consume the input synchronously without reentering JavaScript or retaining pointers. Reentrant hosts must use the compiler's separate owned snapshot protocol. Rebuild generated declarations and native objects together when changing this ABI; unmarked hosts retain their original vector ABI.

Profiling builds (GEA_PROFILE_ALLOCATIONS or GEA_PROFILE_NATIVE_FRAMES) aggregate native GL call scopes and scene-transform markers. The frame-only option requires defining the macro only for angle_webgl_host.mm and avoids allocation instrumentation. Elapsed times include instrumentation overhead and driver waits, so use them to attribute time, not as CPU timings.

GEA_WEBGL_TRAP, GEA_WEBGL_BLEND_DEBUG, and GEA_WEBGL_SHADOW_COLOR_AUDIT are launch settings, cached on first use to avoid environment lookups in draw and uniform paths. Set them before the first host call and restart the process to change them. Any present value, including an empty string, enables them.

Validation

npm run test:host-effects checks 85 direct GL/input declarations and 15 audio declarations against the compiler's host-mutation census. Their @gea-host-inert contracts permit native state changes while excluding script reference retention, script object mutation and script callbacks. The native implementations in angle_webgl_host.mm and audio_host.mm were audited for those effects; audio channel uploads copy samples synchronously into native storage. Removing a scalar or typed-array contract must restore conservative prototype taint in the test.

View attachment, size synchronization and presentation remain outside that contract pending a separate lifecycle/reentry audit. These contracts remove false opaque-call edges; they do not make an application as a whole free of boxing.

npm test includes the native void-call regression. Three.js comes from this package's own three devDependency, so npm install here is enough; the compiler comes from a checkout of geastack/compiler with dist/ built. clang++ (or CXX) supplies ASan/UBSan. GEATSC_COMPILER_ROOT and GEASTACK_ROOT point at that checkout when it is not beside this repo.

The test extracts Three.js's bindVertexArrayObject function before and after the plugin transform, then compiles each against the native WebGL facade and host bridge. It checks certified direct calls, physical void results, absence of executable boxing, nullable handle forwarding, and the observable undefined return. Only the external GL functions are mocked for execution. Source fixtures stay in memory; the test executable uses the compiler's existing ignored build output.

Streaming diagnostics and uniform names

Windows builds can select GEA_WEBGL_BUFFER_STREAMING=0..9 to compare original subdata, orphaning, replacement, dynamic usage, and a three-buffer staging ring. Modes 1–4 qualify complete ARRAY_BUFFER updates. Modes 5/6 extend dynamic replacement/staging rotation to complete ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER updates; mode 7 streams indices alone; mode 8 combines vertex staging with dynamic indices. Mode 9 uses uniform-buffer staging for eligible small full vertex updates. Although its measured upload wait is shorter, total CPU cost increased; it remains a diagnostic option and mode 8 remains the default. Partial writes always preserve existing storage. Windows defaults to the hybrid policy (8); mode 0 keeps the original path and bypasses streaming bookkeeping in normal builds. Other platforms retain the original path. Per-upload timing rows compile only with allocation or native frame profiling.

Common renderer uniforms use fixed-name typed setters that still read the map on every call. Replacing/deleting entries remains observable. Shadow-map setters also forward the texture allocator so sampler ordering is preserved. General uploads classify built-in long names once when the program's uniform nodes are created, then read the current material value cell through a named lookup. Custom names retain dynamic dictionary lookup. No material value cell is cached; replacement, deletion and needsUpdate remain observable.

GEA_WEBGL_UNIFORM_BINDINGS=baseline disables the new name classification and shadow setters for comparison with the previous implementation. GEA_WEBGL_UNIFORM_NAMES=baseline disables fixed-name renderer setters. npm run test:allocation-contracts covers streaming, fixed uniforms and live uniform bindings. node test/uniform-binding-native.test.mjs additionally executes the lookup helpers under ASan/UBSan and requires no emitted boxing.

The experimental BatchedMesh adaptation remains separate from the standard plugin. node test/batched-mesh-contract.test.mjs checks its generic geometry, transform, color, resize and clone behavior. Clones receive independent texture sources and arrays. Native callback, clone and visibility checks pass, and the full ANGLE comparison matches ordinary mesh pixels exactly. Without WEBGL_multi_draw, its fallback retains separate draw calls. See the native validation record for evidence.

The separate GEA_WEBGL_AUTO_INSTANCE=1 experiment groups adjacent compatible opaque meshes into instanced draws. It is disabled by default while end-to-end validation and platform measurements continue. Its eligibility rules, fallbacks and validation commands are documented in the instancing contract. Both experiments are generic; the plugin contains no application-specific batching logic.

License

Apache-2.0 (see LICENSE). You can ship closed-source products built on it. The only GeaStack code under a different license is the embedded board support (targets and @geastack/chips, GPL-3.0-only): shipping closed-source firmware through those needs a commercial license. Contact contact@geastack.com for commercial terms, support and hosted builds.