# Vulkan

The Vulkan API Specification and related tools

Repository: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vulkan
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-14T01:06:03+00:00
Link (homepage): https://www.vulkan.org/
Link (site_page): https://docs.vulkan.org/features/latest/features/proposals/VK_EXT_descriptor_heap.html

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 76/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3856, "days_push": 20, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license, no_readme
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3326, forks 546 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:56.415668+00:00)

## What it is
Vulkan-Hpp provides official header-only C++ bindings for the Vulkan C API, generated from the Vulkan XML specification by Khronos. It adds type safety, STL container support, exceptions, and RAII handle types with zero run-time CPU overhead.

## Use cases
- write Vulkan applications in modern C++ instead of the C API
- get RAII resource management for Vulkan handles
- use type-safe enums and bitmasks with Vulkan
- render 3D graphics with a low-level GPU API across platforms
- develop Vulkan-based game engines or renderers
- learn Vulkan graphics programming with a friendlier API

## When to choose
- you are writing C++ against Vulkan and want type safety and RAII without runtime cost
- you want official Khronos-maintained bindings kept in sync with the latest Vulkan spec
- you need cross-platform GPU access on Windows, Linux, and macOS via MoltenVK

## When to avoid
- you are using C rather than C++ (use the Vulkan C API directly)
- you want a high-level rendering engine rather than a low-level graphics API
- you are working in another language like Rust or Python (use language-specific Vulkan bindings instead)

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: graphics, sdk, developer-tools
- domain: graphics, cross-platform, developer-tools
- platform: cpp, windows, cross-platform
- tags: vulkan, header-only, raii, 3d-graphics, gpu-api, bindings, khronos, game-development, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs (main) score 76
- KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Hpp (sdk) score 99
- KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers (sdk) score 76

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:56.415668+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:27:43.432501+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:56.415668+00:00, sha 76ca6c7148cf)
  - homepage: https://www.vulkan.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:22:31.437151+00:00, sha 75aa378ce5e4)
  - site_page: https://docs.vulkan.org/features/latest/features/proposals/VK_EXT_descriptor_heap.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:22:31.446950+00:00, sha 1fd1d0a996c7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.