Browser Compatibility

SiliconGhetto targets modern browsers with WebAssembly and WebGPU support. This document details compatibility requirements, fallback behavior, and known limitations.

Minimum Requirements

Browser Support Matrix

Tier 1: Full Support (WebGPU)

Tier 2: WebGL2 Fallback

Not Supported

• Internet Explorer (any version)
• Browsers without WebAssembly support
• Browsers without WebGL2 support

Feature Detection

The engine detects GPU capabilities at initialization:

1. Request WebGPU adapter
   ├─ Success → Use WebGPU backend
   └─ Failure → Fall back to WebGL2
2. Query device limits and features
3. Configure rendering pipeline based on available capabilities

WebGPU-Only Features

These features require WebGPU and are unavailable on WebGL2:

• Compute shaders
• Storage textures
• Timestamp queries (GPU profiling)
• Indirect draw calls

WebGL2 Limitations

When running on WebGL2:

• No compute shader support
• Limited texture format support
• No storage buffers
• Some shader features restricted

Cross-Origin Isolation

SiliconGhetto requires cross-origin isolation headers for full functionality:

Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy: require-corp

Without these headers:

• SharedArrayBuffer is unavailable (no WASM threading)
• High-resolution timers may be restricted
• Memory measurement APIs are unavailable

All deployment configurations include these headers. See ADR-003.

Mobile Support

Mobile-Specific Considerations

• Touch input: Handled via the sg_input crate’s touch abstraction
• Screen orientation: Games should handle both portrait and landscape
• GPU thermal throttling: stress-lab demo detects and adapts to throttling
• Memory constraints: Mobile devices have less GPU memory; asset quality may be reduced

iOS/iPadOS

• WebGPU available in Safari 18+ (Metal backend)
• OffscreenCanvas supported in Safari 16.4+
• SharedArrayBuffer requires cross-origin isolation

Android

• WebGPU in Chrome 113+ (Vulkan backend)
• OffscreenCanvas in Chrome 69+
• Some Android WebView versions have limited WebGPU support

Testing Compatibility

# Build a demo
wasm-pack build demos/stress-lab --target web --out-dir www/pkg

# Serve with isolation headers
# Open in target browser and check console for backend info

The stress-lab demo reports:

• GPU backend (WebGPU or WebGL2)
• Device capabilities
• Frame rate and performance metrics
• Quality tier selection

Known Issues

• Firefox WebGPU support requires dom.webgpu.enabled flag in versions before 139
• Safari on older iOS may have WebGL2 performance issues with large draw calls
• Chrome on Linux with NVIDIA drivers may require --enable-unsafe-webgpu for some features