WebGPU is a JavaScript, C++, Rust, and C API that allows portably and efficiently utilizing a device's graphics processing unit (GPU).

[1] Outside of the browser it provides an easy to use cross platform API for accessing the GPU, currently working on Vulkan (Linux and Android), DirectX (Windows), and Metal (iPhone, iPad, Mac, AppleTV, Apple Watch).

[6] Both Google Chrome and Firefox support WebGPU with SPIR-V, with work ongoing for the WGSL front-end.

Apple and Mozilla representatives also showed their prototypes built on Safari and Servo correspondingly, both of which closely replicated the Metal API.

On February 7, 2017, Apple's WebKit team proposed the creation of the W3C community group to design the API.

[10][11][12] The WebGPU name was later adopted by the community group as a working name for the future standard rather than just Apple's initial proposal.

[15][16][17] Shortly after, on March 21, 2017, Mozilla submitted a proposal for WebGL Next within Khronos repository, based on the Vulkan design.