GPUComputePassEncoder: setBindGroup() method

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The setBindGroup() method of the GPUComputePassEncoder interface sets the GPUBindGroup to use for subsequent compute commands, for a given index.

Syntax

js
setBindGroup(index, bindGroup)
setBindGroup(index, bindGroup, dynamicOffsets)
setBindGroup(index, bindGroup, dynamicOffsets, dynamicOffsetsStart,
             dynamicOffsetsLength)

Parameters

index

The index to set the bind group at. This matches the n index value of the corresponding @group(n) attribute in the shader code (GPUShaderModule) used in the related pipeline.

bindGroup

The GPUBindGroup to use for subsequent compute commands, or null, in which case any previously-set bind group in the given slot is unset.

dynamicOffsets Optional

A value specifying the offset, in bytes, for each entry in bindGroup with hasDynamicOffset: true set (i.e., in the descriptor of the GPUDevice.createBindGroupLayout() call that created the GPUBindGroupLayout object that the bindGroup is based on). This value can be:

  • An array of numbers specifying the different offsets.
  • A Uint32Array containing numbers specifying the offsets.

If a Uint32Array value is specified for dynamicOffsets, both of the following parameters are also required:

dynamicOffsetsStart

A number specifying the offset, in array elements, into dynamicOffsetsData, where the dynamic offset data begins.

dynamicOffsetsLength

A number specifying the number of dynamic offset values to be read from in dynamicOffsetsData.

Return value

None (Undefined).

Exceptions

For setBindGroup() calls that use a Uint32Array value for dynamicOffsets, the call will throw with a RangeError DOMException if:

  • dynamicOffsetsStart is less than 0.
  • dynamicOffsetsStart + dynamicOffsetsLength is greater than dynamicOffsets.length.

Validation

The following criteria must be met when calling dispatchWorkgroups(), otherwise a GPUValidationError is generated and the GPUComputePassEncoder becomes invalid:

  • index is less than or equal to the GPUDevice's maxBindGroups limit.
  • dynamicOffsets.length is the same as the number of entries in bindGroup with hasDynamicOffset: true set.
  • For bindGroup entries where the bound buffer's type is "uniform" (see GPUDevice.createBindGroupLayout()), each number in dynamicOffsets is a multiple of the GPUDevice's minUniformBufferOffsetAlignment limit.
  • For bindGroup entries where the bound buffer's type is "storage" or "read-only-storage" (see GPUDevice.createBindGroupLayout()), each number in dynamicOffsets is a multiple of the GPUDevice's minStorageBufferOffsetAlignment limit.
  • For each bindGroup entry, the bound buffer's offset, plus the corresponding layout entry's minBindingSize, plus the corresponding dynamic offset specified in dynamicOffsets, is less than or equal to the bound buffer's size.

Examples

Set bind group

In our basic compute demo, several commands are recorded via a GPUCommandEncoder. Most of these commands originate from the GPUComputePassEncoder created via beginComputePass(). The setBindGroup() call used here is the simplest form, just specifying index and bind group.

js
const BUFFER_SIZE = 1000;

// …

// Create GPUCommandEncoder to encode commands to issue to the GPU
const commandEncoder = device.createCommandEncoder();

// Initiate compute pass
const passEncoder = commandEncoder.beginComputePass();

// Issue commands
passEncoder.setPipeline(computePipeline);
passEncoder.setBindGroup(0, bindGroup);
passEncoder.dispatchWorkgroups(Math.ceil(BUFFER_SIZE / 64));

// End the render pass
passEncoder.end();

// Copy output buffer to staging buffer
commandEncoder.copyBufferToBuffer(
  output,
  0, // Source offset
  stagingBuffer,
  0, // Destination offset
  BUFFER_SIZE,
);

// End frame by passing array of command buffers to command queue for execution
device.queue.submit([commandEncoder.finish()]);

// …

Unset bind group

js
// Set bind group in slot 0
passEncoder.setBindGroup(0, bindGroup);

// Later, unset bind group in slot 0
passEncoder.setBindGroup(0, null);

Specifications

Specification
WebGPU
# programmable-passes-bind-groups

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile server
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Deno
setBindGroup
Chrome – Partial support
Chrome 113 (Release date: 2023-05-02)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Chrome 144.
Edge – Partial support
Edge 113 (Release date: 2023-05-05)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Edge 144.
Firefox – Partial support
Firefox 141 (Release date: 2025-07-22)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supports all contexts except service workers. See bug 1942431.
footnote Supports Windows since Firefox 141. See bug 1972486.
footnote Supports macOS Tahoe on Apple silicon since Firefox 145. See bug 1992212.
footnote Supports older macOS versions on Apple silicon since Firefox 147. See bug 1993341.
footnote Does not support macOS on Intel CPUs. See bug 2004105.
footnote Does not support Linux. See bug 2006676.
Opera – Partial support
Opera 99 (Release date: 2023-05-16)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Opera 128.
Safari – Full support
Safari 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 81 (Release date: 2024-03-14)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 25 (Release date: 2024-04-24)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Deno – No support
Deno 1.8 – 1.31 (Release date: 2021-03-02)
footnote Removed in 1.32 and later
Deno – No support
Deno 1.39 (Release date: 2023-12-14)
disabled
disabled From version 1.39 users must explicitly set the --unstable-webgpu runtime flag.
Pass null to unset bind group
Experimental
Chrome – Partial support
Chrome 117 (Release date: 2023-09-12)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Chrome 144.
Edge – Partial support
Edge 117 (Release date: 2023-09-15)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Edge 144.
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – Partial support
Opera 103 (Release date: 2023-10-03)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Opera 128.
Safari – No support
Safari
footnote No support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 81 (Release date: 2024-03-14)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 25 (Release date: 2024-04-24)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
Deno – No support
Deno
footnote No support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
No support
No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
User must explicitly enable this feature.
Has more compatibility info.

See also