C Specification

To record an indirect dispatching command, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkCmdDispatchIndirect(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    VkBuffer                                    buffer,
    VkDeviceSize                                offset);

Parameters

  • commandBuffer is the command buffer into which the command will be recorded.

  • buffer is the buffer containing dispatch parameters.

  • offset is the byte offset into buffer where parameters begin.

Description

vkCmdDispatchIndirect behaves similarly to vkCmdDispatch except that the parameters are read by the device from a buffer during execution. The parameters of the dispatch are encoded in a VkDispatchIndirectCommand structure taken from buffer starting at offset.

Valid Usage

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-magFilter-04553
    If a VkSampler created with magFilter or minFilter equal to VK_FILTER_LINEAR, reductionMode equal to VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_WEIGHTED_AVERAGE, and compareEnable equal to VK_FALSE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_FILTER_LINEAR_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-magFilter-09598
    If a VkSampler created with magFilter or minFilter equal to VK_FILTER_LINEAR and reductionMode equal to either VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MIN or VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MAX is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_FILTER_MINMAX_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-mipmapMode-04770
    If a VkSampler created with mipmapMode equal to VK_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MODE_LINEAR, reductionMode equal to VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_WEIGHTED_AVERAGE, and compareEnable equal to VK_FALSE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_FILTER_LINEAR_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-mipmapMode-09599
    If a VkSampler created with mipmapMode equal to VK_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MODE_LINEAR and reductionMode equal to either VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MIN or VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MAX is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_FILTER_MINMAX_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-unnormalizedCoordinates-09635
    If a VkSampler created with unnormalizedCoordinates equal to VK_TRUE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s levelCount and layerCount must be 1

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08609
    If a VkSampler created with unnormalizedCoordinates equal to VK_TRUE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the image view’s viewType must be VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08610
    If a VkSampler created with unnormalizedCoordinates equal to VK_TRUE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the sampler must not be used with any of the SPIR-V OpImageSample* or OpImageSparseSample* instructions with ImplicitLod, Dref or Proj in their name

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08611
    If a VkSampler created with unnormalizedCoordinates equal to VK_TRUE is used to sample a VkImageView as a result of this command, then the sampler must not be used with any of the SPIR-V OpImageSample* or OpImageSparseSample* instructions that includes a LOD bias or any offset values

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-aspectMask-06478
    If a VkImageView is sampled with depth comparison, the image view must have been created with an aspectMask that contains VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-02691
    If a VkImageView is accessed using atomic operations as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_STORAGE_IMAGE_ATOMIC_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-07888
    If a VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER descriptor is accessed using atomic operations as a result of this command, then the storage texel buffer’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_ATOMIC_BIT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-02692
    If a VkImageView is sampled with VK_FILTER_CUBIC_EXT as a result of this command, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_FILTER_CUBIC_BIT_EXT

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-02693
    If the VK_EXT_filter_cubic extension is not enabled and any VkImageView is sampled with VK_FILTER_CUBIC_EXT as a result of this command, it must not have a VkImageViewType of VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_3D, VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE, or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-filterCubic-02694
    Any VkImageView being sampled with VK_FILTER_CUBIC_EXT as a result of this command must have a VkImageViewType and format that supports cubic filtering, as specified by VkFilterCubicImageViewImageFormatPropertiesEXT::filterCubic returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties2

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-filterCubicMinmax-02695
    Any VkImageView being sampled with VK_FILTER_CUBIC_EXT with a reduction mode of either VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MIN or VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_MAX as a result of this command must have a VkImageViewType and format that supports cubic filtering together with minmax filtering, as specified by VkFilterCubicImageViewImageFormatPropertiesEXT::filterCubicMinmax returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties2

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08600
    For each set n that is statically used by a bound shader, a descriptor set must have been bound to n at the same pipeline bind point, with a VkPipelineLayout that is compatible for set n, with the VkPipelineLayout used to create the current VkPipeline , as described in [descriptorsets-compatibility]

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08601
    For each push constant that is statically used by a bound shader, a push constant value must have been set for the same pipeline bind point, with a VkPipelineLayout that is compatible for push constants, with the VkPipelineLayout used to create the current VkPipeline , as described in [descriptorsets-compatibility]

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-10068
    For each array of resources that is used by a bound shader, the indices used to access members of the array must be less than the descriptor count for the identified binding in the descriptor sets used by this command

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08114
    Descriptors in each bound descriptor set, specified via vkCmdBindDescriptorSets, must be valid as described by descriptor validity if they are statically used by a bound shader

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08606
    A valid pipeline must be bound to the pipeline bind point used by this command

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-08608
    There must not have been any calls to dynamic state setting commands for any state specified statically in the VkPipeline object bound to the pipeline bind point used by this command, since that pipeline was bound

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-uniformBuffers-06935
    If any stage of the VkPipeline object bound to the pipeline bind point used by this command accesses a uniform buffer, and the robustBufferAccess feature is not enabled, that stage must not access values outside of the range of the buffer as specified in the descriptor set bound to the same pipeline bind point

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-storageBuffers-06936
    If any stage of the VkPipeline object bound to the pipeline bind point used by this command accesses a storage buffer, and the robustBufferAccess feature is not enabled, that stage must not access values outside of the range of the buffer as specified in the descriptor set bound to the same pipeline bind point

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commandBuffer-02707
    If commandBuffer is an unprotected command buffer and protectedNoFault is not supported, any resource accessed by bound shaders must not be a protected resource

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-viewType-07752
    If a VkImageView is accessed as a result of this command, then the image view’s viewType must match the Dim operand of the OpTypeImage as described in [spirvenv-image-dimensions]

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-format-07753
    If a VkImageView or VkBufferView is accessed as a result of this command, then the numeric type of the view’s format and the Sampled Type operand of the OpTypeImage must match

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-OpImageWrite-08795
    If a VkImageView is accessed using OpImageWrite as a result of this command, then the Type of the Texel operand of that instruction must have at least as many components as the image view’s format

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-OpImageWrite-04469
    If a VkBufferView is accessed using OpImageWrite as a result of this command, then the Type of the Texel operand of that instruction must have at least as many components as the buffer view’s format

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-SampledType-04470
    If a VkImageView with a VkFormat that has a 64-bit component width is accessed as a result of this command, the SampledType of the OpTypeImage operand of that instruction must have a Width of 64

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-SampledType-04471
    If a VkImageView with a VkFormat that has a component width less than 64-bit is accessed as a result of this command, the SampledType of the OpTypeImage operand of that instruction must have a Width of 32

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-SampledType-04472
    If a VkBufferView with a VkFormat that has a 64-bit component width is accessed as a result of this command, the SampledType of the OpTypeImage operand of that instruction must have a Width of 64

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-SampledType-04473
    If a VkBufferView with a VkFormat that has a component width less than 64-bit is accessed as a result of this command, the SampledType of the OpTypeImage operand of that instruction must have a Width of 32

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-sparseImageInt64Atomics-04474
    If the sparseImageInt64Atomics feature is not enabled, VkImage objects created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT flag must not be accessed by atomic instructions through an OpTypeImage with a SampledType with a Width of 64 by this command

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-sparseImageInt64Atomics-04475
    If the sparseImageInt64Atomics feature is not enabled, VkBuffer objects created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT flag must not be accessed by atomic instructions through an OpTypeImage with a SampledType with a Width of 64 by this command

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-07288
    Any shader invocation executed by this command must terminate

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-09600
    If a descriptor with type equal to any of VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_SAMPLED_IMAGE, VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_IMAGE, or VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT is accessed as a result of this command, all image subresources identified by that descriptor must be in the image layout identified when the descriptor was written

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-None-10672
    this command must be called outside of a render pass instance

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-buffer-02708
    If buffer is non-sparse then it must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-buffer-02709
    buffer must have been created with the VK_BUFFER_USAGE_INDIRECT_BUFFER_BIT bit set

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-offset-02710
    offset must be a multiple of 4

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commandBuffer-02711
    commandBuffer must not be a protected command buffer

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-offset-00407
    The sum of offset and the size of VkDispatchIndirectCommand must be less than or equal to the size of buffer

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commandBuffer-parameter
    commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-buffer-parameter
    buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commandBuffer-recording
    commandBuffer must be in the recording state

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commandBuffer-cmdpool
    The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support compute operations

  • VUID-vkCmdDispatchIndirect-commonparent
    Both of buffer, and commandBuffer must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized

  • Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties
Command Buffer Levels Render Pass Scope Supported Queue Types Command Type

Primary
Secondary

Both

Compute

Action

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkBuffer, VkCommandBuffer, VkDeviceSize

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0