Agent Skills: Makepad Shaders Skill

Write custom GPU shaders and animations in Makepad using SDF drawing, uniforms, and the animator system. Use when creating visual effects, custom drawing, gradients, shadows, or animations in Makepad widgets.

creative-codingID: ZhangHanDong/makepad-skills/makepad-shaders

Install this agent skill to your local

pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/ZhangHanDong/makepad-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/makepad-shaders

Skill Files

Browse the full folder contents for makepad-shaders.

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skills/makepad-shaders/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
makepad-shaders
Description
|

Makepad Shaders Skill

Version: makepad-widgets (dev branch) | Last Updated: 2026-01-19

Check for updates: https://crates.io/crates/makepad-widgets

You are an expert at Makepad shaders. Help users by:

  • Writing code: Generate shader code following the patterns below
  • Answering questions: Explain shader language, Sdf2d, built-in functions

Documentation

Refer to the local files for detailed documentation:

  • ./references/shader-basics.md - Shader language fundamentals
  • ./references/sdf2d-reference.md - Complete Sdf2d API reference

Advanced Patterns

For production-ready shader patterns, see the _base/ directory:

| Pattern | Description | |---------|-------------| | 01-shader-structure | Shader fundamentals | | 02-shader-math | Mathematical functions | | 03-sdf-shapes | SDF shape primitives | | 04-sdf-drawing | Advanced SDF drawing | | 05-progress-track | Progress indicators | | 09-loading-spinner | Loading animations | | 10-hover-effect | Hover visual effects | | 11-gradient-effects | Color gradients | | 12-shadow-glow | Shadow and glow | | 13-disabled-state | Disabled visuals | | 14-toggle-checkbox | Toggle animations |

Community contributions: ./community/

IMPORTANT: Documentation Completeness Check

Before answering questions, Claude MUST:

  1. Read the relevant reference file(s) listed above
  2. If file read fails or file is empty:
    • Inform user: "本地文档不完整,建议运行 /sync-crate-skills makepad --force 更新文档"
    • Still answer based on SKILL.md patterns + built-in knowledge
  3. If reference file exists, incorporate its content into the answer

Key Patterns

1. Basic Custom Shader

<View> {
    show_bg: true
    draw_bg: {
        // Shader uniforms
        color: #FF0000

        // Custom pixel shader
        fn pixel(self) -> vec4 {
            return self.color;
        }
    }
}

2. Rounded Rectangle with Border

<View> {
    show_bg: true
    draw_bg: {
        color: #333333
        border_color: #666666
        border_radius: 8.0
        border_size: 1.0

        fn pixel(self) -> vec4 {
            let sdf = Sdf2d::viewport(self.pos * self.rect_size);
            sdf.box(1.0, 1.0,
                    self.rect_size.x - 2.0,
                    self.rect_size.y - 2.0,
                    self.border_radius);
            sdf.fill_keep(self.color);
            sdf.stroke(self.border_color, self.border_size);
            return sdf.result;
        }
    }
}

3. Gradient Background

<View> {
    show_bg: true
    draw_bg: {
        color: #FF0000
        color_2: #0000FF

        fn pixel(self) -> vec4 {
            let t = self.pos.x;  // Horizontal gradient
            return mix(self.color, self.color_2, t);
        }
    }
}

4. Circle Shape

<View> {
    show_bg: true
    draw_bg: {
        color: #0066CC

        fn pixel(self) -> vec4 {
            let sdf = Sdf2d::viewport(self.pos * self.rect_size);
            let center = self.rect_size * 0.5;
            let radius = min(center.x, center.y) - 1.0;
            sdf.circle(center.x, center.y, radius);
            sdf.fill(self.color);
            return sdf.result;
        }
    }
}

Shader Structure

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | draw_* | Shader container (draw_bg, draw_text, draw_icon) | | Uniforms | Typed properties accessible in shader | | fn pixel(self) | Fragment shader function | | fn vertex(self) | Vertex shader function (optional) | | Sdf2d | 2D signed distance field helper |

Built-in Variables

| Variable | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | self.pos | vec2 | Normalized position (0-1) | | self.rect_size | vec2 | Widget size in pixels | | self.rect_pos | vec2 | Widget position |

Sdf2d Quick Reference

| Category | Functions | |----------|-----------| | Shapes | circle, rect, box, hexagon | | Paths | move_to, line_to, close_path | | Fill/Stroke | fill, fill_keep, stroke, stroke_keep | | Boolean | union, intersect, subtract | | Transform | translate, rotate, scale | | Effects | glow, glow_keep, gloop |

Built-in Functions (GLSL)

| Category | Functions | |----------|-----------| | Math | abs, sign, floor, ceil, fract, min, max, clamp | | Trig | sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan | | Interp | mix, step, smoothstep | | Vector | length, distance, dot, cross, normalize | | Exp | pow, exp, log, sqrt |

When Writing Code

  1. Always use show_bg: true to enable background shader
  2. Use Sdf2d::viewport() to create SDF context
  3. Return vec4 (RGBA) from fn pixel()
  4. Uniforms must be declared before shader functions
  5. Use self. prefix to access uniforms and built-ins

When Answering Questions

  1. Makepad shaders use Rust-like syntax, compiled to GPU code
  2. Every widget can have custom shaders (draw_bg, draw_text, etc.)
  3. Shaders are live-reloaded - edit and see changes instantly
  4. Sdf2d is the primary tool for 2D shape rendering
  5. GLSL ES 1.0 built-in functions are available