voxolithIntroduction
Voxolith is an open-source WebGPU voxel engine for the browser. What it is, how it is layered, what you need, and how these docs are organised.
Voxolith is an open-source WebGPU voxel engine for the browser. It draws voxel worlds by raymarching them on the GPU, with no meshes: every pixel walks a brick index until it hits a voxel, then shades it with soft shadows, ambient occlusion, point lights, fog and water. On top of the renderer sit an engine layer (entities, placement, streaming, input, animation, atmosphere) and a set of procedural generators that build trees, rocks, buildings, creatures and terrain from a seed.
Everything is TypeScript and WGSL, MIT licensed, and developed in the open at github.com/voxolith.
How these docs are organised
The switcher at the top of the sidebar moves between four sections.
Guide
Making games: getting started, a step-by-step tutorial, the manual by topic, examples and troubleshooting. Start here.
Renderer
@voxolith/renderer: storage, instances, lighting, atmosphere, quality and file formats, with its full API reference.
Engine
@voxolith/engine: entities and roles, the generator contract, worlds, input, animation and atmosphere, with its API reference.
Generators
Every generator's parameters, presets and roles, the gen-kit toolkit for writing your own, and their API reference.
Inside the Guide:
- Getting started: install, and draw a first scene.
- Tutorial: build a small game from an empty folder, one runnable step at a time.
- Manual: one page per topic (input, cameras, lighting, streaming, performance, deploying, ...), for when you know what you want to do.
- Examples: the live example pages, what each one shows and where its source is.
- Troubleshooting: WebGPU support, slow or blank canvases, phones.
The layers
| layer | package | does |
|---|---|---|
| Renderer | @voxolith/renderer | draws voxels: storage, instances, lighting, atmosphere, cameras, .vox and .mca I/O |
| Engine | @voxolith/engine | entities and colour roles, the generator contract, placement, streaming, input, animation, weather as configuration |
| Generators | @voxolith/gen-* | bake models: trees, bushes, grass, rocks, buildings, rigged creatures, terrain |
| Apps | viewer, editor, examples, demolition-shot | built on the three above |
Each layer knows only the one below it. The renderer knows nothing about weather or entities; the engine never authors a model; generators never touch the GPU.
Requirements
Voxolith is WebGPU only, with no WebGL fallback. It needs a browser with navigator.gpu in a
secure context (HTTPS or localhost):
- Chrome or Edge, current versions, on desktop and Android
- Safari 26 or later
- Firefox with WebGPU enabled
If a page stays blank or is slow, see troubleshooting.