FindVulkan — CMake 4.1.4 Documentation

# FindVulkan

Added in version 3.7.

Finds Vulkan, a low-overhead, cross-platform 3D graphics and computing API, along with related development tools typically provided by the Vulkan SDK. This includes commonly used utilities such as shader compilers and SPIR-V tools (e.g., DXC, `glslc`, `glslang`, etc.) that support Vulkan-based development workflows.

## Components

Added in version 3.24.

This module supports several optional components that can be specified with the `find_package()` command:

    find_package(Vulkan [COMPONENTS <components>...])

Each component provides a corresponding imported target. Supported components include:

`glslc`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds the SPIR-V compiler. This optional component is always implied automatically for backward compatibility, even if not requested.

`glslangValidator`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds the `glslangValidator` tool that is used to compile GLSL and HLSL shaders into SPIR-V. This optional component is always implied automatically for backward compatibility, even if not requested.

`glslang`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds the Khronos-reference front-end shader parser and SPIR-V code generation library (`glslang`).

`shaderc_combined`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds the Google static library used for Vulkan shader compilation.

`SPIRV-Tools`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds Khronos library for analyzing and transforming SPIR-V modules.

`MoltenVK`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Finds the Khronos MoltenVK library, which is available on macOS, and implements a subset of Vulkan API over Apple Metal graphics framework.

`dxc`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Finds the DirectX Shader Compiler (DXC), including the library and command-line tool. Note that Visual Studio also provides a DXC tool, but the version included with the Vulkan SDK is typically required for Vulkan development, as it has Vulkan capability enabled.

`volk`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Finds the Vulkan meta-loader `volk` library, a vector-optimized library of kernels.

## Imported Targets

This module provides the following Imported Targets:

`Vulkan::Vulkan`

  Target encapsulating the main Vulkan library usage requirements, available if Vulkan is found.

`Vulkan::glslc`

  Added in version 3.19.

  Imported executable target encapsulating the GLSLC SPIR-V compiler usage requirements, available if `glslc` is found.

`Vulkan::Headers`

  Added in version 3.21.

  Target encapsulating the usage requirements needed to include Vulkan headers. It provides only the include directories and does not link to any library. This is useful for applications that load the Vulkan library dynamically at runtime. This target is available if Vulkan is found.

`Vulkan::glslangValidator`

  Added in version 3.21.

  Imported executable target encapsulating the `glslangValidator` usage requirements, available if this tool is found.

`Vulkan::glslang`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Target encapsulating the `glslang` library usage requirements, available if `glslang` is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::shaderc_combined`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Target encapsulating the `shaderc_combined` library usage requirements, available if this library is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::SPIRV-Tools`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Target encapsulating the SPIRV-Tools library usage requirements, available if this library is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::MoltenVK`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Target encapsulating the MoltenVK library usage requirements, available if this library is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::volk`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Target encapsulating the `volk` library usage requirements, available if `volk` is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::dxc_lib`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Target encapsulating the usage requirements for the DirectX shader compiler library, available if DXC library is found in the SDK.

`Vulkan::dxc_exe`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Imported executable target providing usage requirements for the DirectX shader compiler CLI tool, available if SDK has this tool.

## Result Variables

This module defines the following variables:

`Vulkan_FOUND`

  Boolean indicating whether (the requested version of) Vulkan and all required components are found.

`Vulkan_VERSION`

  Added in version 3.23.

  The version of Vulkan found. Value is retrieved from `vulkan/vulkan_core.h`.

`Vulkan_INCLUDE_DIRS`

  Include directories needed to use the main Vulkan library.

`Vulkan_LIBRARIES`

  Libraries needed to link against to use the main Vulkan library.

`Vulkan_glslc_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the `glslc` executable.

`Vulkan_glslangValidator_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the `glslangValidator` executable.

`Vulkan_glslang_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the `glslang` library.

`Vulkan_shaderc_combined_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the `shaderc_combined` library.

`Vulkan_SPIRV-Tools_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the SPIRV-Tools library.

`Vulkan_MoltenVK_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.24.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the MoltenVK library.

`Vulkan_volk_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the volk library.

`Vulkan_dxc_lib_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the DirectX shader compiler library.

`Vulkan_dxc_exe_FOUND`

  Added in version 3.25.

  Boolean indicating whether the SDK provides the DirectX shader compiler CLI tool.

## Cache Variables

The following cache variables may also be set:

`Vulkan_INCLUDE_DIR`

  The directory containing Vulkan headers.

`Vulkan_LIBRARY`

  The path to the Vulkan library.

`Vulkan_GLSLC_EXECUTABLE`

  Added in version 3.19.

  The path to the GLSL SPIR-V compiler.

`Vulkan_GLSLANG_VALIDATOR_EXECUTABLE`

  Added in version 3.21.

  The path to the `glslangValidator` tool.

`Vulkan_glslang_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.24.

  The path to the `glslang` library.

`Vulkan_shaderc_combined_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.24.

  The path to the `shaderc_combined` library.

`Vulkan_SPIRV-Tools_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.24.

  The path to the SPIRV-Tools library.

`Vulkan_MoltenVK_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.24.

  The path to the MoltenVK library.

`Vulkan_volk_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.25.

  The path to the `volk` library.

`Vulkan_dxc_LIBRARY`

  Added in version 3.25.

  The path to the DirectX shader compiler library.

`Vulkan_dxc_EXECUTABLE`

  Added in version 3.25.

  The path to the DirectX shader compiler CLI tool.

## Hints

This module accepts the following variables:

`VULKAN_SDK`

  This environment variable can be optionally set to specify the location of the Vulkan SDK root directory for the given architecture. It is typically set by sourcing the toplevel `setup-env.sh` script of the Vulkan SDK directory into the shell environment.

## Examples

Finding the Vulkan library and linking it to a project target:

    find_package(Vulkan)
    target_link_libraries(project_target PRIVATE Vulkan::Vulkan)

Finding the Vulkan library along with additional components:

    find_package(Vulkan COMPONENTS volk)
    target_link_libraries(project_target PRIVATE Vulkan::Vulkan Vulkan::volk)