Back to rankings

baldurk/renderdoc

C++renderdoc.org

RenderDoc is a stand-alone graphics debugging tool.

openglvulkanvulkan-apidirectxdirect3dd3d11d3d12graphics-programminggraphicsdebuggerrenderdoc
Star Growth
Stars
10.9k
Forks
1.7k
Weekly Growth
Issues
50
5k10k
Jan 2023Mar 2024May 2025Jul 2026
README

MIT licensed CI Contributor Covenant

RenderDoc is a frame-capture based graphics debugger, currently available for Vulkan, D3D11, D3D12, OpenGL, and OpenGL ES development on Windows, Linux, Android, and Nintendo Switch™. It is completely open-source under the MIT license.

RenderDoc is intended for debugging your own programs only. Any discussion of capturing programs that you did not create will not be allowed in any official public RenderDoc setting, including the issue tracker, discord, or via email. For example this includes capturing commercial games that you did not create, or capturing Google Maps or Google Earth. Note: Capturing projects you created that use a third party engine like Unreal or Unity, or open source and free projects is completely fine and supported.

If you have any questions, suggestions or problems or you can create an issue here on github, email me directly or come into IRC or Discord to discuss it.

To install on windows run the appropriate installer for your OS (64-bit | 32-bit) or download the portable zip from the builds page. The 64-bit windows build fully supports capturing from 32-bit programs. On linux only 64-bit x86 is supported - there is a precompiled binary tarball available, or your distribution may package it. If not you can build from source.

Screenshots

Texture view Pixel history & shader debug
Mesh viewer Pipeline viewer & constants

API Support

Windows Linux Android
Vulkan :heavy_check_mark: :heavy_check_mark: :heavy_check_mark:
OpenGL ES 2.0 - 3.2 :heavy_check_mark: :heavy_check_mark: :heavy_check_mark:
OpenGL 3.2 - 4.6 Core :heavy_check_mark: :heavy_check_mark: N/A
D3D11 & D3D12 :heavy_check_mark: N/A N/A
OpenGL 1.0 - 2.0 Compat :heavy_multiplication_x: :heavy_multiplication_x: N/A
D3D9 & 10 :heavy_multiplication_x: N/A N/A
Metal N/A N/A N/A
  • Nintendo Switch™ support is distributed separately for authorized developers as part of the NintendoSDK. For more information, consult the Nintendo Developer Portal.

Downloads

There are binary releases available, built from the release targets. If you just want to use the program and you ended up here, this is what you want :).

It's recommended that if you're new you start with the stable builds. Nightly builds are available every day from the v1.x branch here if you need it, but correspondingly may be less stable.

Documentation

The text documentation is available online for the latest stable version, as well as in renderdoc.chm in any build. It's built from restructured text with sphinx.

As mentioned above there are some youtube videos showing the use of some basic features and an introduction/overview.

There is also a great presentation by @Icetigris which goes into some details of how RenderDoc can be used in real world situations: slides are up here.

License

RenderDoc is released under the MIT license, see LICENSE.md for full text as well as 3rd party library acknowledgements.

Compiling

Building RenderDoc is fairly straight forward on most platforms. See Compiling.md for more details.

Contributing & Development

I've added some notes on how to contribute, as well as where to get started looking through the code in Developing-Change.md. All contribution information is available under CONTRIBUTING.md.

Related repositories
alacritty/alacritty

A cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator.

Rustcrates.ioApache License 2.0terminal-emulatorsopengl
alacritty.org
65k3.5k
kovidgoyal/kitty

If you live in the terminal, kitty is made for you! Cross-platform, fast, feature-rich, GPU based.

PythonPyPIGNU General Public License v3.0terminal-emulatorsopengl
sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/
34k1.4k
raysan5/raylib

A simple and easy-to-use library to enjoy videogames programming

Czlib Licenseraylibc
raylib.com
34k3.2k
ssloy/tinyrenderer

A brief computer graphics / rendering course

C++Otheropenglc-plus-plus
haqr.eu/tinyrenderer/
23.9k2.3k
google/filament

Filament is a real-time physically based rendering engine for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, and WebGL2

C++Apache License 2.0pbrgraphics
google.github.io/filament/
20.3k2.2k
lettier/3d-game-shaders-for-beginners

🎮 A step-by-step guide to implementing SSAO, depth of field, lighting, normal mapping, and more for your 3D game.

C++shaders3d
lettier.github.io/3d-game-shaders-for-beginners/index.html
19.8k1.5k
RPCS3/rpcs3

PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger

C++GNU General Public License v2.0assembly-languagecpp
rpcs3.net
19.2k2.3k
gfx-rs/wgpu

A cross-platform, safe, pure-Rust graphics API.

Rustcrates.ioApache License 2.0webgpurust
wgpu.rs
17.6k1.4k
kitao/pyxel

A retro game engine for Python

Rustcrates.ioOthergamegame-development
17.6k929
bkaradzic/bgfx

Cross-platform, graphics API agnostic, "Bring Your Own Engine/Framework" style rendering library.

CBSD 2-Clause "Simplified" Licenseenginerendering
bkaradzic.github.io/bgfx/overview.html
17.3k2.1k
OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2

An open source re-implementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 🎢

C++GNU General Public License v3.0c-plus-plusgame
openrct2.io
16k1.8k
glfw/glfw

A multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan, window and input

Czlib Licensevulkanopengl
glfw.org
15.2k5.9k