# @shaderfrog/glsl-parser

> A GLSL ES 1.0 and 3.0 parser and preprocessor that can preserve whitespace and comments

Latest version **7.0.1** (published 2026-03-08) · ISC license · 4.8K weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install @shaderfrog/glsl-parser
pnpm add @shaderfrog/glsl-parser
yarn add @shaderfrog/glsl-parser
bun add @shaderfrog/glsl-parser
```

## Health

**Score 70/100 (B)** — status: stable.

Positive: has types; esm support; no vulnerabilities; high quality score.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 7.0.1 |
| Published | 2026-03-08 |
| First published | 2021-05-28 |
| Weekly downloads | 4.8K |
| License | ISC |
| TypeScript types | bundled |
| Module format | ESM |
| Node | >=16 |
| Dependencies | 0 |
| Unpacked size | 711.6 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 139 |
| Author | Andrew Ray |
| Maintainers | shaderfrog |
| Keywords | glsl, parser, shaderfrog |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shaderfrog/glsl-parser
- Repository: https://github.com/ShaderFrog/glsl-parser
- Homepage: https://github.com/ShaderFrog/glsl-parser#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/ShaderFrog/glsl-parser/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/@shaderfrog/glsl-parser

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## Recent versions

- 7.0.1 (latest) — 2026-03-08
- 5.0.0-beta.4 (beta) — 2024-07-14
- 7.0.0 — 2026-03-06
- 6.1.0 — 2025-09-05
- 6.0.2 — 2025-04-28
- 6.0.1 — 2025-04-28
- 6.0.0 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.9 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.8 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.7 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.6 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.5 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.4 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.2 — 2025-04-27
- 6.0.0-beta.1 — 2025-04-27
- … 111 more at https://npm.io/package/@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/versions

## README

# Shaderfrog GLSL Compiler

The [Shaderfrog](https://shaderfrog.com/app) GLSL compiler is an open source
GLSL 1.00 and 3.00 parser and preprocessor that compiles [back to
GLSL](src/parser/generator.ts). Both the parser and preprocessor can preserve
comments and whitespace.

The parser is built with a PEG grammar, via the [Peggy](https://peggyjs.org)
Javascript library. The PEG grammars for both the preprocessor and parser
are available [on Github](https://github.com/ShaderFrog/glsl-parser).

See [the state of this library](#state-of-this-library) for limitations and
goals of this compiler.

# Table of Contents

- [Installation](#installation)
- [Parsing](#parsing)
  - [The program type](#the-program-type)
  - [Scope](#scope)
  - [Errors](#errors)
- [Preprocessing](#preprocessing)
- [Manipulating and Searching ASTs](#manipulating-and-searching-asts)
  - [Visitors](#visitors)
  - [Utility Functions](#utility-functions)
- [What are "parsing" and "preprocessing"?](#what-are-parsing-and-preprocessing)
- [State of this library](#state-of-this-library)
  - [Limitations of the Parser and Preprocessor](#limitations-of-the-parser-and-preprocessor)
- [Local Development](#local-development)

# Usage

## Installation

```bash
npm install --save @shaderfrog/glsl-parser
```

## Parsing

```typescript
import { parse, generate } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser';

// To parse a GLSL program's source code into an AST:
const program = parse('float a = 1.0;');

// To turn a parsed AST back into a source program
const transpiled = generate(program);
```

The parser accepts an optional second `options` argument:
```js
parse('float a = 1.0;', options);
```

Where `options` is:

```typescript
type ParserOptions = {
  // The stage of the GLSL source, which defines the built in variables when
  // parsing, like gl_Position. If specified, when the compiler encounters an
  // expected variable for that stage, it will continue on normally (and add
  // that variable, like gl_Position, to the current scope). If it encounters an
  // unknown variable, it will log a warning or raise an exception, depending
  // on if `failOnWarn` is set. If the stage is set to 'either' - used in the
  // case when you don't yet know what stage the GLSL is, the compiler *won't*
  // warn on built-in variables for *either* stage. If this option is not set,
  // the compiler will warn on *all* built-in variables it encounters as not
  // defined.
  stage: 'vertex' | 'fragment' | 'either';

  // Hide warnings. If set to false or not set, then the parser logs warnings
  // like undefined functions and variables. If `failOnWarn` is set to true,
  // warnings will still cause the parser to raise an error. Defaults to false.
  quiet?: boolean;

  // If true, sets location information on each AST node, in the form of
  // { column: number, line: number, offset: number }. Defaults to false.
  includeLocation?: boolean;

  // If true, causes the parser to raise an error instead of log a warning.
  // The parser does limited type checking, and things like undeclared variables
  // are treated as warnings. Defaults to false.
  failOnWarn?: boolean;

  // An optional string representing the file name of your GLSL For example,
  // you can pass "main.glsl" here. If an error is raised, the error message
  // will show "main.glsl:row:column". This is only used in the error message.
  grammarSource?: string;
}
```

## The program type
`parse()` returns a `Program`, which is a special AST Node:

```typescript
interface Program {
  // Hard coded AST node type of "program"
  type: 'program';
  // The AST itself is an array of the top level statements
  program: AstNode[];
  // All of the scopes found during parsing
  scopes: Scope[];
  // Leading whitespace of the source code
  wsStart?: string;
  // Trailing whitespace of the source code
  wsEnd?: string;
}
```

## Scope

`parse()` returns a [`Program`](#the-program-type), which has a `scopes` array on it. A scope looks
like:
```typescript
type Scope = {
  name: string;
  parent?: Scope;
  bindings: ScopeIndex;
  types: TypeScopeIndex;
  functions: FunctionScopeIndex;
  location?: LocationObject;
}
```

The `name` of a scope is either `"global"`, the name of the function that
introduced the scope, or in anonymous blocks, `"{"`. In each scope, `bindings` represents variables,
`types` represents user-created types (structs in GLSL), and `functions` represents
functions.

For `bindings` and `types`, the scope index looks like:
```typescript
type ScopeIndex = {
  [name: string]: {
    declaration?: AstNode;
    references: AstNode[];
  }
}
```

Where `name` is the name of the variable or type. `declaration` is the AST node
where the variable was declared. In the case the variable is used without being
declared, `declaration` won't be present. If you set the [`failOnWarn` parser
option](#Parsing) to `true`, the parser will throw an error when encountering
an undeclared variable, rather than allow a scope entry without a declaration.

For `functions`, the scope index is slightly different:
```typescript
type FunctionScopeIndex = {
  [name: string]: {
    [signature: string]: {
      returnType: string;
      parameterTypes: string[];
      declaration?: FunctionNode;
      references: AstNode[];
    }
  }
};
```

Where `name` is the name of the function, and `signature` is a string representing
the function's return and parameter types, in the form of `"returnType: paramType1, paramType2, ..."`
or `"returnType: void"` in the case of no arguments. Each `signature` in this
index represents an "overloaded" function in GLSL, as in:

```glsl
void someFunction(int x) {};
void someFunction(int x, int y) {};
```

With this source code, there will be two entries under `name`, one for each
overload signature. The `references` are the uses of that specific overloaded
version of the function. `references` also contains the function prototypes
for the overloaded function, if present.

In the case there is only one declaration for a function, there will still be
a single entry under `name` with the function's `signature`.

⚠️ Caution! This parser does very limited type checking. This leads to a known
case where a function call can match to the wrong overload in scope:

```glsl
void someFunction(float, float);
void someFunction(bool, bool);
someFunction(true, true); // This will be attributed to the wrong scope entry
```

The parser doesn't know the type of the operands in the function call, so it
matches based on the name and arity of the functions.

See also [Utility-Functions](#Utility-Functions) for renaming scope references.

## Errors

If you have invalid GLSL, the parser throws a `GlslSyntaxError`.

```ts
import { parse, GlslSyntaxError } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser';

let error: GlslSyntaxError | undefined;
try {
  // Line without a semicolon
  parse(`float a`);
} catch (e) {
  error = e as GlslSyntaxError;
}
```

If you want to check if a caught error is an `instanceof` a `GlslSyntaxError`:
```ts
console.log(error instanceof GlslSyntaxError)
// true
```

The only error the parser intentionally throws is a `GlslSyntaxError`. You
should be safe to cast it to a `GlslSyntaxError` with `as` in Typescript.

The error message string is automatically generated by Peggy:
```ts
console.log(error.message)
/*
Error: Expected ",", ";", "=", or array specifier but "f" found.
  --> undefined:2:1
  |
2 | float b
  | ^
*/
```

The error object includes the location of the error.

```ts
console.log(error.location)
/*
{
  source: undefined,
  start: { offset: 7, line: 1, column: 8 },
  end: { offset: 7, line: 1, column: 8 }
}
*/
```
Note the `source` field on the error object is the `grammarSource` string
provided to the parser options, which is `undefined` by default. If you pass in
a `grammarSource` to `parse()`, it shows up in the error object. This is
meant to help you track which source file you're parsing, for example you could
enter `"myfile.glsl"` as an argument to `parse()` so that the error
includes that your source GLSL came from your application's `myfile.glsl` file.

## Preprocessing

The parser also ships with a `preprocess()` function.

The preprocessor takes in a program source code string and produces a
preprocessed program source code string. If you want to access and manipulate
the AST produced by preprocessing, see the next sections.

```typescript
import preprocess from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/preprocessor';

// Preprocess a program
console.log(preprocess(`
  #define a 1
  float b = a;
`, options));
```

Where `options` is:

```typescript
type PreprocessorOptions = {
  // Don't strip comments before preprocessing
  preserveComments: boolean,
  // Macro definitions to use when preprocessing
  defines: {
    SOME_MACRO_NAME: 'macro body'
  },
  // A list of callbacks evaluated for each node type, and returns whether or not
  // this AST node is subject to preprocessing
  preserve: {
    ast_node_name: (path) => boolean
  }
}
```

A preprocessed program string can be handed off to the main GLSL parser.
Preprocessing is optional, but a program string may not be valid until it is
preprocessed.

If you want more control over preprocessing, the `preprocess` function above is
a convenience method for approximately the following:

```typescript
import {
  preprocessAst,
  preprocessComments,
  generate,
  parse,
} from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/preprocessor';

// Remove comments before preprocessing
const commentsRemoved = preprocessComments(`float a = 1.0;`);

// Parse the source text into an AST
const ast = parse(commentsRemoved);

// Then preprocess it, expanding #defines, evaluating #ifs, etc
preprocessAst(ast);

// Then convert it back into a program string, which can be passed to the
// core glsl parser
const preprocessed = generate(ast);
```

## Accessing the raw Peggy parser

If you need to access the Peggy compiled parser directly, import the `parser`.
You can manually call `parser.parse()` if you prefer. Note if there are errors,
rather than returning a `GlslSyntaxError`, it will return the underlying
`peg$syntaxError`.

```typescript
import { parser } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser';
import { parser as preprocessorParser } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/preprocessor';

try {
  const ast = parser.parse('float f = 1.0;');
} catch (e) {
  console.log(e instanceof parser.SyntaxError); // true
}
```

## Manipulating and Searching ASTs

### Visitors

The Shaderfrog parser provides a AST visitor function for manipulating and
searching an AST. The visitor API loosely follows the [Babel visitor API](https://github.com/jamiebuilds/babel-handbook/blob/master/translations/en/plugin-handbook.md#toc-visitors). A visitor object looks
like:

```typescript
const visitors = {
  function_call: {
    enter: (path) => {},
    exit: (path) => {},
  }
}
```

Where every key in the object is a node type, and every value is an object
with optional `enter` and `exit` functions. What's passed to each function
is **not** the AST node itself, instead it's a "path" object, which gives you
information about the node's parents, methods to manipulate the node, and the
node itself. The path object:

```typescript
{
  // Properties:

  // The node itself
  node: AstNode;
  // The parent of this node
  parent: AstNode | null;
  // The parent path of this path
  parentPath: Path | null;
  // The key of this node in the parent object, if node parent is an object
  key: string | null;
  // The index of this node in the parent array, if node parent is an array
  index: number | null;

  // Methods:

  // Don't visit any children of this node
  skip: () => void;
  // Stop traversal entirely
  stop: () => void;
  // Remove this node from the AST
  remove: () => void;
  // Replace this node with another AST node. See replaceWith() documentation.
  replaceWith: (replacer: any) => void;
  // Search for parents of this node's parent using a test function
  findParent: (test: (p: Path) => boolean) => Path | null;
}
```

Visit an AST by calling the visit method with an AST and visitors:

```typescript
import { visit } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/ast';

visit(ast, visitors);
```

The visit function doesn't return a value. If you want to collect data from the
AST, use a variable in the outer scope to collect data. For example:

```typescript
let numberOfFunctionCalls = 0;
visit(ast, {
  function_call: {
    enter: (path) => {
      numberOfFunctionCalls += 1;
    },
  }
});
console.log('There are ', numberOfFunctionCalls, 'function calls');
```

You can also visit the preprocessed AST with `visitPreprocessedAst`. Visitors
follow the same convention outlined above.

```typescript
import {
  parse,
  visitPreprocessedAst,
} from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/preprocessor';

// Parse the source text into an AST
const ast = parse(`float a = 1.0;`);
visitPreprocessedAst(ast, visitors);
```

### Stopping traversal

To skip all children of a node, call `path.skip()`.

To stop traversal entirely, call `path.stop()` in either `enter()` or `exit()`.
No future `enter()` nor `exit()` callbacks will fire.

### Visitor `.replaceWith()` Behavior

When you visit a node and call `path.replaceWith(otherNode)` inside the visitor's `enter()` method:
1. `otherNode` and its children **are** visited by the same visitors.
2. The `exit()` function of the visitor **is not called.**

Notes:
- Calling `.replaceWith()` in a visitor's `exit()` method is undefined behavior.
- Replacing a node with the same type can cause infinite recursion, as the
  visitor will continue to visit the replaced node of the same type. You must
  handle this case manually.

These rules apply to all visitors, both GLSL AST visitors and preprocessor AST
visitors.

### Utility Functions

#### Rename variables / identifiers in a program

You can rename bindings (aka variables), functions, and types (aka structs) with `renameBindings`, `renameFunctions`, and `renameTypes` respectively.

The signature for these methods:

```ts
const renameBindings = (
  // The scope to rename the bindings in. ast.scopes[0] is the global scope.
  // Passing this ast.scopes[0] renames all global variables
  bindings: ScopeIndex,

  // The rename function. This is called once per scope entry with the original
  // name in the scope, to generate the renamed variable. 
  mangle: (name: string) => string
): ScopeIndex
```

These scope renaming functions, `renameBindings`, `renameFunctions`, and `renameTypes`, do two things:
1. Each function *mutates* the AST to rename identifiers in place.
2. They *return* an *immutable* new ScopeIndex where the scope references
   themselves are renamed.

If you want your ast.scopes array to stay in sync with your AST, you need to
re-assign it to the output of the functions! Examples:

```typescript
import { renameBindings, renameFunctions, renameTypes } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/parser/utils';

// Suffix top level variables with _x, and update the scope
ast.scopes[0].bindings = renameBindings(ast.scopes[0].bindings, (name) => `${name}_x`);

// Suffix function names with _x
ast.scopes[0].functions = renameFunctions(ast.scopes[0].functions, (name) => `${name}_x`);

// Suffix struct names and usages (including constructors) with _x
ast.scopes[0].types = renameTypes(ast.scopes[0].types, (name) => `${name}_x`);
```

There are also functions to rename only one variable/identifier in a given
scope. Use these if you know specifically which variable you want to rename.

```typescript
import { renameBinding, renameFunction, renameType } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/parser/utils';

// Replace all instances of "oldVar" with "newVar" in the global scope, and
// creates a new global scope entry named "newVar"
ast.scopes[0].bindings.newVar = renameBinding(
  ast.scopes[0].bindings.oldVar,
  'newVar',
);
// You need to manually delete the old scope entry if you want the scope to stay
// in sync with your program AST
delete ast.scopes[0].bindings.oldVar;

// Rename a specific function
ast.scopes[0].functions.newFn = renameFunction(
  ast.scopes[0].functions.oldFn,
  'newFn',
);
delete ast.scopes[0].functions.oldFn;

// Rename a specific type/struct
ast.scopes[0].functions.newType = renametype(
  ast.scopes[0].functions.oldType,
  'newType',
);
delete ast.scopes[0].functions.oldType;
```

#### Debugging utility functions

The parser also exports a debugging function, useful for logging information
about the AST.

```ts
import { debugScopes } from '@shaderfrog/glsl-parser/parser/utils';

// Print a condensed representation of the AST scopes to the console
debugScopes(ast);
```

## What are "parsing" and "preprocessing"?

In general, a parser is a computer program that analyzes source code and turn it
into a data structure called an "abstract syntax tree" (AST). The AST is a tree
representation of the source program, which can be analyzed or manipulated. A
use of this GLSL parser could be to parse a program into an AST, find all
variable names in the AST, rename them, and generate new GLSL source code with
renamed variables.

Preprocessing is a text manipulation step supported in shader source code. One
way to think about preprocessing is it's a glorified find and replace language
that's also part of your program's source code. Special lines starting with `#`
tell the preprocessor how to manipulate other text in the program source code.
Some programs are not parsable until they are preprocessed, because the source
code may be invalid until the text find and replacements are done. During
preprocessing, the source code is treated purely as text. Said another way,
there is no consideration for the GLSL source code structure, like `float`,
`vec2`, etc. Preprocessing only handles special lines and rules starting with
`#`.

See the [GLSL Langauge Spec](https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenGL/specs/gl/GLSLangSpec.4.60.pdf) to learn more about GLSL preprocessing. Some notable
differences from the C++ parser are no "stringize" operator (`#`), no `#include`
operator, and `#if` expressions can only operate on integer constants, not other
types of data. The Shaderfrog GLSL preprocessor can't be used as a C/C++
preprocessor without modification.

Parsing, preprocessing, and code generation, are all phases of a compiler. This
library is technically a source code > source code compiler, also known as a
"transpiler." The input and output source code are both GLSL.

# State of this library

The Shaderfrog compiler [has tests](parser/parse.test.ts) for the more complex
parts of the GLSL ES 3.00 grammar. This library is definitively the most
complete GLSL compiler written in **Javascript.**

This library is used by the experimental [Shaderfrog 2.0 shader
composer](https://twitter.com/andrewray/status/1558307538063437826). The
compiler has wide expoure to different GLSL programs.

This library also exposed:
- [A typo](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/GLSL/issues/161) in the official GLSL grammar specification.
- [A bug](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/angleproject/issues/detail?id=6338#c1) in Chrome's ANGLE compiler.

This library doesn't support full "semantic analysis" required by the Khronos
GLSL specification. For example, some tokens are only valid in GLSL 1.00 vs
3.00, like `texture()` vs `texture2D()`. This parser considers both valid as
they're both part of the grammar. However if you send compiled source code off
to a native compiler like ANGLE with the wrong `texture` function, it will fail
to compile. 

This library is mainly for manipulating ASTs before handing off a generated
program to a downstream compilers like as ANGLE.

The preprocessor supports full macro evaluations and expansions, with the
exceptions of `__LINE__`. Additional control lines like `#error` and `#pragma`
and `#extension` have no effect, and can be fully preserved as part of parsing.

# Limitations of the Parser and Preprocessor

## Known Issues

- There's probably some bugs in the preprocessor logic. I haven't yet verified
  all of the evaluations of "binary" expressions in `preprocessor.ts`
- `preprocessor.ts` has lots of yucky typecasting

## Known missing semantic analysis compared to the specification

- Compilers are supposed to raise an error if a switch body ends in a case or
  default label.
- Currently no semantic analysis of vertex vs fragment shaders

## Deviations from the Khronos Grammar

- The parser allows for programs to contain top level preprocessor statements,
  like `#define X`, as a convenience to avoid preprocessing some programs, and
  for simple programs lets you preserve preprocessor lines in the AST if you
  want to do something specific with them. However, preprocessor statements at
  any other part of the program are not allowed. The Khronos grammar does not
  include preprocessor statements.
- `selection_statement` is renamed to `if_statement`
- The grammar specifies `declaration` itself ends with a semicolon. I moved the
  semicolon into the `declaration_statement` rule.
- The grammar has a left paren "(" in the function_call production. Due to how
  I de-left-recursed the function_call -> postfix_expression loop, I moved the
  left paren into the function_identifier production.
- Function calls in the grammar are TYPE_NAME LEFT_PAREN, in my grammar they're
  IDENTIFIER LEFT_PAREN, because TYPE_NAME is only used for structs, and
  function names are stored in their own separate place in the scope.

# Local Development

To work on the tests, run `npx jest --watch`.

The GLSL grammar definition lives in `src/parser/glsl-grammar.pegjs`. Peggy
supports inlining Javascript code in the `.pegjs` file to define utility
functions, but that means you have to write in vanilla Javascript, which is
terrible. Instead, I've pulled out utility functions into the `grammar.ts`
entrypoint. Some functions need access to Peggy's local variables, like
`location(s)`, so the `makeLocals()` function uses a closure to provide that
access.

To submit a change, please open a pull request. Tests are appreciated!

See [the Github workflow](.github/workflows/main.yml) for the checks run against
each PR.

---
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