# Architecture of the Vulkan Loader Interfaces

## Table of Contents

- Overview
  - Who Should Read This Document
  - The Loader
    - Goals of the Loader
  - Layers
  - Drivers
    - Installable Client Drivers
  - VkConfig
- Important Vulkan Concepts
  - Instance Versus Device
    - Instance-Specific
      - Instance Objects
      - Instance Functions
      - Instance Extensions
    - Device-Specific
      - Device Objects
      - Device Functions
      - Device Extensions
  - Dispatch Tables and Call Chains
    - Instance Call Chain Example
    - Device Call Chain Example
- Elevated Privilege Caveats
- Application Interface to the Loader
- Layer Interface with the Loader
- Driver Interface With the Loader
- Debugging Issues
- Loader Policies
- Filter Environment Variable Behaviors
  - Comparison Strings
  - Comma-Delimited Lists
  - Globs
  - Case-Insensitive
  - Environment Variable Priority
- Table of Debug Environment Variables
  - Active Environment Variables
  - Deprecated Environment Variables
- Glossary of Terms

## Overview

Vulkan is a layered architecture, made up of the following elements:

- The Vulkan Application
- The Vulkan Loader
- Vulkan Layers
- Drivers
- VkConfig

The general concepts in this document are applicable to the loaders available for Windows, Linux, Android, and macOS systems.

### Who Should Read This Document

While this document is primarily targeted at developers of Vulkan applications, drivers and layers, the information contained in it could be useful to anyone wanting a better understanding of the Vulkan runtime.

### The Loader

The application sits at the top and interfaces directly with the Vulkan loader. At the bottom of the stack sits the drivers. A driver can control one or more physical devices capable of rendering Vulkan, implement a conversion from Vulkan into a native graphics API (like MoltenVk, or implement a fully software path that can be executed on a CPU to simulate a Vulkan device (like SwiftShader or LavaPipe). Remember, Vulkan-capable hardware may be graphics-based, compute-based, or both. Between the application and the drivers, the loader can inject any number of optional layers that provide special functionality. The loader is critical to managing the proper dispatching of Vulkan functions to the appropriate set of layers and drivers. The Vulkan object model allows the loader to insert layers into a call-chain so that the layers can process Vulkan functions prior to the driver being called.

This document is intended to provide an overview of the necessary interfaces between each of these.

#### Goals of the Loader

The loader was designed with the following goals in mind:

1. Support one or more Vulkan-capable drivers on a user's system without them interfering with one another.
2. Support Vulkan Layers which are optional modules that can be enabled by an application, developer, or standard system settings.
3. Keep the overall overhead of the loader to the minimum possible.

### Layers

Layers are optional components that augment the Vulkan development environment. They can intercept, evaluate, and modify existing Vulkan functions on their way from the application down to the drivers and back up. Layers are implemented as libraries that can be enabled in different ways and are loaded during CreateInstance. Each layer can choose to hook, or intercept, Vulkan functions which in turn can be ignored, inspected, or augmented. Any function a layer does not hook is simply skipped for that layer and the control flow will simply continue on to the next supporting layer or driver. Because of this, a layer can choose whether to intercept all known Vulkan functions or only a subset it is interested in.

Some examples of features that layers may expose include:

- Validating API usage
- Tracing API calls
- Debugging aids
- Profiling
- Overlay

Because layers are optional and dynamically loaded, they can be enabled and disabled as desired. For example, while developing and debugging an application, enabling certain layers can assist in making sure it properly uses the Vulkan API. But when releasing the application, those layers are unnecessary and thus won't be enabled, increasing the speed of the application.

### Drivers

The library that implements Vulkan, either through supporting a physical hardware device directly, converting Vulkan commands into native graphics commands, or simulating Vulkan through software, is considered "a driver". The most common type of driver is still the Installable Client Driver (or ICD). The loader is responsible for discovering available Vulkan drivers on the system. Given a list of available drivers, the loader can enumerate all the available physical devices and provide this information for an application.

#### Installable Client Drivers

Vulkan allows multiple ICDs each supporting one or more devices. Each of these devices is represented by a Vulkan `VkPhysicalDevice` object. The loader is responsible for discovering available Vulkan ICDs via the standard driver search on the system.

### VkConfig

VkConfig is a tool LunarG has developed to assist with modifying the Vulkan environment on the local system. It can be used to find layers, enable them, change layer settings, and other useful features. VkConfig can be found by either installing the Vulkan SDK or by building the source out of the LunarG VulkanTools GitHub Repo.

VkConfig generates three outputs, two of which work with the Vulkan loader and layers. These outputs are:

- The Vulkan Override Layer
- The Vulkan Layer Settings File
- VkConfig Configuration Settings

These files are found in different locations based on your platform:

Platform | Output | Location
--- | --- | ---
Linux | Vulkan Override Layer | $USER/.local/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/VkLayer_override.json
Vulkan Layer Settings | $USER/.local/share/vulkan/settings.d/vk_layer_settings.txt
VkConfig Configuration Settings | $USER/.local/share/vulkan/settings.d/vk_layer_settings.txt
Windows | Vulkan Override Layer | %HOME%\AppData\Local\LunarG\vkconfig\override\VkLayerOverride.json
Vulkan Layer Settings | (registry) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Khronos\Vulkan\LoaderSettings
VkConfig Configuration Settings | (registry) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\LunarG\vkconfig

The Override Meta-Layer is an important part of how VkConfig works. This layer, when found by the loader, forces the loading of the desired layers that were enabled inside of VkConfig as well as disables those layers that were intentionally disabled (including implicit layers).

The Vulkan Layer Settings file can be used to specify certain behaviors and actions each enabled layer is expected to perform. These settings can also be controlled by VkConfig, or they can be manually enabled. For details on what settings can be used, refer to the individual layers.

In the future, VkConfig may have additional interactions with the Vulkan loader.

More details on VkConfig can be found in its GitHub documentation.

## Important Vulkan Concepts

Vulkan has a few concepts that provide a fundamental basis for its organization. These concepts should be understood by any one attempting to use Vulkan or develop any of its components.

### Instance Versus Device

An important concept to understand, which is brought up repeatedly throughout this document, is how the Vulkan API is organized. Many objects, functions, extensions, and other behavior in Vulkan can be separated into two groups:

- Instance-specific
- Device-specific

#### Instance-Specific

A "Vulkan instance" (`VkInstance`) is a high-level construct used to provide Vulkan system-level information and functionality.

##### Instance Objects

A few Vulkan objects associated directly with an instance are:

- `VkInstance`
- `VkPhysicalDevice`
- `VkPhysicalDeviceGroup`

##### Instance Functions

An "instance function" is any Vulkan function where the first parameter is an instance object or no object at all.

Some Vulkan instance functions are:

- `vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties`
- `vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices`
- `vkCreateInstance`
- `vkDestroyInstance`

An application can link directly to all core instance functions through the Vulkan loader's headers. Alternatively, an application can query function pointers using `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`. `vkGetInstanceProcAddr` can be used to query any instance or device entry-points in addition to all core entry-points.

If `vkGetInstanceProcAddr` is called using a `VkInstance`, then any function pointer returned is specific to that `VkInstance` and any additional objects that are created from it.

##### Instance Extensions

Extensions to Vulkan are similarly associated based on what type of functions they provide. Because of this, extensions are broken up into instance or device extensions where most, if not all of the functions, in the extension are of the corresponding type. For example, an "instance extension" is composed primarily of "instance functions" which primarily take instance objects. These will be discussed in more detail later.

#### Device-Specific

A Vulkan device (`VkDevice`), on the other-hand, is a logical identifier used to associate functions with a particular Vulkan physical device (`VkPhysicalDevice`) through a particular driver on a user's system.

##### Device Objects

A few of the Vulkan constructs associated directly with a device include:

- `VkDevice`
- `VkQueue`
- `VkCommandBuffer`

##### Device Functions

A "device function" is any Vulkan function which takes any device object as its first parameter or a child object of the device. The vast majority of Vulkan functions are device functions. Some Vulkan device functions are:

- `vkQueueSubmit`
- `vkBeginCommandBuffer`
- `vkCreateEvent`

Vulkan devices functions may be queried using either `vkGetInstanceProcAddr` or `vkGetDeviceProcAddr`. If an application chooses to use `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`, each call will have additional function calls built into the call chain, which will reduce performance slightly. If, instead, the application uses `vkGetDeviceProcAddr`, the call chain will be more optimized to the specific device, but the returned function pointers will only work for the device used when querying them. Unlike `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`, `vkGetDeviceProcAddr` can only be used on Vulkan device functions.

The best solution is to query instance extension functions using `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`, and to query device extension functions using `vkGetDeviceProcAddr`. See Best Application Performance Setup section in the LoaderApplicationInterface.html document for more information on this.

##### Device Extensions

As with instance extensions, a device extension is a set of Vulkan device functions extending the Vulkan language. More information about device extensions can be found later in this document.

### Dispatch Tables and Call Chains

Vulkan uses an object model to control the scope of a particular action or operation. The object to be acted on is always the first parameter of a Vulkan call and is a dispatchable object (see Vulkan specification section 3.3 Object Model). Under the covers, the dispatchable object handle is a pointer to a structure, which in turn, contains a pointer to a dispatch table maintained by the loader. This dispatch table contains pointers to the Vulkan functions appropriate to that object.

There are two types of dispatch tables the loader maintains:

- Instance Dispatch Table
  - Created in the loader during the call to `vkCreateInstance`
- Device Dispatch Table
  - Created in the loader during the call to `vkCreateDevice`

At that time the application and the system can each specify optional layers to be included. The loader will initialize the specified layers to create a call chain for each Vulkan function and each entry of the dispatch table will point to the first element of that chain. Thus, the loader builds an instance call chain for each `VkInstance` that is created and a device call chain for each `VkDevice` that is created.

When an application calls a Vulkan function, this typically will first hit a trampoline function in the loader. These trampoline functions are small, simple functions that jump to the appropriate dispatch table entry for the object they are given. Additionally, for functions in the instance call chain, the loader has an additional function, called a terminator, which is called after all enabled layers to marshall the appropriate information to all available drivers.

#### Instance Call Chain Example

For example, the diagram below represents what happens in the call chain for `vkCreateInstance`. After initializing the chain, the loader calls into the first layer's `vkCreateInstance`, which will call the next layer's `vkCreateInstance` before finally terminating in the loader again where it will call every driver's `vkCreateInstance`. This allows every enabled layer in the chain to set up what it needs based on the `VkInstanceCreateInfo` structure from the application.

This also highlights some of the complexity the loader must manage when using instance call chains. As shown here, the loader's terminator must aggregate information to and from multiple drivers when they are present. This implies that the loader has to be aware of any instance-level extensions which work on a `VkInstance` to aggregate them correctly.

#### Device Call Chain Example

Device call chains are created in `vkCreateDevice` and are generally simpler because they deal with only a single device. This allows for the specific driver exposing this device to always be the terminator of the chain.

## Elevated Privilege Caveats

To ensure that the system is safe from exploitation, Vulkan applications which are run with elevated privileges are restricted from certain operations, such as reading environment variables from unsecure locations or searching for files in user controlled paths. This is done to ensure that an application running with elevated privileges does not run using components that were not installed in the proper approved locations.

The loader uses platform-specific mechanisms (such as `secure_getenv` and its equivalents) for querying sensitive environment variables to avoid accidentally using untrusted results.

These behaviors also result in ignoring certain environment variables, such as:

- `VK_DRIVER_FILES` / `VK_ICD_FILENAMES`
- `VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES`
- `VK_LAYER_PATH`
- `VK_ADD_LAYER_PATH`
- `VK_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH`
- `VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH`
- `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` (Linux/Mac-specific)
- `XDG_DATA_HOME` (Linux/Mac-specific)

For more information on the affected search paths, refer to Layer Discovery and Driver Discovery.

## Application Interface to the Loader

The Application interface to the Vulkan loader is now detailed in the LoaderApplicationInterface.html document found in the same directory as this file.

## Layer Interface with the Loader

The Layer interface to the Vulkan loader is detailed in the LoaderLayerInterface.html document found in the same directory as this file.

## Driver Interface With the Loader

The Driver interface to the Vulkan loader is detailed in the LoaderDriverInterface.html document found in the same directory as this file.

## Debugging Issues

If your application is crashing or behaving weirdly, the loader provides several mechanisms for you to debug the issues. These are detailed in the LoaderDebugging.html document found in the same directory as this file.

## Loader Policies

Loader policies with regards to the loader interaction with drivers and layers are now documented in the appropriate sections. The intention of these sections is to clearly define expected behavior of the loader with regards to its interactions with those components. This could be especially useful in cases where a new or specialized loader may be required that conforms to the behavior of the existing loader. Because of this, the primary focus of those sections is on expected behaviors for all relevant components to create a consistent experience across platforms. In the long-run, this could also be used as validation requirements for any existing Vulkan loaders.

To review the particular policy sections, please refer to one or both of the sections listed below:

- Loader And Driver Policy
- Loader And Layer Policy

## Filter Environment Variable Behaviors

The filter environment variables provided in certain areas have some common restrictions and behaviors that should be listed.

### Comparison Strings

The filter variables will be compared against the appropriate strings for either drivers or layers. The appropriate string for layers is the layer name provided in the layer's manifest file. Since drivers don’t have a name like layers, this substring is used to compare against the driver manifest's filename.

### Comma-Delimited Lists

All of the filter environment variables accept comma-delimited input. Therefore, you can chain multiple strings together and it will use the strings to individually enable or disable the appropriate item in the current list of available items.

### Globs

To provide enough flexibility to limit name searches to only those wanted by the developer, the loader uses a limited glob format for strings. Acceptable globs are:

- Prefixes: `"string*"`
- Suffixes: `"*string"`
- Substrings: `"*string*"`
- Whole strings: `"string"`
  - In the case of whole strings, the string will be compared against each layer or driver file name in its entirety.
  - Because of this, it will only match the specific target such as: `VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation` will match the layer name `VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation`, but not a layer named `VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation2` (not that there is such a layer).

This is especially useful because it is difficult sometimes to determine the full name of a driver manifest file or even some commonly used layers such as `VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation`.

### Case-Insensitive

All of the filter environment variables assume the strings inside of the glob are not case-sensitive. Therefore, “Bob”, “bob”, and “BOB” all amount to the same thing.

### Environment Variable Priority

The values from the disable environment variable will be considered before the enable or select environment variable. Because of this, it is possible to disable a layer/driver using the disable environment variable, only to have it be re-enabled by the enable/select environment variable. This is useful if you disable all layers/drivers with the intent of only enabling a smaller subset of specific layers/drivers for issue triaging.

## Table of Debug Environment Variables

The following are all the Debug Environment Variables available for use with the Loader. These are referenced throughout the text, but collected here for ease of discovery.

### Active Environment Variables

Environment Variable | Behavior | Restrictions | Example Format
--- | --- | --- | ---
VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES | Provide a list of additional driver JSON files that the loader will use in addition to the drivers that the loader would find normally. The list of drivers will be added first, prior to the list of drivers that would be found normally. The value contains a list of delimited full path listings to driver JSON Manifest files. | If a global path to the JSON file is not used, issues may be encountered. Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES= /intel.json:/amd.json set VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES= \nvidia.json;\mesa.json
VK_ADD_LAYER_PATH | Provide a list of additional paths that the loader will use to search for explicit layers in addition to the loader's standard layer library search paths when looking for layer manifest files. The paths will be added first, prior to the list of folders that would be searched normally. | Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_ADD_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>:<path_b> set VK_ADD_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>;<path_b>
VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH | Provide a list of additional paths that the loader will use to search for implicit layers in addition to the loader's standard layer library search paths when looking for layer manifest files. The paths will be added first, prior to the list of folders that would be searched normally. | Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>:<path_b> set VK_ADD_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>;<path_b>
VK_DRIVER_FILES | Force the loader to use the specific driver JSON files. The value contains a list of delimited full path listings to driver JSON Manifest files and/or paths to folders containing driver JSON files. This has replaced the older deprecated environment variable VK_ICD_FILENAMES, however the older environment variable will continue to work. | It is recommended to use absolute paths to JSON files. Relative paths may have issues due to how the loader transforms relative library paths into absolute ones. Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_DRIVER_FILES= /intel.json:/amd.json set VK_DRIVER_FILES= \nvidia.json;\mesa.json
VK_LAYER_PATH | Override the loader's standard explicit layer search paths and use the provided delimited files and/or folders to locate layer manifest files. | Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>:<path_b> set VK_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>;<path_b>
VK_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH | Override the loader's standard implicit layer search paths and use the provided delimited files and/or folders to locate layer manifest files. | Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>:<path_b> set VK_IMPLICIT_LAYER_PATH= <path_a>;<path_b>
VK_LOADER_DEBUG | Enable loader debug messages using a comma-delimited list of level options. These options are: * error (only errors) * warn (only warnings) * info (only info) * debug (only debug) * layer (layer-specific output) * driver (driver-specific output) * all (report out all messages) To enable multiple options (outside of "all") like info, warning and error messages, set the value to "error,warn,info". | None | export VK_LOADER_DEBUG=all set VK_LOADER_DEBUG=warn
VK_LOADER_DEVICE_SELECT | Allows the user to force a particular device to be prioritized above all other devices in the return order of vkGetPhysicalDevices and vkGetPhysicalDeviceGroups functions. The value should be ":". NOTE: This DOES NOT REMOVE devices from the list on reorders them. | Linux Only | set VK_LOADER_DEVICE_SELECT=0x10de:0x1f91
VK_LOADER_DISABLE_SELECT | Allows the user to disable the consistent sorting algorithm run in the loader before returning the set of physical devices to layers. | Linux Only | set VK_LOADER_DISABLE_SELECT=1
VK_LOADER_DISABLE_INST_EXT_FILTER | Disable the filtering out of instance extensions that the loader doesn't know about. This will allow applications to enable instance extensions exposed by drivers but that the loader has no support for. | Use Wisely! This may cause the loader or application to crash. | export VK_LOADER_DISABLE_INST_EXT_FILTER=1 set VK_LOADER_DISABLE_INST_EXT_FILTER=1
VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_SELECT | A comma-delimited list of globs to search for in known drivers and used to select only the drivers whose manifest file names match one or more of the provided globs. Since drivers don’t have a name like layers, this glob is used to compare against the manifest filename. Known driver manifests being those files that are already found by the loader taking into account default search paths and other environment variables (like VK_ICD_FILENAMES or VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES). | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.234 of the Vulkan headers and later. If no drivers are found with a manifest filename that matches any of the provided globs, then no driver is enabled and it may result in Vulkan applications failing to run properly. | export VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_SELECT=nvidia* set VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_SELECT=nvidia* The above would select only the Nvidia driver if it was present on the system and already visible to the loader.
VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_DISABLE | A comma-delimited list of globs to search for in known drivers and used to disable only the drivers whose manifest file names match one or more of the provided globs. Since drivers don’t have a name like layers, this glob is used to compare against the manifest filename. Known driver manifests being those files that are already found by the loader taking into account default search paths and other environment variables (like VK_ICD_FILENAMES or VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES). | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.234 of the Vulkan headers and later. If all available drivers are disabled using this environment variable, then no drivers will be found by the loader and will result in Vulkan applications failing to run properly. This is also checked before other driver environment variables (such as VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_SELECT) so that a user may easily disable all drivers and then selectively re-enable individual drivers using the enable environment variable. | export VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_DISABLE=*amd*,*intel* set VK_LOADER_DRIVERS_DISABLE=*amd*,*intel* The above would disable both Intel and AMD drivers if both were present on the system and already visible to the loader.
VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ENABLE | A comma-delimited list of globs to search for in known layers and used to select only the layers whose layer name matches one or more of the provided globs. Known layers are those which are found by the loader taking into account default search paths and other environment variables (like VK_LAYER_PATH). This has replaced the older deprecated environment variable VK_INSTANCE_LAYERS | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.234 of the Vulkan headers and later. | export VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ENABLE=*validation,*recon* set VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ENABLE=*validation,*recon* The above would enable the Khronos validation layer and the GfxReconstruct layer, if both were present on the system and already visible to the loader.
VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE | A comma-delimited list of globs to search for in known layers and used to disable only the layers whose layer name matches one or more of the provided globs. Known layers are those which are found by the loader taking into account default search paths and other environment variables (like VK_LAYER_PATH). | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.234 of the Vulkan headers and later. Disabling a layer that an application intentionally enables as an explicit layer may cause the application to not function properly. This is also checked before other layer environment variables (such as VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ENABLE) so that a user may easily disable all layers and then selectively re-enable individual layers using the enable environment variable. | export VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE=*MESA*,~implicit~ set VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE=*MESA*,~implicit~ The above would disable any Mesa layer and all other implicit layers that would normally be enabled on the system.
VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ALLOW | A comma-delimited list of globs to search for in known layers and used to prevent layers whose layer name matches one or more of the provided globs from being disabled by VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE. Known layers are those which are found by the loader taking into account default search paths and other environment variables (like VK_LAYER_PATH). | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.262 of the Vulkan headers and later. This will not cause layers to be enabled if the normal mechanism to enable them | export VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ALLOW=*validation*,*recon* set VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ALLOW=*validation*,*recon* The above would allow any layer whose name is validation or recon to be enabled regardless of the value of VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE.
VK_LOADER_DISABLE_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY_UNLOADING | If set to "1", causes the loader to not unload dynamic libraries during vkDestroyInstance. This option allows leak sanitizers to have full stack traces. | This functionality is only available with Loaders built with version 1.3.259 of the Vulkan headers and later. | export VK_LOADER_DISABLE_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY_UNLOADING=1 set VK_LOADER_DISABLE_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY_UNLOADING=1

### Deprecated Environment Variables

These environment variables are still active and supported, however support may be removed in a future loader release.

Environment Variable | Behavior | Replaced By | Restrictions | Example Format
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
VK_ICD_FILENAMES | Force the loader to use the specific driver JSON files. The value contains a list of delimited full path listings to driver JSON Manifest files. NOTE: If a global path to the JSON file is not used, issues may be encountered. | This has been replaced by VK_DRIVER_FILES. | Ignored when running Vulkan application with elevated privileges. | export VK_ICD_FILENAMES= /intel.json:/amd.json set VK_ICD_FILENAMES= \nvidia.json;\mesa.json
VK_INSTANCE_LAYERS | Force the loader to add the given layers to the list of Enabled layers normally passed into vkCreateInstance. These layers are added first, and the loader will remove any duplicate layers that appear in both this list as well as that passed into ppEnabledLayerNames. | This has been deprecated by VK_LOADER_LAYERS_ENABLE. It also overrides any layers disabled with VK_LOADER_LAYERS_DISABLE. | None | export VK_INSTANCE_LAYERS= <layer_a>;<layer_b> set VK_INSTANCE_LAYERS= <layer_a>;<layer_b>

## Glossary of Terms

Field Name | Field Value
--- | ---
Android Loader | The loader designed to work primarily for the Android OS. This is generated from a different code base than the Khronos loader. But, in all important aspects, it should be functionally equivalent.
Khronos Loader | The loader released by Khronos and currently designed to work primarily on Windows, Linux, macOS, Stadia, and Fuchsia. This is generated from a different code base than the Android loader. But in all important aspects, it should be functionally equivalent.
Core Function | A function that is already part of the Vulkan core specification and not an extension. For example, vkCreateDevice().
Device Call Chain | The call chain of functions followed for device functions. This call chain for a device function is usually as follows: first the application calls into a loader trampoline, then the loader trampoline calls enabled layers, and the final layer calls into the driver specific to the device. See the Dispatch Tables and Call Chains section for more information.
Device Function | A device function is any Vulkan function which takes a VkDevice, VkQueue, VkCommandBuffer, or any child of these, as its first parameter. Some Vulkan device functions are: vkQueueSubmit, vkBeginCommandBuffer, vkCreateEvent. See the Instance Versus Device section for more information.
Discovery | The process of the loader searching for driver and layer files to set up the internal list of Vulkan objects available. On Windows/Linux/macOS, the discovery process typically focuses on searching for Manifest files. On Android, the process focuses on searching for library files.
Dispatch Table | An array of function pointers (including core and possibly extension functions) used to step to the next entity in a call chain. The entity could be the loader, a layer or a driver. See Dispatch Tables and Call Chains for more information.
Driver | The underlying library which provides support for the Vulkan API. This support can be implemented as either an ICD, API translation library, or pure software. See Drivers section for more information.
Extension | A concept of Vulkan used to expand the core Vulkan functionality. Extensions may be IHV-specific, platform-specific, or more broadly available. Always first query if an extension exists, and enable it during vkCreateInstance (if it is an instance extension) or during vkCreateDevice (if it is a device extension) before attempting to use it. Extensions will always have an author prefix or suffix modifier to every structure, enumeration entry, command entry-point, or define that is associated with it. For example, `KHR` is the prefix for Khronos authored extensions and will also be found on structures, enumeration entries, and commands associated with those extensions.
Extension Function | A function that is defined as part of an extension and not part of the Vulkan core specification. As with the extension the function is defined as part of, it will have a suffix modifier indicating the author of the extension. Some example extension suffixes include: KHR - For Khronos authored extensions, EXT - For multi-company authored extensions, AMD - For AMD authored extensions, ARM - For ARM authored extensions, NV - For Nvidia authored extensions.
ICD | Acronym for "Installable Client Driver". These are drivers that are provided by IHVs to interact with the hardware they provide. These are the most common type of Vulkan drivers. See Installable Client Drivers section for more information.
IHV | Acronym for an "Independent Hardware Vendor". Typically the company that built the underlying hardware technology that is being used. A typical examples for a Graphics IHV include (but not limited to): AMD, ARM, Imagination, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm
Instance Call Chain | The call chain of functions followed for instance functions. This call chain for an instance function is usually as follows: first the application calls into a loader trampoline, then the loader trampoline calls enabled layers, the final layer calls a loader terminator, and the loader terminator calls all available drivers. See the Dispatch Tables and Call Chains section for more information.
Instance Function | An instance function is any Vulkan function which takes as its first parameter either a VkInstance or a VkPhysicalDevice or nothing at all. Some Vulkan instance functions are: vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties, vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices, vkCreateInstance, vkDestroyInstance. See the Instance Versus Device section for more information.
Layer | Layers are optional components that augment the Vulkan system. They can intercept, evaluate, and modify existing Vulkan functions on their way from the application down to the driver. See the Layers section for more information.
Layer Library | The Layer Library is the group of all layers the loader is able to discover. These may include both implicit and explicit layers. These layers are available for use by applications unless disabled in some way. For more info, see Layer Discovery .
Loader | The middleware program which acts as the mediator between Vulkan applications, Vulkan layers, and Vulkan drivers. See The Loader section for more information.
Manifest Files | Data files in JSON format used by the Khronos loader. These files contain specific information for either a Layer or a Driver and define necessary information such as where to find files and default settings.
Terminator Function | The last function in the instance call chain above the driver and owned by the loader. This function is required in the instance call chain because all instance functionality must be communicated to all drivers capable of receiving the call. See Dispatch Tables and Call Chains for more information.
Trampoline Function | The first function in an instance or device call chain owned by the loader which handles the set up and proper call chain walk using the appropriate dispatch table. On device functions (in the device call chain) this function can actually be skipped. See Dispatch Tables and Call Chains for more information.
WSI Extension | Acronym for Windowing System Integration. A Vulkan extension targeting a particular Windowing system and designed to interface between the Windowing system and Vulkan. See WSI Extensions for more information.
Exported Function | A function which is intended to be obtained through the platform specific dynamic linker, specifically from a Driver or a Layer library. Functions that are required to be exported are primarily the very first functions the Loader calls on a Layer or Driver library.
Exposed Function | A function which is intended to be obtained through a Querying Function, such as `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`. The exact Querying Function required for a specific exposed function varies between Layers and Drivers, as well as between interface versions.
Querying Functions | These are functions which allow the Loader to query other functions from drivers and layers. These functions may be in the Vulkan API but also may be from the private Loader and Driver Interface or the Loader and Layer Interface. These functions are: `vkGetInstanceProcAddr`, `vkGetDeviceProcAddr`, `vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr`, `vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr`, and `vk_layerGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr`.