webgpu-errors-device-loss

WebGPU Device Loss and Recovery

Handle the GPUDevice.lost promise correctly and rebuild GPU state after a loss with an explicit, reason-checked re-initialization, never a silent retry loop.

Quick Reference

GPUDevice.lost is a read-only Promise<GPUDeviceLostInfo> that stays pending for the device's whole lifetime and resolves once when the device becomes unusable. It NEVER rejects. The resolved GPUDeviceLostInfo carries reason and message.

Applies to WebGPU 1.0-stable (Chrome 113+, Safari 26+, Firefox 141+).

GPUDeviceLostInfo.reason	Meaning	Recover?
"destroyed"	The app called device.destroy() deliberately.	NEVER
"unknown"	Transient external cause: GPU process crash, driver update, hardware removed, browser reclaiming resources.	YES, reason-checked

Device loss also happens implicitly on an unrecoverable out-of-memory or internal error. Such a loss surfaces with reason === "unknown".

Fact	Rule
device.lost	Read-only property, resolves once, never rejects.
Old GPUDevice after loss	Permanently dead. NEVER reuse it.
Old GPUAdapter after loss	May be invalid (GPU unplugged). ALWAYS re-request.
Old buffers/textures/pipelines/bind groups	Bound to the dead device. NEVER reuse. Recreate every one.

Decision Tree

device.lost resolves with info
│
├── info.reason === "destroyed"
│      └── The app shut the device down on purpose.
│          ACTION: stop. Do NOT recover. Recovery would fight the app's own teardown.
│
└── info.reason === "unknown"  (transient or implicit OOM/internal)
       └── ACTION: run the explicit recovery sequence.
              1. Re-request a fresh GPUAdapter (the old one may be invalid).
              2. Request a fresh GPUDevice from that adapter.
              3. Recreate EVERY GPU resource against the new device.
              4. Re-attach a new device.lost handler to the new device.
              │
              ├── recovery succeeded → resume rendering.
              └── recovery failed after a bounded number of attempts
                     → surface a persistent-failure message to the user. STOP.

Core Patterns

Pattern 1: ALWAYS attach the handler immediately after requestDevice

ALWAYS register the device.lost handler in the same async step that creates the device, before any rendering starts. A loss that happens before the handler is attached still resolves the promise, so the handler runs as soon as it is added.

const device = await adapter.requestDevice();
device.lost.then(handleDeviceLost); // attached before the first frame

Pattern 2: ALWAYS branch on reason before recovering

ALWAYS check info.reason first. NEVER call requestDevice() after a "destroyed" loss.

function handleDeviceLost(info) {
  console.error(`WebGPU device lost: ${info.reason} : ${info.message}`);
  if (info.reason === "destroyed") return;   // intentional teardown: do nothing
  recoverWebGPU();                           // transient: explicit re-init
}

Pattern 3: ALWAYS re-request the adapter, never reuse the old one

ALWAYS call navigator.gpu.requestAdapter() again during recovery. The old adapter may be invalid because the physical GPU was unplugged or replaced. NEVER hold the pre-loss adapter and call requestDevice() on it.

Pattern 4: ALWAYS recreate every GPU resource against the new device

Every GPUBuffer, GPUTexture, GPUSampler, GPUShaderModule, GPURenderPipeline, GPUComputePipeline, GPUBindGroupLayout, GPUPipelineLayout, and GPUBindGroup is owned by the device that created it. After loss those objects are dead. ALWAYS rebuild all of them and reconfigure the canvas context on the new device. NEVER pass a pre-loss resource to a post-loss command encoder.

Pattern 5: ALWAYS bound the recovery attempts and surface persistent failure

NEVER loop requestDevice() until it succeeds. A permanent hardware fault makes that loop spin forever. ALWAYS cap recovery to a fixed small number of attempts and, when the cap is reached, surface an explicit error to the user.

let recoveryAttempts = 0;
const MAX_RECOVERY_ATTEMPTS = 3;

async function recoverWebGPU() {
  recoveryAttempts += 1;
  if (recoveryAttempts > MAX_RECOVERY_ATTEMPTS) {
    showUserError("WebGPU could not recover. Reload the page.");
    return;
  }
  await initWebGPU(); // re-request adapter + device, recreate all resources
}

Pattern 6: ALWAYS treat device.lost as a resolved promise

device.lost resolves; it does not reject. ALWAYS consume it with await or .then(). NEVER wrap it in try/catch expecting a rejection, and NEVER add a .catch() and treat that path as the loss handler.

Common Anti-Patterns

1. Calling requestDevice() in a loop without checking reason or bounding attempts. On a "destroyed" loss it fights the app's own shutdown; on a permanent hardware fault it busy-loops. Either way it masks the root cause.
2. Recreating the device after a "destroyed" loss. The app destroyed the device on purpose; resurrecting it reverses an intentional decision and leaks GPU work.
3. Reusing the pre-loss adapter, or reusing buffers, textures, pipelines, or bind groups created by the lost device. They belong to a dead device and every command that touches them fails validation.

See references/anti-patterns.md for the WHY behind each failure.

Critical Warnings

• NEVER recover when info.reason === "destroyed".
• NEVER reuse the lost GPUDevice, its GPUAdapter, or any resource it created.
• NEVER run an unbounded requestDevice() retry loop; it spins forever on a permanent fault and hides the real problem.
• NEVER treat device.lost as a rejecting promise; it always resolves.
• NEVER use a try/catch-and-retry wrapper as device-loss handling; loss is not a thrown exception, it is a resolved promise.
• ALWAYS surface a persistent failure to the user after a bounded attempt count instead of retrying silently.

Reference Files

• references/methods.md: device.lost, GPUDeviceLostInfo, device.destroy(), and the recovery sequence step by step.
• references/examples.md: verified working code for the correct recovery pattern and reason-checked re-initialization.
• references/anti-patterns.md: device-loss mistakes with WHY-it-fails analysis.

Related skills: webgpu-core-architecture (adapter and device lifecycle), webgpu-errors-validation (GPUValidationError and error scopes), webgpu-core-limits-features (re-negotiating features on the new device).