Metal.NET 1.4.2

Metal.NET

C# bindings for Apple's Metal graphics API, auto-generated from metal-cpp headers.

Installation

dotnet add package Metal.NET

Requirements: .NET 10+, macOS 15+

Quick Start

using Metal.NET;

MTLDevice device = MTLDevice.CreateSystemDefaultDevice();

using MTLCommandQueue queue = device.NewCommandQueue();

using MTLLibrary library = device.NewDefaultLibrary();

Memory Management

Every NativeObject wrapper has a NativeObjectOwnership that controls its lifetime:

// Managed – finalizer will release if not disposed
var desc = new MTLTextureDescriptor();

// Owned – caller is responsible for disposal
using MTLLibrary library = device.NewDefaultLibrary();

// Borrowed – do not dispose
MTLDevice device = commandQueue.Device;

Project Structure

Metal.NET.slnx
├── Metal.NET/                          ← Runtime library
│   ├── Common/                         ← Hand-written interop core
│   │   ├── NativeObject.cs             ← Base class for all ObjC wrappers
│   │   ├── NativeBlock.cs              ← Base class for ObjC block wrappers
│   │   ├── ObjectiveC.cs               ← Auto-generated objc_msgSend overloads
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── Foundation/                     ← Hand-written NS* wrappers
│   ├── Metal/                          ← Auto-generated Metal API (231 files)
│   │   ├── MTLDelegates.cs             ← Auto-generated block handler classes
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── MetalFX/                        ← Auto-generated MetalFX API (18 files)
│   └── QuartzCore/                     ← Auto-generated QuartzCore API (2 files)
│
└── Metal.NET.Generator/                ← Code generator
    ├── CppParser.cs                    ← Parses metal-cpp headers
    ├── CSharpEmitter.cs                ← Emits C# source files
    ├── TypeMapper.cs                   ← C++ → C# type mapping
    └── metal-cpp/                      ← Upstream metal-cpp headers

Updating Bindings

1. Replace Metal.NET.Generator/metal-cpp/ with the latest metal-cpp archive.

2. Run the generator and verify:

   dotnet run --project Metal.NET.Generator
   dotnet build Metal.NET
   

Disclaimer

This library was built with AI assistance. It has undergone preliminary testing but has not been exhaustively validated in production scenarios. Please test thoroughly before production use.

Alternatives

• SharpMetal
• dotnet/macios

License

MIT License · "Metal" is a trademark of Apple Inc. · See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.