/r3f-shaders

name: r3f-shaders
description: Implement custom GLSL or TSL materials in React Three Fiber, including uniforms and vertex deformation. Use for shader code and shader debugging, rather than ordinary PBR settings or composer effects.

React Three Fiber shaders

Select the shader path

Inspect installed Fiber, Drei, Three.js, and renderer versions first. The example uses Fiber 9 / React 19 and WebGL. Preserve an existing project's versions.

• Use built-in materials when their properties express the effect. For custom WebGL shading, use Drei `shaderMaterial` or a native `<shaderMaterial>`.
• WebGPU uses node materials and TSL; GLSL `ShaderMaterial` and `onBeforeCompile` are not portable to it. Read [WebGPU and TSL](references/webgpu.md) only when that renderer is relevant.
• A shader is not automatically lit, shadowed, fogged, instanced, or skinned. Choose the required features before replacing a built-in material.

Animated WebGL material

Mount beneath Canvas. Keep the material class and `extend` call outside render; the local component avoids global JSX augmentation.

import { useRef } from 'react'
import { extend, useFrame } from '@react-three/fiber'
import { shaderMaterial } from '@react-three/drei'
import { Color } from 'three'

const WaveMaterial = shaderMaterial(
  { uTime: 0, uColor: new Color('coral') },
  `uniform float uTime;
   varying vec2 vUv;
   void main() {
     vUv = uv;
     vec3 p = position;
     p.z += sin(p.x * 4.0 + uTime) * 0.15;
     gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(p, 1.0);
   }`,
  `uniform vec3 uColor;
   varying vec2 vUv;
   void main() {
     gl_FragColor = vec4(uColor * (0.4 + 0.6 * vUv.y), 1.0);
     #include <tonemapping_fragment>
     #include <colorspace_fragment>
   }`,
)
const Wave = extend(WaveMaterial)

export default function Example() {
  const material = useRef<InstanceType<typeof WaveMaterial>>(null)
  useFrame((_, delta) => {
    if (material.current) material.current.uTime += delta
  })
  return (
    <mesh>
      <planeGeometry args={[3, 3, 32, 32]} />
      <Wave ref={material} key={WaveMaterial.key} />
    </mesh>
  )
}

Uniforms and compilation

• Drei `shaderMaterial` creates uniform accessors: assign `material.uTime`. Native ShaderMaterial uses `material.uniforms.uTime.value`.
• Keep uniform containers stable; mutate values without setting React state each frame. Do not set `material.needsUpdate` for a value-only uniform change.
• Shader source, defines, and feature changes can require recompilation. Use the class's `key` for hot reload; do not change React keys during animation.
• `extend(Class)` is available in Fiber 9. For a lowercase global element, augment `ThreeElements` with `ThreeElement<typeof Class>`; removed `Object3DNode` is not a replacement for material typing.
• GLSL strings are not checked by TypeScript. Render them and inspect shader compiler errors, including configurations with the actual renderer and effects.
• Shader source sits inside a JavaScript template literal, so a backtick or `${` anywhere in the GLSL, including in its comments, silently ends the string and breaks the module. Write shader comments without backticks and let the type-checker catch it rather than reading for it.

Space, color, and geometry

• Keep normals, light directions, and view directions in the same coordinate space. `normalMatrix * normal` is view space; do not dot it with a world-space camera direction.
• CSS/hex colors passed through `Color` are converted to the linear working space. Numeric uniform vectors are already linear; avoid converting them twice.
• Mark color input textures as `SRGBColorSpace`; data textures use `NoColorSpace`. Texture sampling and output conversion must match the material/renderer pipeline.
• For a WebGL shader writing directly to the canvas, apply tone mapping and output color conversion as in the example. Do not manually gamma-correct and also apply the output chunk. Let a composer own final output when rendering through one.
• Vertex deformation needs sufficient geometry subdivisions. If lighting is required, update normals consistently. For shadows, match deformation in depth/distance materials; CPU raycasts and bounds do not automatically follow GPU deformation.
• Native custom instancing shaders must account for `instanceMatrix` and any per-instance attributes. Skinning and morph targets likewise require their corresponding shader logic.

Patching built-in WebGL materials

Use `onBeforeCompile` only when retaining a built-in material's lighting is useful. Shader chunk names are version-sensitive: inspect the installed source, and render-test after a Three.js update.

Set the callback before first compilation. When a configuration changes generated GLSL, provide a matching `customProgramCacheKey` and trigger recompilation; keep animated values in uniforms. Do not assume `.clone()` or serialization preserves callbacks. Prefer node materials when the task already targets WebGPU.

Sources

• [Drei shaderMaterial](https://drei.docs.pmnd.rs/shaders/shader-material), [Fiber type migration](https://github.com/pmndrs/react-three-fiber/blob/v9.7.0/docs/tutorials/v9-migration-guide.mdx).
• [ShaderMaterial](https://threejs.org/docs/#ShaderMaterial), [color management](https://threejs.org/manual/en/color-management.html).
• [Three.js migration guide](https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/wiki/Migration-Guide) — check only changes through the installed release.