Design Atlas
Type
gallery
Verdict
Useful
Licence
Conditional licence, mixedmixedBrowsing and authoring are free; API keys are free but require Silver or Gold account status, and API use is capped at 1,500 requests per month at review. Each shader's author controls its licence; the default when none is selected is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. The platform and editor are proprietary.
Agent channels
api
Pricing
freemium
Reviewed

← Atlas · Topics: 3d-and-shaders, inspiration

Shadertoy ​

Type
gallery
Verdict
Useful
Licence
Conditional licence, mixedmixedBrowsing and authoring are free; API keys are free but require Silver or Gold account status, and API use is capped at 1,500 requests per month at review. Each shader's author controls its licence; the default when none is selected is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. The platform and editor are proprietary.
Agent channels
api
Pricing
freemium
Reviewed

What it is ​

Shadertoy is a community gallery and browser editor for real-time GLSL fragment shaders. Public examples run in a WebGL canvas and can expose their source, inputs and rendering passes alongside the image.

When to open it ​

Open it for procedural backgrounds, lighting, materials and abstract motion that can be studied as both a rendered effect and shader code. Use the filters and tags to find a specific visual technique, then inspect a working example such as 1D Radial Lightmap Test.

Most useful ​

  • Live shader canvas makes color, light and motion visible directly in the page; the tested radial-light example rendered a colored volumetric scene while its GLSL remained beside it.
  • Multipass and input controls reveal when an effect depends on buffers, textures, audio or other inputs instead of a single fragment function.
  • Source beside output makes it possible to connect a visual result to the rendering technique that produced it.

Using it with agents ​

The official API guide documents query and shader endpoints. API keys are free, but require Silver or Gold account status and are limited to 1,500 requests per month at review. A shader must be published as “Public + API” to be available through the API. Check each shader's licence before using or adapting its code; API clients must credit the Shadertoy API.

Watch out for ​

  • Some shaders compile slowly or fail on a given browser or device; confirm the live canvas renders before relying on an example.
  • The default shader licence is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 only when its author has not selected another licence. Read the individual shader's licence before reuse.
  • Many examples are experiments or full-screen effects rather than components designed for ordinary page layouts.

Reusable ideas ​

  • Keep the rendered result and source visible together so an effect can be inspected and learned from.
  • Make a shader's buffers and inputs discoverable; they explain the structure behind complex visual output.
  • Use one strong procedural visual as a focal point, then keep surrounding controls and navigation quiet.

Grainient, MetalForge, mesh3d