HLSL Developer Environment (Windows)

Windows counterpart to hlsl-dev -- a developer environment for working on LLVM's HLSL features and Microsoft's DirectXShaderCompiler (DXC). Uses PowerShell and Visual Studio instead of Nix.

Unlike hlsl-dev, Windows has no Nix equivalent, so this repo cannot offer the same reproducibility guarantees. It relies on system-installed toolchains managed by Visual Studio and winget.

Prerequisites

• PowerShell 5.1+ -- ships with Windows 10/11. PowerShell 7 also works but is not required.
  • Your execution policy must allow running scripts. If it doesn't, set it with:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

• Visual Studio 2026 (or 2022/2019) with the following workloads and components:
  • Desktop Development with C++ (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop)
  • MSVC x86/x64 build tools (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64)
  • C++ CMake tools for Windows (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project) -- provides CMake and Ninja
  • C++ Clang tools for Windows (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Llvm.Clang) -- provides clang-cl
  • C++ Clang-cl MSBuild toolset (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Llvm.ClangToolset)
  • C++ ATL for latest build tools (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL)
  • Windows 11 SDK 10.0.26100 (Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.26100)
  • Windows Driver Kit (Component.Microsoft.Windows.DriverKit) -- includes TAEF for DXC tests
• Python 3.x (pip install pyyaml for LIT tests)
• Git -- Git-for-Windows' unix tools (usr\bin: bash, grep, sed, diff, etc.) must be on PATH for LLVM LIT tests. install-deps.ps1 configures this automatically.
• Vulkan SDK (https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home)
• Graphics Tools -- Windows optional feature providing the D3D12 debug layer. install-deps.ps1 enables this automatically, or install via Settings > System > Optional Features > Graphics Tools.

Optional:

• sccache (winget install Mozilla.sccache) -- compiler caching for faster rebuilds

You can install everything automatically by running .\install-deps.ps1 in an administrator PowerShell session.

Run .\hlsl-dev.ps1 check-prereqs to verify your setup.

Quickstart

# Open a Visual Studio Developer PowerShell (for Ninja builds)
# or a regular PowerShell (for VS generator builds)

.\hlsl-dev.ps1 check-prereqs
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 setup

# Build DXC
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 configure-dxc
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-dxc

# Build LLVM with HLSL support
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 configure-llvm
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-llvm

Commands

Command	Description
check-prereqs	Verify required tools are installed
setup	Initialize submodules (shallow clone, depth 2)
configure-llvm	Configure LLVM with CMake
build-llvm	Build LLVM (auto-configures if needed)
configure-dxc	Configure DXC with CMake
build-dxc	Build DXC (auto-configures if needed)
fetch-history	Fetch full git history for a submodule
truncate-history	Truncate submodule history to depth 2
update-submodules	Update all submodules to latest upstream

Parameters

Parameter	Values	Default
-BuildType	Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, MinSizeRel	RelWithDebInfo
-Generator	Ninja, VS2026, VS2022, VS2019	Ninja
-Target	Any CMake target (e.g., clang, dxc, check-all, check-hlsl)	(all)
-Repo	Submodule name (for fetch-history/truncate-history)

Examples

# Debug build of DXC with Ninja
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 configure-dxc -BuildType Debug
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-dxc -BuildType Debug

# Generate a Visual Studio solution for DXC
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 configure-dxc -Generator VS2026
# Then open DirectXShaderCompiler\build\LLVM.sln

# Build only the dxc target
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-dxc -Target dxc

# Run HLSL tests in LLVM
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-llvm -Target check-hlsl

# Run all DXC tests
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 build-dxc -Target check-all

# Fetch full history for a submodule (for rebasing, PRs, etc.)
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 fetch-history -Repo llvm-project

# Truncate it back to save disk space
.\hlsl-dev.ps1 truncate-history -Repo llvm-project

Ninja vs Visual Studio Generator

Ninja (default): Faster builds, single-config. Requires running from a Visual Studio Developer PowerShell so MSVC is on PATH.

VS2026/VS2022/VS2019: Generates an LLVM.sln solution file. Multi-config (switch Debug/Release in IDE). Best for debugging in Visual Studio.

Differences from the Nix Version

Nix (Linux)	Windows
Clang + LLD toolchain	MSVC (via Visual Studio)
nix develop manages all deps	.\install-deps.ps1 or manual install
mask task runner	.\hlsl-dev.ps1 PowerShell script
sccache always available	sccache optional (auto-detected)
-DLLVM_ENABLE_LLD=ON	Not set (MSVC uses its own linker)
vkd3d-proton, vulkan-loader	Not included (Windows has native D3D12)