Sheet 6/10 — Platform · Graphics
mzVKI
A thin, honest wrapper around the Vulkan API.
| Layer | Platform · Graphics |
|---|---|
| Language | C |
| Targets | portable |
| Depends on | — or any hardware Vulkan driver; pairs with mzVolk for CPU-only machines |
| Used by | zui3d |
| Organization | microZeus |
| Source | Private alpha — opens with a change order on this site’s log |
General notes
mzVKI wraps Vulkan API calls in a thin C interface and offloads the actual work to whatever Vulkan driver is present. It is deliberately not an abstraction layer that hides Vulkan — it is the ecosystem’s single, consistent point of contact with the API, so that everything above it (like zui3d) speaks one dialect.
Because mzVKI only requires a conforming ICD, it runs equally happily on a hardware driver or on mzVolk, the microZeus software implementation — which means the whole graphics stack above it works on machines with no GPU at all.
Bill of materials — what’s in the box
- Thin wrapper — Vulkan semantics preserved, boilerplate removed
- Driver-agnostic: hardware Vulkan or mzVolk software driver
- Runs freestanding on mzOS2 over mzVolk — the wrapper on the microZeus OS, no host driver
- Metal surfaces on Apple (VK_EXT_metal_surface) with MoltenVK portability handling built in
- Pure C, small surface area, easy to audit