C Specification

The VkInstanceCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkInstanceCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType             sType;
    const void*                 pNext;
    VkInstanceCreateFlags       flags;
    const VkApplicationInfo*    pApplicationInfo;
    uint32_t                    enabledLayerCount;
    const char* const*          ppEnabledLayerNames;
    uint32_t                    enabledExtensionCount;
    const char* const*          ppEnabledExtensionNames;
} VkInstanceCreateInfo;

Members

  • sType is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is a bitmask of VkInstanceCreateFlagBits indicating the behavior of the instance.

  • pApplicationInfo is NULL or a pointer to a VkApplicationInfo structure. If not NULL, this information helps implementations recognize behavior inherent to classes of applications. VkApplicationInfo is defined in detail below.

  • enabledLayerCount is the number of global layers to enable.

  • ppEnabledLayerNames is a pointer to an array of enabledLayerCount null-terminated UTF-8 strings containing the names of layers to enable for the created instance. The layers are loaded in the order they are listed in this array, with the first array element being the closest to the application, and the last array element being the closest to the driver. See the https://registry.khronos.org/vulkan/specs/latest/html/vkspec.html#extendingvulkan-layers section for further details.

  • enabledExtensionCount is the number of global extensions to enable.

  • ppEnabledExtensionNames is a pointer to an array of enabledExtensionCount null-terminated UTF-8 strings containing the names of extensions to enable.

Description

To capture events that occur while creating or destroying an instance, an application can link a VkDebugReportCallbackCreateInfoEXT structure or a VkDebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT structure to the pNext chain of the VkInstanceCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateInstance. This callback is only valid for the duration of the vkCreateInstance and the vkDestroyInstance call. Use vkCreateDebugReportCallbackEXT or vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT to create persistent callback objects.

An application can add additional drivers by including the VkDirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG structure in the pNext chain of the VkInstanceCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateInstance.

Note

VkDirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG allows applications to ship drivers with themselves. Only drivers that are designed to work with it should be used, such as drivers that implement Vulkan in software or that implement Vulkan by translating it to a different API. Any driver that requires installation should not be used, such as hardware drivers.
Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkApplicationInfo, VkInstanceCreateFlags, VkStructureType, vkCreateInstance

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0