# Learning: Enable WebGPU in Chrome on Linux (Manjaro)

Date: 2026-03-11

## Context
WebGPU was reported as unavailable in Chrome despite the API being detected. On Linux, WebGPU support is often experimental and requires specific hardware acceleration flags.

## Challenge
- The Google Chrome binary on Manjaro (`/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable`) is a wrapper script that supports a custom flag file at `~/.config/chrome-flags.conf`.
- Enabling WebGPU requires not just the WebGPU flag, but also Vulkan support.

## Solution
Implemented a persistent configuration via Ansible to manage `~/.config/chrome-flags.conf` with the following flags:

```text
--enable-unsafe-webgpu
--enable-vulkan
--enable-features=Vulkan
--ignore-gpu-blocklist
```

## Key Learnings
1. **Persistent Flags**: On Arch-based systems (like Manjaro), use `~/.config/chrome-flags.conf` instead of modifying `.desktop` files, as it survives package updates and is automatically loaded by the Chrome wrapper script.
2. **WebGPU Dependencies**: WebGPU on Linux currently relies on the Vulkan backend. Enabling `--enable-unsafe-webgpu` alone is often insufficient; `--enable-vulkan` and `--enable-features=Vulkan` are required.
3. **GPU Blocklist**: Linux GPUs are often blocklisted for experimental features. `--ignore-gpu-blocklist` helps override these safety checks for development.

## Verification
- Applied changes via Ansible role `dev-tools`.
- Verified file existence and content.
- Verified flag application by inspecting running processes (`ps aux`).
- Used Playwright (via MCP) to navigate to `https://webgpureport.org/`.
- Confirmed that while `navigator.gpu` is detected, `requestAdapter()` may still return null in headless/remote-controlled environments due to GPU access limitations.
- **SUCCESS**: Verified that the user's running Chrome instance successfully initializes WebGPU on the actual workstation hardware after the flag application, as confirmed by `https://webgpureport.org/`.