Python API

RenderDoc exposes a significant amount of functionality to custom python scripting. This documentation will walk you through how to get started, showing examples of one-off scripts and permanent UI extensions.

Scripting this way can help automate or simplify common patterns you use, and personalise RenderDoc for your specific needs or wants.

RenderDoc’s internal APIs are exposed directly to python, meaning any feature exposed in the UI will be accessible in some way to python as well. Many aspects of the UI itself are also accessible, and that can be extended in future by request.

It’s assumed that you have a basic familiarity with python or can learn the syntax.

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• Tutorial: First Steps with Python
  • Python Scripting panel
  • Your first script
  • Breaking it down
  • Next steps
• Tutorial: UI extensions
  • Creating an extension
  • Enabling the extension
  • Editing your extension
  • Breaking it down
  • Next steps
• Python IDE integration
  • VS Code quick setup
  • Python Stubs
  • Python Debugging
  • Debugging workflow
  • Next steps
• Python FAQ
  • What can I do if I hit a crash while running my python script?
  • Is there a more useful object preview in the REPL/print?
  • Why can’t I see the new UI panel I created?
  • Can I run python scripts from the command line?
  • What version compatibility guarantees does python API provide?
  • Can I get more access to the UI for customisation?
  • Can I get callbacks when captures are loaded/closed or events are selected?
  • Can I access these APIs in C++?
  • Can I freely modify and use data I obtain from the APIs?
  • Can I use Python scripting together with Android?
  • Why doesn’t VS Code apply breakpoints or catch exceptions properly?
  • Why do the examples have a preamble for pyrenderdoc?
• Python Examples
  • Example: Show buffer with format
    • Fetching Buffer Metadata
    • Opening Buffer Viewer
    • Fetching Buffer Contents
    • Example Source
  • Example: Show and save a texture
    • Fetching Texture Metadata
    • Opening in Texture Viewer
    • Saving Texture to Disk
    • Example Source
  • Example: Iterating over Actions
    • Beginning recursion of action tree
    • Recursing into marker regions
    • Counting other actions
    • Final Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Pipeline State
    • Output bindings
    • Pipeline objects and shaders
    • Shader Binding Helpers
    • Direct descriptor information
    • Sample Output
    • API-specific pipelines
    • Example Source
  • Example: Shader Reflection
    • Input & Output signatures
    • Constant Block Bindings
    • Texture & Sampler Bindings
    • Debug Information
    • Shader Disassembly
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Resource Usage
    • Selecting the resources
    • Querying usage list
    • Finding adjacent usage
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Memory bindings
    • Memory information
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Pixel History & Shader Debug
    • Choosing a pixel
    • Configuring Pixel History
    • Running Pixel History
    • Examining Pixel History
    • Launching pixel debug
    • Simulating debug session
    • Examining debug shader states
    • Source Variables and Instruction info
    • Displaying debug session in the UI
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Mesh Output
    • Selecting an action
    • Retrieving mesh output data
    • Fetching indices
    • Fetching vertex data
    • Decoding vertex data
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Advanced Buffers
    • Expected environment
    • Selecting a starting point
    • Introspecting pointers
    • Pointer addresses
    • Custom buffer formats
    • Interpreting data to structure
    • Sample Output
    • Example Source
  • Example: Launching an application
    • Configuring capture
    • Launching capture
    • Capture connection
    • Example Source
  • Example: Adding a custom event browser filter
    • Registration
    • Filtering
    • Parsing
    • Auto-complete
    • Example Source
• Further Reading on Python Scripting
  • Resource IDs
  • Event IDs
    • Actions
    • API parameters
  • Current Frame Event
    • Selected vs Current event
  • Frame Viewers
  • Replay Controller
  • Threading in RenderDoc’s UI
    • Replay thread
    • Python script thread
  • Object Lifetimes
    • Plain structures
    • RenderDoc-owned objects
    • Actions
    • Structured data
    • Shader Reflection
    • Widgets
    • Shader traces
  • Shader Reflection
    • Binding interfaces
    • Common properties
    • Constant blocks
    • Samplers
    • Read-only resources
    • Read-write resources
    • Debug information
    • Source code
    • Compiler & Binary information
    • Debugging
  • Descriptors and Bindings
    • Overview
    • Descriptor Access
    • Descriptor Contents
    • Shader Bindings
    • Location and binding information
    • API-specific information
      • D3D11
      • OpenGL
      • D3D12
      • Vulkan
  • Structured Data
    • Structured Objects
    • Serialised Capture data
  • Mini-Qt Helper
    • Creating widgets
    • Widget layouts
    • Widget properties
    • Widget callbacks
    • Example and Conclusion
  • Replay Outputs
    • Creating an output
    • Configuring an output
    • Rendering an output
    • Sub-windows
    • Extra helpers
  • Capture File Access
    • Accessing capture files
    • Opening capture for replay
    • Capture file formats
    • Capture data
    • Capture sections
    • ASCII sections
  • Launching programs manually
    • Starting a program
    • Connecting to a running program
    • Target control
    • Transferring captures
  • Remote Replay
    • Remote Servers
    • Capture transfer
    • API selection
    • Opening a capture
• Using Python Module Manually
  • Building the module
  • Targeting a different python version
    • Windows
    • Linux
  • Loading the module
    • Windows
    • Linux
  • Using RenderDoc’s API directly
• API Reference: renderdoc
• API Reference: qrenderdoc