## 8.10. Compute Shaders

Compute shaders are invoked via `vkCmdDispatch` and `vkCmdDispatchIndirect` commands. In general, they have access to similar resources as shader stages executing as part of a graphics pipeline.

Compute workloads are formed from groups of work items called workgroups and processed by the compute shader in the current compute pipeline. A workgroup is a collection of shader invocations that execute the same shader, potentially in parallel. Compute shaders execute in global workgroups which are divided into a number of local workgroups with a size that can be set by assigning a value to the `LocalSize` execution mode or via an object decorated by the `WorkgroupSize` decoration. An invocation within a local workgroup can share data with other members of the local workgroup through shared variables and issue memory and control flow barriers to synchronize with other members of the local workgroup.