# pixijs-core-concepts

Explains how PixiJS v8 puts frames on screen: backend selection, the render loop, RenderTexture work and context loss recovery.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 6000 installs · ★ 358
- Author: pixijs
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/pixijs-core-concepts

## What it does

This skill covers what happens under the hood when PixiJS v8 renders. The renderer is built from systems and pipes: lifecycle services for textures, buffers, state, filters and masks, plus instruction builders for sprites, graphics, mesh, particles, text and tiling. It also walks through how `autoDetectRenderer` picks between `WebGLRenderer`, `WebGPURenderer` and `CanvasRenderer`, and how `app.ticker.add()` drives per-frame work.

A section on common mistakes comes with code samples. The big one: `Application.init()` is async, so `app.renderer`, `app.canvas` and `app.screen` do not exist until the promise resolves. Another: call `DOMAdapter.set(WebWorkerAdapter)` before `init()`, otherwise the wrong adapter is baked into the renderer. And `preference` is a hint, not a demand — if the browser lacks WebGPU, PixiJS falls back to WebGL or Canvas, so branch on `renderer.name` for backend-specific code.

Two reference files go deeper: `references/renderers.md` on preference forms and per-renderer options, `references/render-loop.md` on priority order and manual rendering. Related topics live in separate skills — `pixijs-application`, `pixijs-ticker`, `pixijs-environments`, `pixijs-custom-rendering`. Rendering into a texture works by passing `target` to `renderer.render()`, or by building a `RenderTarget` with explicit color and depth attachments.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-core-concepts -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-core-concepts -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-core-concepts -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install pixijs/pixijs-skills pixijs-core-concepts
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-core-concepts -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills --path skills/pixijs-core-concepts
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-core-concepts -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/pixijs-core-concepts/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- figure out which backend PixiJS will pick and why
- trace the order of ticker callbacks against the draw call
- render the stage into a RenderTexture or a custom RenderTarget
- fix a crash from reading `app.renderer` before `await app.init()`
- plan recovery for WebGL context loss or WebGPU device loss

## Example prompts
- explain how PixiJS v8 chooses between WebGPU and WebGL and what autoDetectRenderer does
- why is app.renderer undefined right after init and how do I fix it
- render app.stage into a RenderTexture and extract the texture from it

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 18b41c72c18e6755.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 18b41c72c18e6755
````text
---
name: pixijs-core-concepts
description: "Use this skill when understanding how PixiJS v8 renders frames: the systems-and-pipes renderer, the render loop, and how the library adapts to different environments. Covers WebGLRenderer/WebGPURenderer/CanvasRenderer selection, renderer.render() pipeline, environment detection, rendering into RenderTextures and RenderTargets (flipY, mipLevel, layer, bind/push/pop, copyDepthTexture), WebGL context loss and WebGPU device loss recovery, and pointers to per-topic deep dives. Triggers on: renderer, WebGL, WebGPU, Canvas, render loop, render pipeline, systems, environments, autoDetectRenderer, RenderTexture, RenderTarget, render to texture, flipY, mipLevel, layer, 3D texture, depth slice, renderTarget.bind, copyToTexture, copyDepthTexture, depth-only, WebGLLoader, WebGPULoader, CanvasLoader, RendererLoader, lazy-load renderer systems, code splitting, context lost, webglcontextlost, device lost, GPUDevice.lost."
license: MIT
---

Foundational model for how PixiJS v8 gets pixels on the screen: the renderer decides which GPU backend to use, the render loop drives per-frame work, and the environment layer adapts the library to browser, Web Worker, or SSR contexts. For the scene graph itself (Containers, transforms, destroy), see `pixijs-scene-core-concepts`.

## Quick Start

```ts
console.log(app.renderer.name); // 'webgl' | 'webgpu' | 'canvas'

app.ticker.add((ticker) => {
  sprite.rotation += 0.01 * ticker.deltaTime;
});

const tex = app.renderer.extract.texture({ target: app.stage });

app.renderer.render({ container: app.stage });
```

`app.renderer` is the `WebGLRenderer`, `WebGPURenderer`, or `CanvasRenderer` chosen by `autoDetectRenderer`. The TickerPlugin drives `renderer.render()` automatically; call it manually only with `autoStart: false`. Backend selection happens in `Application.init({ preference })`; see `pixijs-application` for setup.

**Related skills:** `pixijs-application` (Application construction and lifecycle), `pixijs-ticker` (per-frame logic, priorities, FPS capping), `pixijs-environments` (Web Worker, SSR, strict CSP), `pixijs-custom-rendering` (writing a RenderPipe), `pixijs-scene-core-concepts` (scene graph basics).

## Topics
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 18b41c72c18e6755

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 18b41c72c18e6755 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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