SubShader block in ShaderLab reference

Reference for the SubShader block in ShaderLab.

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Last updated a month ago

Important

The Built-In Render Pipeline is deprecated and will be made obsolete in a future release.

It remains supported, including bug fixes and maintenance, through the full Unity 6.7 LTS lifecycle.

To define a SubShader in ShaderLab, you use a

SubShader

block. This page contains information on using SubShader blocks.

Inside the

SubShader

block, you can:

Assign a LOD (level of detail) value to the SubShader, using the
```
LOD
```
block. See assigning a LOD value to a SubShader.
Assign key-value pairs of data to the SubShader, using the
```
Tags
```
block. See ShaderLab: assigning tags to a SubShader.
Add GPU instructions or shader code to the SubShader, using ShaderLab commands. See ShaderLab: using commands.
Define one or more Passes, using the
```
Pass
```
block. See ShaderLab: defining a Pass.
Specify package requirements using the
```
PackageRequirements
```
block. This makes Unity only run the SubShader if the required packages are installed. See ShaderLab: specifying package requirements.

To target a subshader at a specific render pipeline, use the

RenderPipeline

tag. For more information, refer to SubShader tags in ShaderLab reference.

Render pipeline compatibility

Feature name	Universal Render Pipeline (URP)	High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP)	Custom SRP	Built-in Render Pipeline
ShaderLab: SubShader block	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Signature	Function
`SubShader` `{` `<optional: LOD>` `<optional: tags>` `<optional: commands>` `<One or more Pass definitions>` `}`	Defines a SubShader. You can define as many Passes as you like within a SubShader.