vkCreateInstance(3)

# vkCreateInstance(3) Manual Page

## Name

vkCreateInstance - Create a new Vulkan instance

## C Specification

To create an instance object, call:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    VkResult vkCreateInstance(
        const VkInstanceCreateInfo*                 pCreateInfo,
        const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
        VkInstance*                                 pInstance);

## Parameters

- `pCreateInfo` is a pointer to a VkInstanceCreateInfo structure controlling creation of the instance.

- `pAllocator` controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

- `pInstance` points a VkInstance handle in which the resulting instance is returned.

## Description

`vkCreateInstance` verifies that the requested layers exist. If not, `vkCreateInstance` will return VK_ERROR_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT. Next `vkCreateInstance` verifies that the requested extensions are supported (e.g. in the implementation or in any enabled instance layer) and if any requested extension is not supported, `vkCreateInstance` must return VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT. After verifying and enabling the instance layers and extensions the `VkInstance` object is created and returned to the application. If a requested extension is only supported by a layer, both the layer and the extension need to be specified at `vkCreateInstance` time for the creation to succeed.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCreateInstance-ppEnabledExtensionNames-01388
  All required extensions for each extension in the VkInstanceCreateInfo::`ppEnabledExtensionNames` list must also be present in that list

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCreateInstance-pCreateInfo-parameter
  `pCreateInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkInstanceCreateInfo structure

- VUID-vkCreateInstance-pAllocator-parameter
  If `pAllocator` is not `NULL`, `pAllocator` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

- VUID-vkCreateInstance-pInstance-parameter
  `pInstance` must be a valid pointer to a VkInstance handle

Return Codes

On success, this command returns

  - VK_SUCCESS

On failure, this command returns

  - VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT

  - VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

  - VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

  - VK_ERROR_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT

  - VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

  - VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  - VK_ERROR_UNKNOWN

  - VK_ERROR_VALIDATION_FAILED

## See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkAllocationCallbacks, VkInstance, VkInstanceCreateInfo

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification.

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0