# Metal developer workflows Locate and fix issues related to your app’s use of the Metal API and GPU functions. ## Overview Metal comes with a comprehensive suite of advanced developer tools to help you debug and optimize your Metal apps. ### Runtime diagnostics You can enable API Validation when running your app to check for incorrect Metal API usage. For more information, see [Validating your app’s Metal API usage](/documentation/Xcode/Validating-your-apps-Metal-API-usage). Enable Shader Validation when running your app to check for issues like out-of-bounds memory access, missing `useResource` calls, and stack overflows. For more information, see [Validating your app’s Metal shader usage](/documentation/Xcode/Validating-your-apps-Metal-shader-usage). The Metal Performance HUD offers a visual overlay to catch performance issues while your app is running. For more information, see [Monitoring your Metal app’s graphics performance](/documentation/Xcode/Monitoring-your-Metal-apps-graphics-performance). ### Runtime performance analysis The Metal system trace tool in Instruments provides a visual timeline of the parallel work on the CPU and the GPU, and the memory usage of your Metal app.  You can begin profiling with the Game Performance template (see [Analyzing the performance of your Metal app](/documentation/Xcode/Analyzing-the-performance-of-your-Metal-app)) or the Game Memory template (see [Analyzing the memory usage of your Metal app](/documentation/Xcode/Analyzing-the-memory-usage-of-your-Metal-app)). ### Advanced Metal debugging and profiling The Metal debugger in Xcode provides advanced tools for debugging and profiling your Metal app.  You can get summaries of your Metal workload with the Dependencies viewer and the Memory viewer, inspect individual resources, and selectively debug your shaders. For more information on debugging, see [Investigating visual artifacts](/documentation/Xcode/Investigating-visual-artifacts). In addition, you can optimize your Metal app by drilling down performance bottlenecks with the Performance timeline and the per-line shader profiling results. For more information on profiling, see [Optimizing GPU performance](/documentation/Xcode/Optimizing-GPU-performance). Learn more about [Metal debugger](/documentation/Xcode/Metal-debugger). ## Topics ### Project preparation for debugging Make your Metal app easier to debug by taking a few extra steps as you develop your code. [Building your project with embedded shader sources](/documentation/Xcode/Building-your-project-with-embedded-shader-sources) Prepare to debug your project’s shaders by including source code in the build. [Naming resources and commands](/documentation/Xcode/Naming-resources-and-commands) Enhance the debugging of your Metal app using labels and grouping. [Creating and using custom capture scopes](/documentation/Xcode/Creating-and-using-custom-capture-scopes) Capture specific GPU commands by using custom capture scopes. ### Runtime diagnostics Learn how to use runtime tools to discover potential issues in your Metal app. [Inspecting live resources at runtime](/documentation/Xcode/Inspecting-live-resources-at-runtime) Validate your resources by viewing the contents of your textures and buffers while debugging your Metal app. [Validating your app’s Metal API usage](/documentation/Xcode/Validating-your-apps-Metal-API-usage) Catch runtime issues in your Metal app using API Validation. [Validating your app’s Metal shader usage](/documentation/Xcode/Validating-your-apps-Metal-shader-usage) Catch common shader runtime issues using Shader Validation. [Monitoring your Metal app’s graphics performance](/documentation/Xcode/Monitoring-your-Metal-apps-graphics-performance) Catch performance issues using the Metal Performance HUD while your app runs. [Customizing the Metal Performance HUD](/documentation/Xcode/Customizing-metal-performance-hud) Modify the appearance of your Metal heads-up display to monitor your graphics performance. [Understanding the Metal Performance HUD metrics](/documentation/Xcode/Understanding-metal-performance-hud-metrics) Learn what each of the metrics reported by the heads-up display indicates. [Gaining performance insights with the Metal Performance HUD](/documentation/Xcode/Gaining-performance-insights-with-metal-performance-hud) Catch potential performance issues while your app runs using the Metal heads-up display. [Generating performance reports with the Metal Performance HUD](/documentation/Xcode/Generating-performance-reports-with-metal-performance-hud) Record your app’s performance using the heads-up display. ### Counters Get references for the set of performance metrics available across Metal tools. [Finding your Metal app’s GPU occupancy](/documentation/Xcode/Finding-your-Metal-apps-GPU-occupancy) Understand the GPU usage for executing shaders by using occupancy. [Reducing shader bottlenecks](/documentation/Xcode/Reducing-shader-bottlenecks) Identify and minimize congestion points in a GPU’s subsystems by checking its limiter and utilization counters. [Measuring the GPU’s use of memory bandwidth](/documentation/Xcode/Measuring-the-GPUs-use-of-memory-bandwidth) Check whether your Metal app correctly reads and writes to memory by measuring the GPU’s memory bandwidth. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)