SubShader block in ShaderLab reference

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.
For more information on migration, refer to Migrating from the Built-In Render Pipeline to the Universal Render Pipeline and Render pipeline feature comparison.

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

Syntax

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.

Additional resources

SubShader in ShaderLab reference

LOD directive in ShaderLab reference