What does Stims need to run?

A browser with WebGL2 and hardware acceleration turned on. Stims uses WebGPU where the browser supports it and falls back to WebGL2 otherwise.

Does Stims work on mobile phones and tablets?

Yes. The controls work by touch, and when a phone cannot keep up Stims lowers resolution, feedback-buffer size, and particle density so the preset keeps moving.

How do I play audio in Stims?

Press Play demo to start with built-in audio that needs no permission. You can also use a microphone, a local file, a browser tab, or a YouTube link.

Before you start

Compatibility and performance

Stims runs in any browser with WebGL2. It uses WebGPU where the browser supports it, and lowers its own detail when frames start dropping.

Open Stims Browse presets

Best case

A recent laptop or desktop

Heavy presets need a discrete or recent integrated GPU and up-to-date graphics drivers to run at full resolution.

When frames drop

Same preset, less detail

Stims lowers resolution, feedback-buffer size, and particle density. The preset's equations and its response to audio do not change.

First run

Start with demo audio

Play demo needs no microphone or tab permission. Switch to your own audio once a preset is running.

By device

What to expect

Expected behavior by device
Device	Expect
Recent desktop or laptop	Full resolution on most presets, including the heaviest shaders.
Older laptop or integrated graphics	Detail drops on heavy presets to hold the frame rate.
Laptop on battery	Capped at 60fps, and at 30fps below 35% charge. Settings can turn this off.
Phone or tablet	Starts at a lower quality step. Touch gestures change and steer presets.
TV browser	Choose TV balanced in Settings and leave the other options alone.

Automatic

What Stims changes on its own

Resolution, feedback-buffer size, and particle density.
Detail steps back up once frames have room again.
Settings shows whether detail is currently below what you chose.

Manual

If a preset stutters

In Settings → Visuals and display, pick Battery saver.
Lower Resolution limit or Particle density under Performance.
Set Renderer to WebGL if WebGPU misbehaves on your machine.

One measurement

How performance changes are checked

A code change is benchmarked in a real browser with the preset, audio, viewport, renderer, and quality step held constant. In one equation-heavy WebGPU case on an Apple M1 Max, a JIT change cut average frame work from 17.56 ms to 15.31 ms at 4× CPU throttling, and median FPS went from 58.14 to 59.88.

That is one preset on one machine, not a promise about yours. The method, and the noisier tier that was left out, are in the repository's runtime performance notes .

First steps

Getting started

Open Stims and press Play demo.
Press → or swipe to try other presets.
Then switch to your own audio: a microphone, a file, a tab, or a YouTube link.

Keep going