Kanagawa Microsoft

programming-language programminglanguage requirescmd wavefront-threading-for-hardware-design wavefrontthreadingforhardwaredesign

Use this command to install Kanagawa:

winget install --id=Microsoft.Kanagawa -e

Kanagawa is a high-level, imperative programming language designed for hardware design, introducing Wavefront Threading—a novel execution model that hardwires concurrency for efficient and predictable parallel hardware. Unlike traditional HLS tools requiring pragmas and heuristics, Kanagawa allows direct expression of concurrency, synchronization, and scheduling in code, combining software-like productivity with RTL efficiency.

Key Features:

Wavefront Threading: Threads execute deterministically, reducing synchronization complexity.
Wavefront Consistency: A memory model aligned with synchronous circuits for clarity and correctness.
Composable Abstractions: Utilizes functions, lambdas, closures, and strong static typing for zero-cost abstractions.
Reusable Libraries: Includes generic data structures, algorithms, and IP blocks like RISC-V cores.
Productivity & Efficiency: Designs match or surpass RTL in area, performance, and power with less code.

Audience & Benefit: Ideal for hardware designers seeking both productivity and efficiency. Kanagawa enables faster design exploration of scheduling tradeoffs without rewriting code. Real-world applications include Azure accelerators and RISC-V cores, often outperforming SystemVerilog designs with significantly less code.

Installable via winget, Kanagawa bridges the gap between high-level programming and efficient hardware implementation, offering a powerful tool for modern hardware design challenges.

Kanagawa: Wavefront Threading for Hardware Design

Kanagawa is a high-level, imperative programming language for hardware design. It introduces Wavefront Threading, a new execution model that makes concurrency explicit, enabling efficient and predictable parallel hardware.

Unlike traditional HLS tools, which often require pragmas and heuristics to guide the compiler, Kanagawa allows you to directly express concurrency, synchronization, and scheduling in code. This combines the productivity of software-like programming with the performance and efficiency of hand-written RTL.

For a detailed discussion of the language, see the ACM paper, Wavefront Threading Enables Effective High-Level Synthesis

Background

Kanagawa addresses a longstanding challenge in digital design: bridging the gap between high-level programming and efficient hardware implementation. Conventional HDLs like Verilog and VHDL offer control but little abstraction. Existing HLS tools promise productivity but often fall short in predictable performance. Kanagawa takes a different approach.

Key Features

Wavefront Threading: Threads execute in a deterministic order, eliminating much of the synchronization burden.
Wavefront Consistency: A memory model aligned with synchronous circuits for clarity and correctness.
Composable Abstractions: Functions, lambdas, closures, and strong static typing provide zero-cost abstractions.
Reusable Libraries: Includes generic data structures, algorithms, and IP blocks (e.g., RISC-V cores, floating point).

Productivity and Efficiency

Kanagawa designs are highly competitive with hand-written RTL in area, performance, and power, while requiring far less code. Programmers can quickly explore design tradeoffs—static scheduling, dynamic scheduling, speculative execution—without rewriting entire designs.

Real-World Impact

Kanagawa has been used for accelerators in Microsoft Azure, cryptographic research prototypes, and even full RISC-V cores. In benchmarks, Kanagawa implementations have matched or surpassed SystemVerilog designs, often with less than half the code.

Open Source

This repository provides the Kanagawa language, compiler toolchain, and libraries. We welcome contributions from hardware designers, language researchers, and anyone curious about pushing hardware programming forward.

A note about licensing

The Kanagawa compiler, library, documentation and all components, with the exception of sandcastle, are licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE and NOTICE.md in the root of the enlistment for further details.

Kanagawa Microsoft

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