Embed SPIR-V shaders into binary instead of loading from disk

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Summary

This PR refactors shader loading to embed compiled SPIR-V shaders directly into the application binary as C++ headers, eliminating the need to distribute and load shader files from disk at runtime.

Key Changes

• New CMake shader embedding pipeline: Added cmake/EmbedShaders.cmake script that converts compiled SPIR-V binary files into C++ headers with inline constexpr arrays and a registry function for shader lookup by name
• Updated CMakeLists.txt: Modified the compile_shaders() function to generate an embedded_shaders.hpp header after shader compilation, and removed the post-build copy step that distributed shader files
• New shader loader utility: Created src/core/shader_loader.hpp with loadEmbeddedShader() function that retrieves shader bytecode from embedded data instead of reading from disk
• Updated shader loading in Pipeline: Modified Pipeline::readFile() in src/core/pipeline.cpp to use the new embedded shader loader
• Updated shader loading in SkeletonRenderer: Modified readShaderFile() in src/render/skeleton_renderer.cpp to use the new embedded shader loader

Implementation Details

• The EmbedShaders.cmake script reads compiled SPIR-V files as hex and generates a C++ header with:
  • Individual constexpr uint8_t arrays for each shader
  • Inline accessor functions returning std::span<const uint8_t>
  • A getShader(std::string_view name) registry function for runtime lookup
• Shader names are extracted from filenames (e.g., "basic.vert.spv") to support the registry lookup
• The generated header is added to the target's include directories automatically
• No external shader files need to be distributed with the application

Benefits

• Simplified deployment (no separate shader files to manage)
• Guaranteed shader availability at runtime
• Potential for better optimization by the compiler
• Reduced file I/O overhead

https://claude.ai/code/session_01UadMuMoxicsQ6dJ1vvEURj

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR successfully refactors the shader loading system to embed compiled SPIR-V shaders directly into the application binary as C++ headers, eliminating runtime file I/O dependencies. The implementation is clean, well-structured, and maintains backward compatibility.

Key changes:

• Created cmake/EmbedShaders.cmake script that converts SPIR-V binaries to C++ headers with constexpr arrays and a name-based lookup registry
• Modified CMakeLists.txt to integrate shader embedding into the build pipeline and removed the post-build shader file copying
• Added src/core/shader_loader.hpp utility that wraps the embedded shader access with error handling
• Updated Pipeline::readFile() and readShaderFile() to use embedded shaders while maintaining API compatibility by extracting filenames from paths

Benefits:

• Simplified deployment (no shader files to distribute)
• Eliminated runtime file I/O overhead
• Guaranteed shader availability at runtime
• Clean separation between CMake generation and C++ consumption layers

Confidence Score: 5/5

• This PR is safe to merge with no issues found
• Clean refactoring with well-designed architecture, proper error handling, and no breaking changes
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
cmake/EmbedShaders.cmake	New CMake script to convert SPIR-V binaries to C++ header with constexpr arrays and lookup registry
CMakeLists.txt	Modified shader compilation to generate embedded header and removed post-build copy step
src/core/shader_loader.hpp	New utility to load embedded shaders by name from generated header
src/core/pipeline.cpp	Replaced file I/O with embedded shader loading, extracts filename from path for compatibility
src/render/skeleton_renderer.cpp	Replaced file I/O with embedded shader loading in readShaderFile function

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