Metal shader fails to compile on macOS 26.1
00:57 08 Dec 2025

I’m working on a SwiftUI / Metal project that implements a dynamic multicolor artwork background gradient (similar to Apple Music). The shader is a [[ stitchable ]] Metal function used inside a SwiftUI .colorEffect(ShaderLibrary.gradient(...)).

Everything works on Apple Silicon Macs, iOS/iPadOS devices, and even some older macOS versions — but fails on Intel Macs running:

  • macOS 26.1 (MacBook Pro 2020)

  • Metal Toolchain Version 26.0

  • GPU: Iris Plus Graphics

  • 16 GB RAM Intel Core i7 10th 4C/8T

  • Xcode 26.0

The moment the view containing the gradient appears, the shader fails to compile and I get the following errors in Console:

MTLCompiler: Compilation failed with XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INTERRUPTED on 2 try. This error suggests an unexpected interruption in the connection. Possible reasons: a crash in the compiler service, termination the os due to resource constraints (e.g., jetsam), a timeout in the service, or an issue with IPC.

Verify system stability and check the logs for more details.

Compiler failed with XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INTERRUPTEDXPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INTERRUPTED

Compiler failed with XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

MTLCompiler: Compiler encountered XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID: Failed to check-in,

Literally I double checked everything but I can found the issue, my machine have enough resources to load the Metal rendering, I can even play some Metal dependent games/apps but my app fails to render the gradients. Is this a Metal compiler issue or how can I debug this since I am not that familiar with Metal programming. I must say that the code is from an open source project, so I just implemented it on my project. The original project gradients also don't work on my computer when I build and run the app on that particular view. Many apps also use this code and those also don't work, either on the iOS simulator or as a Mac app. On Apple Silicon, the shader compiles instantly.

My question

Is there a known issue with the Metal 26.0 toolchain or Intel GPU driver on macOS 26 that affects SwiftUI stitchable shaders or array-based uniforms? Any guidance or confirmation of a Metal toolchain bug would be extremely helpful.
At this point it looks like Intel macOS 26 drivers cannot compile this class of shader at all, and every project that uses this open-source gradient implementation fails the same way on my computer.

I can provide the GitHub repo that contains the original source if needed.

swift xcode macos swiftui metal