Running indexing on GPU

[MadFisa]

Hi,
I'm quite interested trying out this project. I installed the plugin with zotero 8 beta version. When I tried to build the index, I can see that my CPU is getting pummeled, but near to no GPU usage. Indexing also seems to take quite some time (I'm running full indexing on the entire library), so I was wondering whether there is a way to run the indexing on my GPU to speed up the process.

I am using Linux (Fedora 42), with an older NVIDIA card (GTX 1660).

[introfini]

Hi @MadFisa, thanks for your interest in ZotSeek!

Good news: I just pushed WebGPU detection with automatic CPU fallback (2b640a8). The plugin now automatically tries GPU acceleration and falls back to CPU if unavailable.

The current limitation: Unfortunately, GPU acceleration won't work yet because:

1. Firefox 141 (July 2025) shipped WebGPU on Windows only
2. Linux and macOS WebGPU support is coming "in the coming months" (https://mozillagfx.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/shipping-webgpu-on-windows-in-firefox-141/)
3. Zotero 8 is based on Firefox 140 ESR — one version before WebGPU shipped

What this means for you: Even on Windows, Zotero doesn't expose WebGPU yet. Once Zotero upgrades to a Firefox ESR with WebGPU support for Linux, GPU acceleration will automatically activate — no plugin update needed.

Tips for now:

• Use Abstract mode (default) instead of Full Document — much faster
• Indexing is one-time — searches are instant (~70ms) afterward
• You can check the debug console for "Model loaded on GPU" or "Model loaded on CPU" to verify which backend is being used

I'll keep this issue open to track when Zotero/Firefox enables WebGPU on Linux.