diff --git a/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/mod.rs b/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/mod.rs
index 666ce53e..b22a5619 100644
--- a/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/mod.rs
+++ b/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/mod.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 mod allocate;
 mod device;
+mod types;
 
 pub use device::Buffer;
 pub use device::Webgpu;
+pub use types::*;
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
diff --git a/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/types.rs b/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/types.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6f4d147b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dfdx-core/src/tensor/webgpu/types.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+use crate::shapes::Unit;
+
+/// A primitive data type natively supported by WebGPU.
+/// 
+/// See: https://www.w3.org/TR/WGSL/#types
+/// 
+/// todo: support packed types
+pub trait WebgpuNativeType : Unit {
+    /// Name of the data type in WGSL.
+    const NAME: &'static str;
+}
+
+macro_rules! webgpu_type {
+    ($RustTy:ty) => {
+        impl WebgpuNativeType for $RustTy {
+            const NAME: &'static str = stringify!($RustTy);
+        }
+    };
+    ($RustTy:ty, $WgpuTy:expr) => {
+        impl WebgpuNativeType for $RustTy {
+            const NAME: &'static str = $WgpuTy;
+        }
+    };
+}
+
+/*
+see:
+- https://docs.rs/wgpu/latest/wgpu/struct.Features.html#associatedconstant.SHADER_F16
+- https://docs.rs/wgpu/latest/wgpu/struct.Features.html#associatedconstant.SHADER_F64
+- https://docs.rs/wgpu/latest/wgpu/struct.Features.html#associatedconstant.SHADER_I16
+ */
+#[cfg(feature = "f16")]
+webgpu_type!(half::f16, "f16");
+webgpu_type!(f32);
+// todo: only enable when f64 feature is enabled
+#[cfg(feature = "f64")]
+webgpu_type!(f64);
+
+#[cfg(feature = "i16")]
+webgpu_type!(i16);
+webgpu_type!(i32);
+
+webgpu_type!(u32);
+webgpu_type!(bool);
+
+pub(crate) trait HasGlslType {
+    const TYPE: &'static str;
+}
+
+impl HasGlslType for f32 {
+    const TYPE: &'static str = "float";
+}
+
+impl HasGlslType for f64 {
+    const TYPE: &'static str = "double";
+}
diff --git a/dfdx-core/src/tensor_ops/utilities/webgpu_kernels.rs b/dfdx-core/src/tensor_ops/utilities/webgpu_kernels.rs
index bd976711..4dd0e1bb 100644
--- a/dfdx-core/src/tensor_ops/utilities/webgpu_kernels.rs
+++ b/dfdx-core/src/tensor_ops/utilities/webgpu_kernels.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ use crate::{
 use core::any::TypeId;
 use std::{borrow::Cow, marker::PhantomData, sync::Arc, vec::Vec};
 
+use wgpu::{
+    BindingType, BufferBindingType, ComputePipelineDescriptor, Device, PipelineLayout, ShaderStages,
+};
+
+
 /// Creates a [`BindGroup`] for a pipeline from a set of [`wgpu::BindingResource`]s.
 macro_rules! webgpu_params {
     ($self:expr, $pipeline:expr; $($x:expr),+ $(,)? ) => {
@@ -72,6 +77,7 @@ macro_rules! webgpu_unary {
         }
     };
 }
+pub(crate) use webgpu_unary;
 
 /// Zero-sized marker type for forward pass TypeId
 #[derive(Debug, Default)]
@@ -85,22 +91,6 @@ pub(crate) struct Backward<E: Dtype, K> {
     _phantom: PhantomData<(E, K)>,
 }
 
-pub(crate) trait HasGlslType {
-    const TYPE: &'static str;
-}
-
-impl HasGlslType for f32 {
-    const TYPE: &'static str = "float";
-}
-
-impl HasGlslType for f64 {
-    const TYPE: &'static str = "double";
-}
-
-pub(crate) use webgpu_unary;
-use wgpu::{
-    BindingType, BufferBindingType, ComputePipelineDescriptor, Device, PipelineLayout, ShaderStages,
-};
 
 impl<E: Dtype + HasGlslType, K: UnaryOpWebgpuKernel<E> + 'static> UnaryKernel<K, E> for Webgpu {
     const BACKWARD_WITHOUT_INP: bool = K::DF_USES_FX;