# Create a unified ray tracing shader
Depending on the backend you choose in the [`RayTracingContext`](xref:UnityEngine.Rendering.UnifiedRayTracing.RayTracingContext), write your ray tracing code in either a `.raytrace` or a `.compute` shader.
To create both a `.raytrace` shader and a `.compute` shader, write your shader code in a unified ray tracing shader (`.urtshader`).
To create a shader, follow these steps:
1. Create the shader asset file.
2. Load the shader.
## Create the shader asset file
To create a unified ray tracing shader:
1. Launch the Unity Editor.
1. In the **Project** window, open the **Assets** folder.
1. Open or create the folder in which you want to create your shader.
1. Open the context menu (right-click) and select **Create** > **Shader** > **Unified Ray Tracing Shader**.
1. Enter a name for the shader.
Ray tracing occurs in the `RayGenExecute` function. You can edit the example code snippet.
For more information about writing a ray tracing shader, refer to [Write your shader code](write-shader.md).
## Load the shader
To load the `.urtshader` file in the Editor, use the following code snippet:
```C#
IRayTracingShader shader = rtContext.LoadRayTracingShader("Assets/yourShader.urtshader");
```
To load the shader in the Player, add the `.urtshader` shader to an <xref:UnityEngine.AssetBundle> then load it with the following:
```C#
// Load the AssetBundle
var asssetBundle = AssetBundle.LoadFromFile("Assets/pathToYourBuiltAssetBundles/yourAssetBundle");
// Load the shader
IRayTracingShader shader = rtContext.LoadRayTracingShaderFromAssetBundle(asssetBundle, "Assets/yourShader.urtshader");
```
To have more control, load the underlying Compute or Ray Tracing shader asset yourself and pass it to [`RayTracingContext.CreateRayTracingShader`](xref:UnityEngine.Rendering.UnifiedRayTracing.RayTracingContext.CreateRayTracingShader(UnityEngine.Object)).
[`RayTracingContext.LoadRayTracingShaderFromAssetBundle`](xref:UnityEngine.Rendering.UnifiedRayTracing.RayTracingContext.LoadRayTracingShaderFromAssetBundle(UnityEngine.AssetBundle,System.String)) is a convenience function that performs the following operations:
```C#
public IRayTracingShader LoadRayTracingShaderFromAssetBundle(AssetBundle assetBundle, string name)
{
Object asset = assetBundle.LoadAsset(name, BackendHelpers.GetTypeOfShader(BackendType));
return CreateRayTracingShader(asset);
}
```