diff --git a/wgpu/src/backend/native_gpu_future.rs b/wgpu/src/backend/native_gpu_future.rs
index a37b975385..f80fba7c37 100644
--- a/wgpu/src/backend/native_gpu_future.rs
+++ b/wgpu/src/backend/native_gpu_future.rs
@@ -1,25 +1,83 @@
+//! Futures that can be resolved when the GPU completes a task.
+//!
+//! This module defines the [`GpuFuture`] and [`GpuFutureCompletion`]
+//! types, which `wgpu` uses to communicate to users when GPU
+//! operations have completed, and when resources are ready to access.
+//! This is only used by the `direct` back end, not on the web.
+//!
+//! The life cycle of a `GpuFuture` is as follows:
+//!
+//! -   Calling [`new_gpu_future`] constructs a paired `GpuFuture` and
+//!     `GpuFutureCompletion`.
+//!
+//! -   Calling [`complete(v)`] on a `GpuFutureCompletion` marks its
+//!     paired `GpuFuture` as ready with value `v`. This also wakes
+//!     the most recent [`Waker`] the future was polled with, if any.
+//!
+//! -   Polling a `GpuFuture` either returns `v` if it is ready, or
+//!     saves the `Waker` passed to [`Future::poll`], to be awoken
+//!     when `complete` is called on the paired `GpuFutureCompletion`.
+//!
+//! ## Communicating with `wgpu_core`
+//!
+//! The `wgpu_core` crate uses various specialized callback types,
+//! like [`wgpu_core::resource::BufferMapOperation`] for reporting
+//! buffers that are ready to map, or
+//! [`wgpu_core::device::queue::SubmittedWorkDoneClosure`] for
+//! reporting the completion of submitted commands. To support FFI
+//! bindings, these are unsafe, low-level structures that usually have
+//! a function pointer and a untyped, raw "closure" pointer.
+//!
+//! Calling [`GpuFutureCompletion::into_raw`] returns a raw opaque
+//! pointer suitable for use as the "closure" pointer in `wgpu_core`'s
+//! callbacks. The [`GpuFutureCompletion::from_raw`] converts such a
+//! raw opaque pointer back into a [`GpuFutureCompletion`]. See the
+//! direct back end's implementation of [`Context::buffer_map_async`]
+//! for an example of this.
+//!
+//! [`complete(v)`]: GpuFutureCompletion::complete
+//! [`Waker`]: std::task::Waker
+//! [`Future::poll`]: std::future::Future::poll
+//! [`wgpu_core::resource::BufferMapOperation`]: https://docs.rs/wgpu-core/latest/wgpu_core/resource/struct.BufferMapOperation.html
+//! [`wgpu_core::device::queue::SubmittedWorkDoneClosure`]: https://docs.rs/wgpu-core/latest/wgpu_core/device/queue/struct.SubmittedWorkDoneClosure.html
+//! [`Context::buffer_map_async`]: crate::Context::buffer_map_async
 use parking_lot::Mutex;
 use std::future::Future;
 use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::task::{Context, Poll, Waker};
 
+/// The current state of a `GpuFuture`.
 enum WakerOrResult<T> {
+    /// The last [`Waker`] used to poll this future, if any.
+    ///
+    /// [`Waker`]: std::task::Waker
     Waker(Waker),
+
+    /// The value this future resolves to, if it is ready.
     Result(T),
 }
 
+/// The shared state of a [`GpuFuture`] and its [`GpuFutureCompletion`].
+///
+/// Polling the future when it is not yet ready stores the [`Waker`]
+/// here; completing the future when it has not yet been polled stores
+/// the value here. See [`WakerOrResult`] for details.
 type GpuFutureData<T> = Mutex<Option<WakerOrResult<T>>>;
 
-/// A Future that can poll the wgpu::Device
+/// A [`Future`] that will be ready when some sort of GPU activity has finished.
+///
+/// Call [`new_gpu_future`] to create a `GpuFuture`, along with a
+/// paired `GpuFutureCompletion` that can be used to mark it as ready.
 pub struct GpuFuture<T> {
     data: Arc<GpuFutureData<T>>,
 }
 
+/// An opaque type used for pointers to a [`GpuFutureCompletion`]'s guts.
 pub enum OpaqueData {}
 
 //TODO: merge this with `GpuFuture` and avoid `Arc` on the data.
-/// A completion handle to set the result on a GpuFuture
+/// A completion handle to set the result on a [`GpuFuture`].
 pub struct GpuFutureCompletion<T> {
     data: Arc<GpuFutureData<T>>,
 }
@@ -41,6 +99,7 @@ impl<T> Future for GpuFuture<T> {
 }
 
 impl<T> GpuFutureCompletion<T> {
+    /// Mark our paired [`GpuFuture`] as ready, with the given `value`.
     pub fn complete(self, value: T) {
         let mut waker_or_result = self.data.lock();
 
@@ -55,10 +114,14 @@ impl<T> GpuFutureCompletion<T> {
         };
     }
 
+    /// Convert this `GpuFutureCompletion` into a raw pointer for `wgpu_core` to hold.
     pub(crate) fn into_raw(self) -> *mut OpaqueData {
         Arc::into_raw(self.data) as _
     }
 
+    /// Convert a raw pointer returned by [`into_raw`] back into a `GpuFutureCompletion`.
+    ///
+    /// [`into_raw`]: GpuFutureCompletion::into_raw
     pub(crate) unsafe fn from_raw(this: *mut OpaqueData) -> Self {
         Self {
             data: Arc::from_raw(this as _),
@@ -66,6 +129,9 @@ impl<T> GpuFutureCompletion<T> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Construct a fresh [`GpuFuture`] and a paired [`GpuFutureCompletion`].
+///
+/// See the module docs for details.
 pub(crate) fn new_gpu_future<T>() -> (GpuFuture<T>, GpuFutureCompletion<T>) {
     let data = Arc::new(Mutex::new(None));
     (