PSA: Direct Sockets in Chrome Apps

[Andrew Rayskiy]

Contact emails

green...@google.com

Explainer

https://github.com/WICG/direct-sockets/blob/main/docs/explainer.md

Specification

https://wicg.github.io/direct-sockets

Summary

Allows web apps to establish direct transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) communications with network devices and systems. This API provides a modern and higher-performance alternative to the deprecated chrome.socket, chrome.sockets.tcp, chrome.sockets.tcpServer and chrome.sockets.udp APIs.

This API was designed for Isolated Web Apps and will be part of a future “Intent to Ship” for that feature. It is being enabled early for Chrome Apps in order to provide developers a smooth migration path. We are confident that at this stage the design of the API is complete.

Blink component

Blink>Network>Direct Sockets

Risks

Interoperability and Compatibility

Gecko: Negative (https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/431)

WebKit: No signal

Web developers: Web developers report that this API meets their use cases and provides better performance than the Chrome Apps APIs it replaces due to a combination of internal implementation details and its support for TCP backpressure.

Other signals:

WebView application risks

Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications?

None, Direct Sockets are not available in WebViews.

Debuggability

Devtools

Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?

No, it is only supported on desktop platforms (where Chrome Apps are available)

Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests?

No, testing for Chrome Apps is covered by Chrome browser tests.

Flag name on chrome://flags

None

Finch feature name

DirectSocketsInChromeApps

Requires code in //chrome?

True

Tracking bug

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/329445684

Launch bug

https://launch.corp.google.com/launch/4314221

Estimated milestones

125

Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status

https://chromestatus.com/feature/5168654087094272

Links to previous Intent discussions

Intent to prototype:

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/ARtkaw4e9T4/m/Ad2MPxWTBwAJ

[PhistucK]

This is a little strange considering "Chrome apps" are quite close to being completely removed from Chrome altogether...

https://blog.chromium.org/2021/10/extending-chrome-app-support-on-chrome.html

I understand the reason, but this is continuing development on something that should not be further developed, sending mixed signals.

☆PhistucK

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