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URL Protocol Handler Registration for PWAs

Category
Miscellaneous
Type
New or changed feature
Status
Enabled by default (Chrome 96)
Intent stage
Shipped

Summary

Enable web applications to register themselves as handlers of custom URL protocols/schemes using their installation manifest.

Motivation

Native applications often register themselves as protocol handlers to increase discoverability and usage. While websites currently have this ability to register to handle schemes via registerProtocolHandler(), it is desirable to have web apps be first-class citizens and be launched directly when a custom-scheme link is invoked.

Standards & signals

Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHlWLjAPZ-dyxcz3AoTWibeerDeHW7Vqrx6FmhB0XmE

Samples: https://protocol-handler.glitch.me/ https://fabiorocha.github.io/pwa

Explainers: https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/MSEdgeExplainers/blob/master/URLProtocolHandler/explainer.md https://web.dev/url-protocol-handler/

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