The Service Worker Lifecycle: Register, Install, Activate
A service worker is a background proxy that lets your app work offline. Its lifecycle—register, install, activate—governs how it takes control of pages. The biggest footgun: a new worker waits for old clients to close before activating, delaying updates.
A service worker is a background script acting as a programmable network proxy for your web app. Its lifecycle—register, install, activate—is how it gains control to enable offline-first experiences. It's registered from your main script, installs by caching assets, and activates to manage pages. The most common footgun is the `waiting` state: a newly installed worker won't activate and take control if an older version is still running on any open client tabs, making updates feel delayed or 'stuck' until a full refresh or navigation.
Read the original → developer.mozilla.org
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- #pwa
- #web apis
- #offline
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