8/15/22, 10:52 PM Push API - Web APIs | MDN

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Push API
The Push API gives web applications the ability to receive messages pushed to them from a
server, whether or not the web app is in the foreground, or even currently loaded, on a user
agent. This lets developers deliver asynchronous notifications and updates to users that opt
in, resulting in better engagement with timely new content.

Push concepts and usage

Warning: When implementing PushManager subscriptions, it is vitally important
that you protect against CSRF/XSRF issues in your app. See the following articles
for more information:
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Prevention Cheat Sheet
Preventing CSRF and XSRF Attacks

For an app to receive push messages, it has to have an active service worker. When the
service worker is active, it can subscribe to push notifications, using
PushManager.subscribe() .

The resulting PushSubscription includes all the information that the application needs to
send a push message: an endpoint and the encryption key needed for sending data.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API 1/6
8/15/22, 10:52 PM Push API - Web APIs | MDN

The service worker will be started as necessary to handle incoming push messages, which
are delivered to the onpush event handler. This allows apps to react to push messages
being received, for example, by displaying a notification (using
ServiceWorkerRegistration.showNotification() .)

Each subscription is unique to a service worker. The endpoint for the subscription is a unique
capability URL : knowledge of the endpoint is all that is necessary to send a message to
your application. The endpoint URL therefore needs to be kept secret, or other applications
might be able to send push messages to your application.
Activating a service worker to deliver a push message can result in increased resource
usage, particularly of the battery. Different browsers have different schemes for handling
this, there is currently no standard mechanism. Firefox allows a limited number (quota) of
push messages to be sent to an application, although Push messages that generate
notifications are exempt from this limit. The limit is refreshed each time the site is visited. In
Chrome there are no limits.

Interfaces
PushEvent

Represents a push action, sent to the global scope of a ServiceWorker . It contains

information sent from an application to a PushSubscription .
PushManager

Provides a way to receive notifications from third-party servers, as well as request URLs
for push notifications.
PushMessageData

Provides access to push data sent by a server, and includes methods to manipulate the
received data.
PushSubscription

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API 2/6
8/15/22, 10:52 PM Push API - Web APIs | MDN

Provides a subscription's URL endpoint, and allows unsubscribing from a push service.
PushSubscriptionOptions

Represents the options associated with the push subscription.

Service worker additions

The following additions to the Service Worker API have been specified in the Push API spec
to provide an entry point for using Push messages. They also monitor and respond to push
and subscription change events.
ServiceWorkerRegistration.pushManager Read only
Returns a reference to the PushManager interface for managing push subscriptions
including subscribing, getting an active subscription, and accessing push permission
status. This is the entry point into using Push messaging.
onpush

An event handler fired whenever a push event occurs; that is, whenever a server push
message is received.
onpushsubscriptionchange

An event handler fired whenever a pushsubscriptionchange event occurs; for example,

when a push subscription has been invalidated, or is about to be invalidated (e.g. when a
push service sets an expiration time.)

Examples
Mozilla's ServiceWorker Cookbook contains many useful Push examples.

Specifications
Specification

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API 3/6