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#  Project Fugu: Progressive Web Apps, Superpowered

Ditch the native wrappers. Project Fugu securely equips your Progressive Web Apps with powerful desktop capabilities like raw file system access and direct hardware communication.

- **Speakers:** [Christian Liebel](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@christian-liebel)
- **Event:** JavaScript Congress
- **Published:** November 23, 2021
- **Duration:** 45:20
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/290-project-fugu-progressive-web-apps-superpowered

## Summary

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have revolutionized browser-based software by enabling offline access and desktop installation, yet they have historically lacked the deep native capabilities required by heavy-duty productivity tools. Project Fugu—an open-web initiative driven by Google, Microsoft, and Intel—aims to close this gap by bringing powerful operating system features directly to the browser. Named after the Japanese blowfish, the project embodies the idea of delivering highly potent capabilities (like raw file system access and hardware communication) while rigorously maintaining web security standards so that end users are kept safe from malicious exploits.

Through emerging API interfaces, developers can now completely bypass native wrappers to deliver feature-rich desktop experiences natively in the browser. Notable capabilities include the File System Access API for reading and overwriting local files natively, the Async Clipboard API for rich media transfers, and OS-integrated UX enhancements like the App Badging and App Shortcuts APIs. As demonstrated by web-based tools like Paint.js and enterprise equivalents like Visual Studio Code and Adobe Photoshop, PWAs can now register as default file handlers, wake-lock screens, and interact with native share sheets without demanding platform-specific codebases.

Implementing these new web superpowers relies heavily on progressive enhancement. Because support varies across browser engines (with Chromium leading feature adoption), developers must conditionally test for API availability and gracefully degrade to fallbacks or hide features to maintain usability. To mitigate potential privacy and fingerprinting risks, Project Fugu strictly enforces modern web security boundaries; developers can only trigger these interfaces over HTTPS, following explicit user interactions, and after satisfying active permission prompts, ensuring the open web remains inherently safe.

**Keywords:** project fugu, progressive web apps, web app manifest, service workers, file system access api, async clipboard api, app badging api, screen wake lock api, progressive enhancement, cross-platform web development, chromium browser apis, pwa file handling, web share api, browser security boundaries, pwa native integration

## Chapters

1. **Reviewing progressive web apps and their interface limitations** (00:12) — Missing native capabilities hold web apps back from fully integrated desktop experiences.
1. **Closing the web capability gap with Project Fugu** (02:44) — Exposing powerful but potentially hazardous native APIs to web applications requires careful API design.
1. **Aligning vendor goals to build a stronger web platform** (04:13) — Fragmented platform ecosystems unify when browser vendors align on integrating native hardware support standards.
1. **Demonstrating persistent native web capabilities with a paint clone** (06:09) — Overcoming isolation constraints allows single page applications to directly manipulate files and hardware persistence natively.
1. **Tracking shipped features and upcoming web development trials** (12:34) — Following unpredictable release schedules demands constant monitoring of origin trials and feature shipping trackers.
1. **Creating resilient applications relying on modern hardware integrations** (17:48) — Missing compatibility layers cause fatal JavaScript execution errors unless features are checked before invocation.
1. **Keeping users engaged seamlessly utilizing background device APIs** (21:57) — Maintaining user attention breaks apart when idle timeouts trigger unexpected screen locking.
1. **Empowering web productivity applications through local file access** (26:14) — Relying on external downloads fragments workflows, so direct filesystem access establishes authentic productivity cycles.
1. **Directing specific file extensions explicitly into browser environments** (29:37) — System-level isolation prevents fluid operation until applications register handlers for explicit file association processing.
1. **Transitioning sophisticated native productivity software into web contexts** (31:31) — Maintaining overlapping port variations requires excessive resources that unified progressive applications effectively circumvent.
1. **Measuring the exponential adoption growth of new web capabilities** (33:04) — Tracking isolated usage metrics validates the widespread viability and stability of novel hardware integration.
1. **Balancing robust application power with stringent browser privacy boundaries** (35:27) — Exposing core hardware immediately enables critical system vulnerabilities without strict execution prompt validation boundaries.
1. **Anticipating web push notification support on mobile browser architectures** (37:03) — Platform restrictions frequently suppress baseline notification strategies until vendors silently ship background connectivity updates.
1. **Restricting raw native interfaces to dedicated protected browser scopes** (38:36) — Unregulated hardware mapping exposes dangerous vectors unless implementations forcibly gate operations behind secure dialogs.
1. **Abstracting unavailable endpoints easily via conditional runtime libraries** (41:11) — Varying feature rollouts complicate codebase architecture without abstractions conditionally falling back upon older strategies.
1. **Obfuscating environmental signals effectively to prevent unintended passive tracking** (42:04) — Broad sensor observation generates significant tracking fingerprints naturally combated through segmented permission isolation barriers.
1. **Testing interface dependency requirements through targeted environmental mocking strategies** (43:43) — Simulating unavailable platform hooks guarantees testing suites remain stable despite diverse operating system requirements.

## Related Moments

- [Bridging web and native apps with Project Fugu](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1575-possibilities-with-web-capabilities) (from "Possibilities with Web Capabilities")
- [Introduction to progressive web apps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/453-is-your-progressive-web-app-lazy-how-to-read-and-improve-your-pwa-performance) (from "Is your Progressive Web App Lazy? How to read and improve your PWA Performance")
- [Project Fugu and the core tenants of the web](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/832-project-fugu-extending-the-web) (from "Project Fugu: Extending the web")
- [Bridging the gap between native and web apps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/289-pwas-in-2021) (from "PWAs in 2021")
- [Core capabilities of progressive web applications](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/832-project-fugu-extending-the-web) (from "Project Fugu: Extending the web")
- [Expanding browser capabilities through Project Fugu and hardware APIs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1299-new-browser-apis-end-of-react-create-app-smuggling-data-in-emoji-and-more-with-rowdy-rabouw) (from "New Browser APIs, End of React Create App, Smuggling Data in Emoji and more with Rowdy Rabouw")

## Related Articles

- [Native Web Apps: Are We There Yet?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/83-native-web-apps-are-we-there-yet)
- [Dev Digest 104 - Fight for your right to 3rd party](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/390-dev-digest-104-fight-for-your-right-to-3rd-party)
- [Dev Digest 128 - Do not Google Monopoly](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/465-dev-digest-128-do-not-google-monopoly)
- [Dev Digest 139 - Soft and hard queries](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/487-dev-digest-139-soft-and-hard-queries)

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