This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for the proper prefixes to use in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the spec changes.
The ServiceWorkerGlobalScope interface of the ServiceWorker API represents the global execution context of a service worker.
Developers should keep in mind that the ServiceWorker.state is not persisted across the termination/restart cycle, so each event handler should assume it's being invoked with a bare, default global state.
Once successfully registered, a service worker can and will be terminated when idle to conserve memory and processor power. An active service worker is automatically restarted to respond to events, such as ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onfetch or ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onmessage.
Additionally, synchronous requests are not allowed from within a service worker — only asynchronous requests, like those initiated via the fetch() method, can be used.
This interface inherits from the WorkerGlobalScope interface, and its parent EventTarget, and therefore implements properties from WindowTimers, WindowBase64, and WindowEventHandlers.
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Properties
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.clientsRead only- Contains the
Clientsobject associated with the service worker. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.registrationRead only- Contains the
ServiceWorkerRegistrationobject that represents the service worker's registration. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.cachesRead only- Contains the
CacheStorageobject associated with the service worker.
Event handlers
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onactivate- An event handler fired whenever an
activateevent occurs — when aServiceWorkerRegistrationacquires a newServiceWorkerRegistration.activeworker. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onbeforeevicted- Not defined in the spec yet, but it looks like this will be fired when the device is nearly out of storage space, prompting the UA to start claiming back some space from web apps that are using client-side storage, and the current app is targeted.
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onevicted- Not defined in the spec yet, but it looks like this will be fired when the device is out of storage space, and the UA claims back some space from the current app.
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onfetch- An event handler fired whenever a
fetchevent occurs — when afetch()is called. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.oninstall- An event handler fired whenever an
installevent occurs — when aServiceWorkerRegistrationacquires a newServiceWorkerRegistration.installingworker. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onmessage- An event handler fired whenever a
messageevent occurs — when incoming messages are received. Controlled pages can use theMessagePort.postMessage()method to send messages to service workers. The service worker can optionally send a response back via theMessagePortexposed inevent.data.port, corresponding to the controlled page. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onnotificationclick- An event handler fired whenever a
notificationclickevent occurs — when a user clicks on a displayed notification. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onpush- An event handler fired whenever a
pushevent occurs — when a server push notification is received. ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onpushsubscriptionchange- An event handler fired whenever a
pushsubscriptionchangeevent occurs — when a push subscription has been invalidated, or is about to be invalidated (e.g. when a push service sets an expiration time.)
Methods
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.skipWaiting()- Allows the current service worker registration to progress from waiting to active state while service worker clients are using it.
ServiceWorkerGlobalScope implements WorkerGlobalScope — which implements GlobalFetch. Therefore it also has the following property available to it:
GlobalFetch.fetch()- Starts the process of fetching a resource. This returns a promise that resolves to the
Responseobject representing theResponseto your request. This algorithm is the entry point for the fetch handling handed to the service worker context.
Examples
This code snippet is from the service worker prefetch sample (see prefetch example live.) The ServiceWorkerGlobalScope.onfetch event handler listens for the fetch event. When fired, the code returns a promise that resolves to the first matching request in the Cache object. If no match is found, the code fetches a response from the network.
The code also handles exceptions thrown from the fetch() operation. Note that an HTTP error response (e.g., 404) will not trigger an exception. It will return a normal response object that has the appropriate error code set.
self.addEventListener('fetch', function(event) {
console.log('Handling fetch event for', event.request.url);
event.respondWith(
caches.match(event.request).then(function(response) {
if (response) {
console.log('Found response in cache:', response);
return response;
}
console.log('No response found in cache. About to fetch from network...');
return fetch(event.request).then(function(response) {
console.log('Response from network is:', response);
return response;
}).catch(function(error) {
console.error('Fetching failed:', error);
throw error;
});
})
);
});
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Service Workers The definition of 'ServiceWorkerGlobalScope' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Initial definition. |
| Fetch The definition of 'Fetch' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Adds the fetch method. |
| Push API The definition of 'onpush' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Adds theonpush and onpushsubscriptionchange event handlers. |
| Notifications API The definition of 'onnotificationclick' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Adds the onnotificationclick event handler. |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 40.0 | 33.0 (33.0) | Not supported | 24 | Not supported |
onnotificationclick |
(Yes) | 42.0 (42.0) | Not supported | (Yes) | Not supported |
| Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | Firefox OS | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile | Chrome for Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | ? | ? | (Yes) | Not supported | ? | Not supported | ? |
onnotificationclick |
? | 42.0 (42.0) | (Yes) | Not supported | ? | Not supported | ? |

