The Push API enables web apps to receive notifications pushed from a server and will display those notifications even if the web app is in the background. It is supported by Chrome and Firefox, and Apple is sending strong signals that it will support it in 2022. This powerful feature will help progressive web apps drive engagement by letting app owners push messages directly onto the notification list of their users' devices.
To leverage this communication channel, this project will stand up a platform that will allow web apps to enqueue notifications via a custom SDK to Google Cloud Pub/Sub (or some other GCP altenative?) for processing. Once processed, the message will be forwarded to the appropriate browser manufacturer's notification platform which will then deliver it to the subscribed browser.
Note on Macs, you may have to explicitly allow Chrome notifications by setting its permission at System Preferences > Notifications.
https://github.com/users/chrisahardie/projects/1/views/1
https://github.com/chrisahardie/hackdays-32-web-push/issues
Landing page
This page lets the user subscribe to notifications via a service worker. Once subscribed, the web app's landing page can be backgrounded, but it will still accept push notifications.
The subscription event will publish subscription details to the API for storage.
Admin page
This page lets an admin configure push notification settings. Admins will also be able to send notifications to one user or all users form this screen.
- Supplies a VAPID public key
- Accepts subscription details from the web app for storage in a database
- Enqueues messages to the platform via SDK
- Returns a list of all users
- Manages a VAPID private key and public key in a config
The DB will have a very simple schema, a single table should suffice for an MVP: * id * first name * last name * endpoint * auth * p256dh * created * lastUsed
- Abstracts the cloud integration from the client's web app
- Enqueues messages to Google Cloud Pub/Sub
- Generates vapid keys
- Durable queue used to let service components communicate asynchronously
- Reads messages off Google Cloud Pub/Sub, and dispatches them to notification endpoint. (
web-pushis a good NPM library for this if this is a Node function)