API should be exposed to ServiceWorker

[MiguelsPizza]

Would be nice to have and I can't think of any reason not to expose WebGPU to a service worker considering Webgl is accessible.

It's only exposed to the Window and DedicatedWorkers at the moment. Reference: https://gpuweb.github.io/gpuweb/#navigator-gpu [Exposed=(Window, DedicatedWorker), SecureContext]

Similar issue regarding exposing webGPU to a dedicated worker:

[kainino0x]

Thanks for filing this, I didn't realize we didn't have an issue for this :) I think we should do it. It seems WebGL just uses Worker. I don't know how to find an official listing of the Worker types but Chromium documents it as DedicatedWorker, SharedWorker, and ServiceWorker: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/third_party/blink/renderer/bindings/IDLExtendedAttributes.md#exposed

So along with this, likely we should expose it in SharedWorker too.

[MiguelsPizza]

No Problem, thanks for the prompt response!

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help get this to the finish line

[libofei2004]

@MiguelsPizza Is there no way to use webgpu in webview in android?

[Jasonsey]

hi there, as far as I know, Tensorflow.js recomend using AI models in background.js (using service worker) for chrome-extension . So, I am really looking forward to this new feature

[tqchen]

Also love to see WebGPU being exposed to service worker. This would open up quite a bit opportunities building AI extensions with WebGPU

[jimblandy]

This seems appropriate.

The only reason not to spec this would be if, somehow, all browsers never planned to actually get around to implementing it - but that's not the case. Once Firefox has its resource consumption controls firmed up, this makes sense for us to implement.

[beaufortfrancois]

FYI I've started https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/pull/4464 that adds ServiceWorker support to the WebGPU spec.

[kainino0x]

I don't know how to find an official listing of the Worker types but Chromium documents it as DedicatedWorker, SharedWorker, and ServiceWorker:

MDN also documents it as those 3. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WorkerGlobalScope

[tqchen]

Thank you @beaufortfrancois @kainino0x, would be great to know how we are doing in terms of support status, love to followup and try out as soon as it lands

[beaufortfrancois]

We'll let you know when it's available behind a flag in Chrome so that you can play around.

[beaufortfrancois]

@tqchen @MiguelsPizza You can now play with WebGPU in a service worker in Chrome Canary 123.0.6271.0 by enabling the "Experimental Web Platform features" flag at chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features.

Here's an extension sample I've created to demonstrate its usage: https://gist.github.com/beaufortfrancois/4795c20bc4d147e0400303d0b8ec02d6

Let me know how it goes ;)

[beaufortfrancois]

@tqchen @MiguelsPizza Did you have a chance to experiment with Service Worker support in Chrome? Did you find some limitations or bugs we should be aware of?

[tqchen]

https://github.com/mlc-ai/web-llm/pull/296 @rickzx should be able to comment more :) really excited about what it can enable

[rickzx]

@beaufortfrancois @tqchen Thanks a lot for putting the effort to support WebGPU in service worker. I was able to put up a sample Chrome extension running LLM in the service worker in the background, and a popup window as a chat assistant. It's much simpler and more elegant to implement this now with the service worker support. Haven't encountered any bugs so far.

[beaufortfrancois]

@tqchen @MiguelsPizza @rickzx I'm happy to report that Chrome nows supports WebGPU in service worker by default as of Chrome 124.0.6359.0 (Canary at this moment) 🎉

[beaufortfrancois]

And to close the loop, here's the official announcement: https://developer.chrome.com/blog/new-in-webgpu-124?hl=en#service_workers_and_shared_workers_support