How to disable caching service-worker using WorkBox

Question

I am building a Progressive Web App that has a service-work.ts file as well as a serviceWorkerRegistration.ts . Currently, my website is cached but whenever I deploy an update, the website still presents the cached version which is outdated.

I have followed the second response at this link: When and how does a PWA update itself? which is to include a const version = '1.1.0-beta' line in the service-worker.ts file and change the string if I want it to update but it still does not work.

I suspect that my service-worker is being cached as well and have viewed this link: How to clear cache of service worker? but I have no idea where to include the code because it looks quite different to the file that I have.

Will really appreciate any help that can help me resolve this issue, especially still preserving the benefits of a caching strategy which is meant to speed up load times.

The following is my service-worker.ts file:

import { clientsClaim } from 'workbox-core'
import { ExpirationPlugin } from 'workbox-expiration'
import { precacheAndRoute, createHandlerBoundToURL } from 'workbox-precaching'
import { registerRoute } from 'workbox-routing'
import { StaleWhileRevalidate } from 'workbox-strategies'

declare const self: ServiceWorkerGlobalScope

clientsClaim()

// Precache all of the assets generated by your build process.
// Their URLs are injected into the manifest variable below.
// This variable must be present somewhere in your service worker file,
// even if you decide not to use precaching. See https://cra.link/PWA
precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST)

// Changing version number causes browser to re-cache all files.
const version = '1.1.0-beta'

// Set up App Shell-style routing, so that all navigation requests
// are fulfilled with your index.html shell. Learn more at
// https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/architecture/app-shell
const fileExtensionRegexp = new RegExp('/[^/?]+\\.[^/]+$')
registerRoute(
  // Return false to exempt requests from being fulfilled by index.html.
  ({ request, url }: { request: Request; url: URL }) => {
    // If this isn't a navigation, skip.
    if (request.mode !== 'navigate') {
      return false
    }

    // If this is a URL that starts with /_, skip.
    if (url.pathname.startsWith('/_')) {
      return false
    }

    // If this looks like a URL for a resource, because it contains
    // a file extension, skip.
    if (url.pathname.match(fileExtensionRegexp)) {
      return false
    }

    // Return true to signal that we want to use the handler.
    return true
  },
  createHandlerBoundToURL(process.env.PUBLIC_URL + '/index.html'),
)

// An example runtime caching route for requests that aren't handled by the
// precache, in this case same-origin .png requests like those from in public/
registerRoute(
  // Add in any other file extensions or routing criteria as needed.
  ({ url }) => url.origin === self.location.origin && url.pathname.endsWith('.png'),
  // Customize this strategy as needed, e.g., by changing to CacheFirst.
  new StaleWhileRevalidate({
    cacheName: 'images',
    plugins: [
      // Ensure that once this runtime cache reaches a maximum size the
      // least-recently used images are removed.
      new ExpirationPlugin({ maxEntries: 50 }),
    ],
  }),
)

// This allows the web app to trigger skipWaiting via
// registration.waiting.postMessage({type: 'SKIP_WAITING'})
self.addEventListener('message', (event) => {
  if (event.data && event.data.type === 'SKIP_WAITING') {
    self.skipWaiting()
  }
})

If necessary, this is my serviceWorkerRegistration.ts file:

const isLocalhost = Boolean(
  window.location.hostname === 'localhost' ||
    // [::1] is the IPv6 localhost address.
    window.location.hostname === '[::1]' ||
    // 127.0.0.0/8 are considered localhost for IPv4.
    window.location.hostname.match(/^127(?:\.(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)){3}$/),
)

type Config = {
  onSuccess?: (registration: ServiceWorkerRegistration) => void
  onUpdate?: (registration: ServiceWorkerRegistration) => void
}

export function register(config?: Config) {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' && 'serviceWorker' in navigator) {
    // The URL constructor is available in all browsers that support SW.
    const publicUrl = new URL(process.env.PUBLIC_URL, window.location.href)
    if (publicUrl.origin !== window.location.origin) {
      // Our service worker won't work if PUBLIC_URL is on a different origin
      // from what our page is served on. This might happen if a CDN is used to
      // serve assets; see https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/2374
      return
    }

    window.addEventListener('load', () => {
      const swUrl = `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/service-worker.js`

      if (isLocalhost) {
        // This is running on localhost. Let's check if a service worker still exists or not.
        checkValidServiceWorker(swUrl, config)

        // Add some additional logging to localhost, pointing developers to the
        // service worker/PWA documentation.
        navigator.serviceWorker.ready.then(() => {
          console.log(
            'This web app is being served cache-first by a service ' +
              'worker. To learn more, visit https://cra.link/PWA',
          )
        })
      } else {
        // Is not localhost. Just register service worker
        registerValidSW(swUrl, config)
      }
    })
  }
}

function registerValidSW(swUrl: string, config?: Config) {
  navigator.serviceWorker
    .register(swUrl)
    .then((registration) => {
      registration.onupdatefound = () => {
        const installingWorker = registration.installing
        if (installingWorker == null) {
          return
        }
        installingWorker.onstatechange = () => {
          if (installingWorker.state === 'installed') {
            if (navigator.serviceWorker.controller) {
              // At this point, the updated precached content has been fetched,
              // but the previous service worker will still serve the older
              // content until all client tabs are closed.
              console.log(
                'New content is available and will be used when all ' +
                  'tabs for this page are closed. See https://cra.link/PWA.',
              )

              // Execute callback
              if (config && config.onUpdate) {
                config.onUpdate(registration)
              }
            } else {
              // At this point, everything has been precached.
              // It's the perfect time to display a
              // "Content is cached for offline use." message.
              console.log('Content is cached for offline use.')

              // Execute callback
              if (config && config.onSuccess) {
                config.onSuccess(registration)
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    })
    .catch((error) => {
      console.error('Error during service worker registration:', error)
    })
}

function checkValidServiceWorker(swUrl: string, config?: Config) {
  // Check if the service worker can be found. If it can't reload the page.
  fetch(swUrl, {
    headers: { 'Service-Worker': 'script' },
  })
    .then((response) => {
      // Ensure service worker exists, and that we really are getting a JS file.
      const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type')
      if (response.status === 404 || (contentType != null && contentType.indexOf('javascript') === -1)) {
        // No service worker found. Probably a different app. Reload the page.
        navigator.serviceWorker.ready.then((registration) => {
          registration.unregister().then(() => {
            window.location.reload()
          })
        })
      } else {
        // Service worker found. Proceed as normal.
        registerValidSW(swUrl, config)
      }
    })
    .catch(() => {
      console.log('No internet connection found. App is running in offline mode.')
    })
}

export function unregister() {
  if ('serviceWorker' in navigator) {
    navigator.serviceWorker.ready
      .then((registration) => {
        registration.unregister()
      })
      .catch((error) => {
        console.error(error.message)
      })
  }
}

Answer 1

To disable precaching in case of injectManifest you can simply do this in sw.js file . Do remember self.__WB_MANIFEST can have only one instance in the file. sometime commented code can also give error.

// eslint-disable-next-line no-restricted-globals
const ignored = self.__WB_MANIFEST;

// Your custom service worker code goes here.

Reference : https://create-react-app.dev/docs/making-a-progressive-web-app/#customization

Answer 2

Replace your precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST) with this:

precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST.filter(
 (_) => false
));

So, no files will be cached. Or you can add the application version to your cache name by using prefix and suffix:

import { precacheAndRoute, cleanupOutdatedCaches } from "workbox-precaching";
import { setCacheNameDetails, clientsClaim } from "workbox-core";

setCacheNameDetails({
    prefix: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_NAME,
    suffix: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_VERSION,
});

cleanupOutdatedCaches();


precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST);

self.addEventListener("controlling", () => {
    window.location.reload();
});

self.addEventListener("activate", (event) => {
    event.waitUntil(
        (async () => {
            const keys = await caches.keys();
            return keys.map(async (cache) => {
                if (!cache.includes(import.meta.env.VITE_APP_VERSION)) {
                    return await caches.delete(cache);
                }
            });
        })()
    );
});

self.addEventListener("install", function () {
    self.skipWaiting();
});

clientsClaim();

All caches from the previous version will be deleted.

Answer 3

You can filter out the index.html when you precache and then register index.html so that it's network first.

import { NetworkFirst } from 'workbox-strategies'

// precacheAndRoute(self.__WB_MANIFEST)

const toPrecache = self.__WB_MANIFEST.filter(
  (file) => !file.url.includes('index.html'),
)

precacheAndRoute(toPrecache)

registerRoute(
  ({ url }) => url.pathname.includes('index.html'),
  new NetworkFirst(),
)

Then you need to remove the part where it routes all navigation requests to index.html

// Set up App Shell-style routing, so that all navigation requests
// are fulfilled with your index.html shell. Learn more at
// https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/architecture/app-shell
// const fileExtensionRegexp = new RegExp('/[^/?]+\\.[^/]+$')
// registerRoute(
//   // Return false to exempt requests from being fulfilled by index.html.
//   ({ request, url }) => {
//     // If this isn't a navigation, skip.
//     if (request.mode !== 'navigate') {
//       return false
//     } // If this is a URL that starts with /_, skip.

//     if (url.pathname.startsWith('/_')) {
//       return false
//     } // If this looks like a URL for a resource, because it contains // a file extension, skip.

//     if (url.pathname.match(fileExtensionRegexp)) {
//       return false
//     } // Return true to signal that we want to use the handler.

//     return true
//   },
//   createHandlerBoundToURL(process.env.PUBLIC_URL + '/index.html', true),
// )

Answer 4

I have fixed it myself, by adding this chunk of code inside the register() function in serviceWorkerRegistration.ts

window.addEventListener('activate', function (event) {
      event.waitUntil(
        caches.keys().then(function (cacheNames) {
          return Promise.all(
            cacheNames
              .filter(function (cacheName) {
                return true
              })
              .map(function (cacheName) {
                return caches.delete(cacheName)
              }),
          )
        }),
      )
    })