demo · v138

Speculation Rules target_hint

When the spec rules use document source, the browser has to guess where a link will navigate — same tab or new tab? target_hint tells it. Pick a hint, see the generated JSON, then click the demo links to see Chrome use the speculation that matches each link's target attribute.

checking support…
in-tab link (target=_self) new-tab link (target=_blank)

What Chrome does

Without target_hint Chrome may decline to prerender a link that the user is about to ctrl-click into a new tab — because the prerendered document was associated with the current tab. In 138+ you can say "I'm going to use this for the new-tab case" and Chrome will warm up the right kind of speculation.

see also