v141 · capabilities (fugu)

Web Smart Card API

Enables smart card (PC/SC) applications to move to the Web platform. It gives them access to the PC/SC implementation (and card reader drivers) available in the host OS.

concepts

  1. Smart Card Connect

    PC/SC-style smart card access from the web. Required for enterprise SSO flows (government ID cards, hardware tokens) that used to need native helpers.

  2. Remote Desktop Relay

    The first canonical use case: host browser exposes USB card reader so a remote machine sees it as locally attached. PIV / CAC sign-on keeps working over VDI.

  3. Badge Kiosk

    Reception kiosk reads an employee badge via PC/SC, SELECTs the applet, reads the employee ID, displays personalised welcome. The chrome.usb / Chrome Apps successor.

  4. Card Reader Simulator

    Software smart card simulator: pick a card type (PIV, FIDO, SIM), send PC/SC APDU commands from a dropdown, and watch the response bytes appear in a terminal-style log. A feature-detect banner shows whether navigator.smartCard is available; if not, the simulator runs in pure-JS demo mode so the flow is still instructive.

why it shipped

While there are other APIs that provide the right level of abstraction and security properties for identity on the Web, such as WebAuthn, there are domain-specific functions which can't be captured by such higher-level APIs. A remote access (aka "remote desktop") web app letting the remote machine access the host's card reader as if it were directly connected to it. Enabling PC/SC applications on that remote machine to work without modification, unaware that the card reader is not local. A web-based kiosk could read even simple RFID badges via PC/SC and then display relevant information

references