Microsoft introduces App Actions support for PWAs on Windows with Edge 137

Microsoft has rolled out App Actions support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on Windows, starting with Microsoft Edge version 137. With this new capability, developers can seamlessly integrate key app functionalities into users’ daily workflows, including editing text, processing images, or managing files, without needing to switch between multiple apps.

App Actions allows you to invoke high-value features of a PWA directly from within their current context. For example, GoodNotes, a popular PWA-based note-taking app, comes with enabled App Actions, so you can select text in an article and send it directly to the app as a quick note without switching between windows manually.

This appears to be a beneficial move from Microsoft, aimed at enhancing productivity while increasing app visibility and user engagement across the Windows ecosystem.

How can developers enable app actions?

To enable App Actions in a Microsoft Store PWA, developers will have to

1. Define an Action manifest. The manifest describes each action in a simple JSON file.
2. Setup a custom protocol handler. So that the App Actions runtime can launch your PWA through a protocol URI.
3. Setup your app as a share target. So that the App Actions runtime can pass input data to your PWA.
4. Package your app for Microsoft Store with PWABuilder.

Additionally, developers can utilize the App Actions Testing Playground to test their implementations and add a launch handler to define precisely how the framework launches their Progressive Web App (PWA).

With this update, Microsoft will continue its push to make PWAs more integrated, powerful, and discoverable on Windows 11. If you’re curious about other changes in this release, including some features that were removed, check out our detailed guide on Edge 137 hitting the stable channel.