I'm curious: Shouldn't my `productionExecutable/in...

# webassembly

[Stefan Oltmann]

I'm curious: Shouldn't my productionExecutable/index.html still function properly if I open it directly in the browser locally? Is a hosted server necessary for WebAssembly (WASM)? I had the impression that everything should occur within the browser without the need for a server. 🤔

[Svyatoslav Kuzmich [JB]]

Yes, you need a server, like with a regular HTML + JS. When Wasm is added, your HTML loads JS, and that JS in turn loads Wasm.

I usually click on IDE browser icons at the top, it spins out the server for me.

[Stefan Oltmann]

But why does it need a server? Can't JavaScript load WASM locally?

[Svyatoslav Kuzmich [JB]]

I think I was wrong. The issue is that we are doing the runtime JS fetch of a local .wasm file, that browsers don’t allow (without a flag, like --allow-file-access-from-files in chrome). If we encoded wasm file inside JS, you’d be able to load it locally. It seems that ESM integration proposal could help with loading wasm as well.

[Stefan Oltmann]

Can I add this --allow-file-access-from-files somehow?

I think it would be cool if my WASM app would only run offline completely from a local file. 🙂