Add singleTab option for Worker in tab-less contexts like Capacitor apps

[jacob-8]

Capacitor apps use an instance of webview that don't have the navigator.locks API, thus the PGlite worker doesn't work in these contexts. It throws an error: "Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'request')."

I propose updating the code to allow for singleTab worker usage. I would say that 90% of the benefit of the worker is the background thread ability and only 10% is multi-tab stuff. This allows us to still use the worker in apps built using Capacitor and other similar frameworks.

[jacob-8]

FYI, cloning down the repo (with submodules), pnpm install and then pnpm ts:build doesn't work. I'm on Linux.

pglite main ❯ pnpm ts:build

> @ ts:build /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite
> pnpm -r --filter "./packages/**" build

Scope: 9 of 13 workspace projects
packages/pg-protocol build$ tsup
[18 lines collapsed]
│ CJS dist/messages.cjs.map 11.69 KB
│ CJS ⚡️ Build success in 22ms
│ DTS Build start
│ DTS ⚡️ Build success in 555ms
│ DTS dist/index.d.cts             1.67 KB
│ DTS dist/messages.d.cts          762.00 B
│ DTS dist/messages-CaXcfh5Z.d.cts 12.65 KB
│ DTS dist/index.d.ts              1.67 KB
│ DTS dist/messages.d.ts           761.00 B
│ DTS dist/messages-CaXcfh5Z.d.ts  12.65 KB
└─ Done in 1s
packages/pglite build$ pnpm build:js
│ > @electric-sql/pglite@0.3.11 build:js /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite
│ > tsup && tsx scripts/bundle-wasm.ts
│ Cannot find release/pglite.js
│ CLI Building entry: src/index.ts, src/templating.ts, src/contrib/amcheck.ts, src/contrib/auto_explain.ts, src/contrib/bloom.ts, src/contrib/btree_gin.ts, src/contrib/btree_gist.ts, …
│ CLI Using tsconfig: tsconfig.json
│ CLI tsup v8.3.0
│ CLI Using tsup config: /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite/tsup.config.ts
│ CLI Target: es2020
│ CLI Cleaning output folder
│ ESM Build start
│ CJS Build start
│ ✘ [ERROR] Could not resolve "../release/pglite"
│     src/postgresMod.ts:1:31:
│       1 │ import PostgresModFactory from '../release/pglite'
│         ╵                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
│ ✘ [ERROR] Could not resolve "../release/pglite"
│     src/postgresMod.ts:1:31:
│       1 │ import PostgresModFactory from '../release/pglite'
│         ╵                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
│ ESM Build failed
│ CJS Build failed
│ DTS Build start
│ src/postgresMod.ts(1,32): error TS2307: Cannot find module '../release/pglite' or its corresponding type declarations.
│ DTS Build error
│  ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.
└─ Failed in 6.4s at /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite
/home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite:
 ERR_PNPM_RECURSIVE_RUN_FIRST_FAIL  @electric-sql/pglite@0.3.11 build: `pnpm build:js`
Exit status 1
 ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.

[tdrz]

You need to do `pnpm build:all`. It's in the README.

…

On Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 11:23 Jacob Bowdoin ***@***.***> wrote: *jacob-8* left a comment (electric-sql/pglite#832) <#832 (comment)> FYI, cloning down the repo (with submodules), pnpm install and then pnpm ts:build doesn't work. I'm on Linux. pglite main ❯ pnpm ts:build > @ ts:build /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite> pnpm -r --filter "./packages/**" build Scope: 9 of 13 workspace projects packages/pg-protocol build$ tsup [18 lines collapsed] │ CJS dist/messages.cjs.map 11.69 KB │ CJS ⚡️ Build success in 22ms │ DTS Build start │ DTS ⚡️ Build success in 555ms │ DTS dist/index.d.cts 1.67 KB │ DTS dist/messages.d.cts 762.00 B │ DTS dist/messages-CaXcfh5Z.d.cts 12.65 KB │ DTS dist/index.d.ts 1.67 KB │ DTS dist/messages.d.ts 761.00 B │ DTS dist/messages-CaXcfh5Z.d.ts 12.65 KB └─ Done in 1s packages/pglite build$ pnpm build:js │ > @***@***.*** build:js /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite │ > tsup && tsx scripts/bundle-wasm.ts │ Cannot find release/pglite.js │ CLI Building entry: src/index.ts, src/templating.ts, src/contrib/amcheck.ts, src/contrib/auto_explain.ts, src/contrib/bloom.ts, src/contrib/btree_gin.ts, src/contrib/btree_gist.ts, … │ CLI Using tsconfig: tsconfig.json │ CLI tsup v8.3.0 │ CLI Using tsup config: /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite/tsup.config.ts │ CLI Target: es2020 │ CLI Cleaning output folder │ ESM Build start │ CJS Build start │ ✘ [ERROR] Could not resolve "../release/pglite" │ src/postgresMod.ts:1:31: │ 1 │ import PostgresModFactory from '../release/pglite' │ ╵ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ │ ✘ [ERROR] Could not resolve "../release/pglite" │ src/postgresMod.ts:1:31: │ 1 │ import PostgresModFactory from '../release/pglite' │ ╵ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ │ ESM Build failed │ CJS Build failed │ DTS Build start │ src/postgresMod.ts(1,32): error TS2307: Cannot find module '../release/pglite' or its corresponding type declarations. │ DTS Build error │  ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1. └─ Failed in 6.4s at /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite /home/jacob/code/examples/pglite/packages/pglite:  ERR_PNPM_RECURSIVE_RUN_FIRST_FAIL  @***@***.*** build: `pnpm build:js` Exit status 1  ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#832 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AI62W6QVQUVYT3WHVHQCHPD32HRJ3AVCNFSM6AAAAACKURUVXCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTINRXGE4TKNBVHA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[samwillis]

Hi @jacob-8, I think this is a good addition, but we should add tests that it is working correctly.

Could you modify packages/pglite/tests/targets/web/base.js such that it does something like:

export function tests(env, dbFilename, target) {
  describe.each([
    { singleTab: false },
    { singleTab: true },
  ])(`targets ${target} singleTab=$singleTab `, ({ singleTab }) => {

          db = new PGliteWorker(
            new Worker(WORKER_PATH, {
              type: 'module',
            }),
            {
              dataDir: dbFilename,
              singleTab
            },
          )