Executive TL;DR:

• Window.showDirectoryPicker enables new web app capabilities
• Currently only supported by Chrome/Chromium
• Promises a local-first web app revolution

The Buzz Score

The Internet’s Verdict: 70% Hyped, 30% Skeptical

Forum Voices

Developers are excited about the possibilities of window.showDirectoryPicker. As one developer notes:

Using an example that is similar to what is shown in the article’s videos, this could be awesome for a ‘blender in the cloud’ for render farms. Imagine just having your blender file, read and written to, with a simple web interface

However, others are more cautious:

Too many prompts and not an official API. Back in the day, IE also had tons of ‘great’ and novel ideas, including COM+ something something.

Security is also a concern:

First time I’ve heard about this. I’ll have to look into the security model around it. I’m curious what safeguards are in place to prevent click jacking.

Despite these concerns, many are optimistic about the potential of window.showDirectoryPicker:

I’m really excited about window.showDirectoryPicker and the local-first web apps it will enable. There’s lots of talk about local-first sync engines, but the best sync engine is one you don’t even manage, like the user’s file system / cloud storage service!

Focus Keyword: Show Directory Picker