GoogleChromeLabs/quicklink
Quicklink
Quicklink is a JavaScript library and web performance optimization tool that fetches linked resources as they enter the browser viewport. It serves as a viewport-based resource preloader and a wrapper for the browser speculation rules API to reduce perceived page load times.
The library implements background page rendering and predictive resource prefetching to enable faster navigation transitions. It manages a cache of prefetched URLs and uses browser speculation rules to render full pages in the background.
The tool includes capabilities for resource filtering via regular expressions, network-aware fetch throttling based on connection speed or data-saver settings, and idle-callback scheduling to prevent interference with critical page rendering. It also provides mechanisms for custom fetch URL generation and cache management to handle dynamic content.
Features
- Idle Asset Prefetchers - A JavaScript library that fetches linked resources appearing in the viewport during idle time to speed up page loads.
- Page Navigation Prefetching - Fetches linked content as it enters the viewport to reduce perceived latency during user navigation.
- Idle-Callback Batching - Defers network requests until the browser main thread is idle to avoid interfering with critical page rendering.
- Browser API Wrappers - Provides a functional wrapper for the browser speculation rules API to simplify background page rendering.
- Speculation Rule Implementations - Implements browser speculation rules to prerender pages in the background for near-instantaneous page transitions.
- Speculation Rule Prerendering - Uses browser speculation rules to render full pages in the background for near-instantaneous navigation transitions.
- Viewport-Based Preloading - Monitors the browser viewport to trigger network requests for links before a user clicks them.
- Viewport Observers - Detects when linked elements enter the browser viewport to trigger asynchronous resource fetching.
- Web Performance Optimization Tools - Reduces perceived page load times by managing a cache of prefetched URLs and background rendering.
- Prefetch Resource Filtering - Provides the ability to exclude specific addresses or patterns from being prefetched using regular expressions.
- Adaptive Connection Throttling - Checks user data-saver settings and connection speed to disable prefetching on constrained or metered networks.
- Prefetch Cache Controls - Allows resetting the observer and the cache of processed URLs to handle dynamic DOM changes.
- Regex Filtering Engines - Filters target URLs against regular expression patterns to prevent the prefetching of excluded or external domains.
- URL Request Tracking - Implements a local registry of processed links to ensure each resource is fetched only once per session.
- Dynamic Content Loading - Manages the prefetch cache and observers to handle resource loading for frequently changing DOM elements.
- Programmatic Prefetching - Fetches a designated list of URLs while respecting user data-saver settings and network connection speeds.
- Resource Loading - Prefetches links in the viewport to speed up navigation.
