Permissions-Policy

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The HTTP Permissions-Policy header provides a mechanism to allow and deny the use of browser features in a document or within any <iframe> elements in the document.

For more information, see the main Permissions Policy article.

Header type Response header
Forbidden header name yes

Syntax

http
Permissions-Policy: <directive>=<allowlist>
<directive>

The Permissions Policy directive to apply the allowlist to. See Directives below for a list of the permitted directive names.

<allowlist>

An allowlist is a list of origins that takes one or more of the following values contained in parentheses, separated by spaces:

  • *: The feature will be allowed in this document, and all nested browsing contexts (<iframe>s) regardless of their origin.
  • () (empty allowlist): The feature is disabled in top-level and nested browsing contexts. The equivalent for <iframe> allow attributes is 'none'.
  • self: The feature will be allowed in this document, and in all nested browsing contexts (<iframe>s) in the same origin only. The feature is not allowed in cross-origin documents in nested browsing contexts. self can be considered shorthand for https://your-site.example.com. The equivalent for <iframe> allow attributes is self.
  • src: The feature will be allowed in this <iframe>, as long as the document loaded into it comes from the same origin as the URL in its src attribute. This value is only used in the <iframe> allow attribute, and is the default allowlist value in <iframe>s.
  • "<origin>": The feature is allowed for specific origins (for example, "https://a.example.com"). Origins should be separated by spaces. Note that origins in <iframe> allow attributes are not quoted.

The values * and () may only be used on their own, while self and src may be used in combination with one or more origins.

Note: Directives have a default allowlist, which is always one of *, self, or none for the Permissions-Policy HTTP header, and governs the default behavior if they are not explicitly listed in a policy. These are specified on the individual directive reference pages. For <iframe> allow attributes, the default behavior is always src.

Where supported, you can include wildcards in Permissions Policy origins. This means that instead of having to explicitly specify several different subdomains in an allowlist, you can specify them all in a single origin with a wildcard.

So instead of

http
("https://example.com" "https://a.example.com" "https://b.example.com" "https://c.example.com")

You can specify

http
("https://example.com" "https://*.example.com")

Note: "https://*.example.com" does not match "https://example.com".

Directives

accelerometer Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to gather information about the acceleration of the device through the Accelerometer interface.

ambient-light-sensor Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to gather information about the amount of light in the environment around the device through the AmbientLightSensor interface.

attribution-reporting Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Attribution Reporting API.

autoplay Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to autoplay media requested through the HTMLMediaElement interface. When this policy is disabled and there were no user gestures, the Promise returned by HTMLMediaElement.play() will reject with a NotAllowedError DOMException. The autoplay attribute on <audio> and <video> elements will be ignored.

bluetooth Experimental

Controls whether the use of the Web Bluetooth API is allowed. When this policy is disabled, the methods of the Bluetooth object returned by Navigator.bluetooth will either return false or reject the returned Promise with a SecurityError DOMException.

browsing-topics Experimental Non-standard

Controls access to the Topics API. Where a policy specifically disallows the use of the Topics API, any attempts to call the Document.browsingTopics() method or send a request with a Sec-Browsing-Topics header will fail with a NotAllowedError DOMException.

camera Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use video input devices. When this policy is disabled, the Promise returned by getUserMedia() will reject with a NotAllowedError DOMException.

compute-pressure Experimental

Controls access to the Compute Pressure API.

display-capture Experimental

Controls whether or not the current document is permitted to use the getDisplayMedia() method to capture screen contents. When this policy is disabled, the promise returned by getDisplayMedia() will reject with a NotAllowedError DOMException if permission is not obtained to capture the display's contents.

document-domain Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to set document.domain. When this policy is disabled, attempting to set document.domain will fail and cause a SecurityError DOMException to be thrown.

encrypted-media Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Encrypted Media Extensions API (EME). When this policy is disabled, the Promise returned by Navigator.requestMediaKeySystemAccess() will reject with a SecurityError DOMException.

fullscreen Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use Element.requestFullscreen(). When this policy is disabled, the returned Promise rejects with a TypeError.

gamepad Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Gamepad API. When this policy is disabled, calls to Navigator.getGamepads() will throw a SecurityError DOMException, and the gamepadconnected and gamepaddisconnected events will not fire.

geolocation Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Geolocation Interface. When this policy is disabled, calls to getCurrentPosition() and watchPosition() will cause those functions' callbacks to be invoked with a GeolocationPositionError code of PERMISSION_DENIED.

gyroscope Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to gather information about the orientation of the device through the Gyroscope interface.

hid Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the WebHID API to connect to uncommon or exotic human interface devices such as alternative keyboards or gamepads.

identity-credentials-get Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Federated Credential Management API (FedCM), and more specifically the navigator.credentials.get() method with an identity option. Where this policy forbids use of the API, the Promise returned by the get() call will reject with a NotAllowedError DOMException.

idle-detection Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Idle Detection API to detect when users are interacting with their devices, for example to report "available"/"away" status in chat applications.

local-fonts Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to gather data on the user's locally-installed fonts via the Window.queryLocalFonts() method (see also the Local Font Access API).

magnetometer Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to gather information about the orientation of the device through the Magnetometer interface.

microphone Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use audio input devices. When this policy is disabled, the Promise returned by MediaDevices.getUserMedia() will reject with a NotAllowedError DOMException.

midi Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Web MIDI API. When this policy is disabled, the Promise returned by Navigator.requestMIDIAccess() will reject with a SecurityError DOMException.

otp-credentials Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the WebOTP API to request a one-time password (OTP) from a specially-formatted SMS message sent by the app's server, i.e., via navigator.credentials.get({otp: ..., ...}).

payment Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Payment Request API. When this policy is enabled, the PaymentRequest() constructor will throw a SecurityError DOMException.

picture-in-picture Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to play a video in a Picture-in-Picture mode via the corresponding API.

publickey-credentials-create Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Web Authentication API to create new asymmetric key credentials, i.e., via navigator.credentials.create({publicKey: ..., ...}).

publickey-credentials-get Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Web Authentication API to retrieve already stored public-key credentials, i.e., via navigator.credentials.get({publicKey: ..., ...}).

screen-wake-lock Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use Screen Wake Lock API to indicate that device should not turn off or dim the screen.

serial Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Web Serial API to communicate with serial devices, either directly connected via a serial port, or via USB or Bluetooth devices emulating a serial port.

speaker-selection Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the Audio Output Devices API to list and select speakers.

storage-access Experimental

Controls whether a document loaded in a third-party context (i.e. embedded in an <iframe>) is allowed to use the Storage Access API to request access to unpartitioned cookies.

usb Experimental

Controls whether the current document is allowed to use the WebUSB API.

web-share Experimental

Controls whether or not the current document is allowed to use the Navigator.share() of Web Share API to share text, links, images, and other content to arbitrary destinations of user's choice, e.g. mobile apps.

window-management Experimental

Controls whether or not the current document is allowed to use the Window Management API to manage windows on multiple displays.

xr-spatial-tracking Experimental

Controls whether or not the current document is allowed to use the WebXR Device API to interact with a WebXR session.

Examples

Basic usage

Permissions-Policy header

To allow all origins access to geolocation, you would do this:

http
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=*

Or to allow access to a subset of origins, you'd do this:

http
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=(self "https://a.example.com" "https://b.example.com")

Several features can be controlled at the same time by sending the header with a comma-separated list of policies, or by sending a separate header for each policy.

For example, the following are equivalent:

http
Permissions-Policy: picture-in-picture=(), geolocation=(self https://example.com/), camera=*

Permissions-Policy: picture-in-picture=()
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=(self https://example.com/)
Permissions-Policy: camera=*

iframes

For an <iframe> to have a feature enabled its allowed origin must also be in the allowlist for the parent page. Because of this inheritance behavior, it is a good idea to specify the widest acceptable support for a feature in the HTTP header, and then specify the subset of support you need in each <iframe>.

To allow all origins access to geolocation, you would do this:

html
<iframe src="https://example.com" allow="geolocation *"></iframe>

To apply a policy to the current origin and others, you'd do this:

html
<iframe
  src="https://example.com"
  allow="geolocation 'self' https://a.example.com https://b.example.com"></iframe>

This is important: By default, if an <iframe> navigates to another origin, the policy is not applied to the origin that the <iframe> navigates to. By listing the origin that the <iframe> navigates to in the allow attribute, the Permissions Policy that was applied to the original <iframe> will be applied to the origin the <iframe> navigates to.

Several features can be controlled at the same time by including a semi-colon-separated list of policy directives inside the allow attribute.

html
<iframe
  src="https://example.com"
  allow="geolocation 'self' https://a.example.com https://b.example.com; fullscreen 'none'"></iframe>

It is worth giving the src value a special mention. We mentioned above that using this allowlist value will mean that the associated feature will be allowed in this <iframe>, as long as the document loaded into it comes from the same origin as the URL in its src attribute. This value is the default allowlist value for features listed in allow, so the following are equivalent:

html
<iframe src="https://example.com" allow="geolocation 'src'">
  <iframe src="https://example.com" allow="geolocation"></iframe
></iframe>

Denying access to powerful features

SecureCorp Inc. wants to disable Microphone (for example MediaDevices.getUserMedia()) and Geolocation APIs in its application. It can do so using the following response header:

http
Permissions-Policy: microphone=(), geolocation=()

By specifying () for the origin list, the specified features will be disabled for all browsing contexts (this includes all <iframe>s), regardless of their origin.

Combining HTTP header and <iframe> policies

For example, let's say that we wanted to enable geolocation usage on our own origin, and in embedded content coming from our trusted ad network. We could set up the page-wide Permissions Policy like this:

http
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=(self https://trusted-ad-network.com)

Over in our ad <iframe>s, we could set access to the https://trusted-ad-network.com origin like this:

html
<iframe src="https://trusted-ad-network.com" allow="geolocation"></iframe>

If a different origin ended up getting loaded into <iframe>, it would not have access to geolocation:

html
<iframe src="https://rogue-origin-example.com" allow="geolocation"></iframe>

Specifications

Specification
Permissions Policy
# permissions-policy-http-header-field

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also