WinterCG

The Web-interoperable Runtimes Community Group (WinterCG) is a community of people who are interested in using Web Platform APIs outside of browsers, namely on the server (Deno / Node.js) or edge runtimes (Cloudflare Workers / Deno).

The WinterCG is organized as a W3C Community Group. This gives the group access to the W3C's vast infrastructure and its IPR policy work. This is the same type of community that the WICG is organized in.

The ultimate goal of the group is to promote runtimes supporting a comprehensive unified API surface that JavaScript developers can rely on regardless of the runtime they are using: be it browsers, servers, embedded applications, or edge runtimes.

The members of the group want to provide a space to better coordinate between browser vendors and other implementors on how Web Platform APIs can be best implemented and used outside of browsers.

We want to provide guidance and documentation on how server side runtimes can best implement Web Platform APIs and to what extent they could deviate from browsers.

We want to provide feedback to spec authors of Web Platform APIs from the view point of non-browser runtimes to help them make informed decisions about future specification changes.

We want to coordinate and propose updates to existing Web Platform APIs (in existing venues) that we think would benefit the goal of a comprehensive unified API surface for all JS developers.

The members of this group all share the belief that a comprehensive unified API surface for JS runtimes is something that would benefit the JS community as a whole. In the past members have individually worked on making this a reality.

This disparate approach with little coordination has historically led to much confusion between not just browser vendors, spec authors, and other implementors, but also between non browser implementors and other non browser implementors on topics of unified API. This was often caused by the fact that discussions were spread over various disparate issue and PR comments with often little context or cohesion between them.

We think that by working together more tightly we can provide browser vendors and specification editors with more meaningful feedback from users of non-browser JS runtimes. This will help them make informed decisions about future specification changes that relate to the goal of a comprehensive unified API surface for JS runtimes.

We are not trying to be a specification body that specifies new APIs. We want to work with members of existing specification bodies to improve existing APIs.

We will never fork or create new versions of existing specifications. For any change we propose, the goal is always for it to be incorporated into an upstream spec in an existing venue (such as WHATWG or W3C).

We are not trying to shift the focus of Web Platform APIs to only serve non-browser runtimes. We want to see more API surface that is useful and works great both in browsers and in other runtimes.

The group strives for rough consensus among contributors for changes to work products. Instead of formal consensus, the editors for a given work product make the judgement on whether a change is ready for inclusion and has enough support from the group. The group itself has a strict consensus policy outlined in the charter, which is oversought by the group chairs.

The WinterCG is controlled by the community of people who are working in it. The chair(s) of the group help moderate discussion and help guide the group towards consensus on proposed changes.

Currently the group consists of individual members, and members from the following organizations:

• Bloomberg
• Cloudflare
• Deno
• Node.js
• Shopify
• Vercel

The group is open to anyone who also shares the interest in using Web Platform APIs outside of the browser. You can join here. You do not need to be a W3C member to participate. Community group participation is free of charge.