`CredentialsContainer.create()` & `.get()` should be able to return `PublicKeyCredential`, and the PKC interface should be more well-defined

⚙ Compilation target

ESNext or ES2024

(I am building for current up-to-date browsers.)

⚙ Library

DOM

Missing / Incorrect Definition

CredentialsContainer.create() and CredentialsContainer.get() currently always return a Promise<Credential | null> regardless of config. This is incomplete and less helpful than it could be.

In actual implementation, if a publicKey config is specified (and one type of credential config must be specified for both methods), both methods will return a PublicKeyCredential (or null). Currently we're forced to downcast to the correct type, e.g.:

const credential = await CredentialsContainer.create({ publicKey: { ... } });
if (credential) {
  const pkc = credential as PublicKeyCredential;
  // do things with pkc
}

Additionally, the PublicKeyCredential type definition is incomplete.

• Instances are missing the pkc.toJSON() helper method.
  • Browser support still varies, so leaving it out might be deliberate. Firefox and Chrome support it; Safari does not, Opera is developing it, and all device WebViews do not support it.
• The pkc.response field currently always has type AuthenticatorResponse. This is incomplete. Per MDN:
  • if the PublicKeyCredential was obtained via create(), the response field will be of type AuthenticatorAttestationResponse (attestation)
  • if it was obtained via get(), the response field will be of type AuthenticatorAssertionResponse (assertion).

Both AuthenticatorAttestationResponse and AuthenticatorAssertionResponse are already defined in lib.dom.d.ts.

Recommendation

PublicKeyCredential should instead be defined with a generic property that accepts the response type, e.g.:

interface PublicKeyCredential<Response extends AuthenticatorResponse = AuthenticatorResponse> {
  response: Response,
  // (other fields omitted)
}

Then create() and get() should be overloaded methods approximately like the following. All the types referenced below already exist in lib.dom.d.ts.

interface CredentialsContainer {
  create(options?: CredentialCreationOptions & { publicKey: PublicKeyCredentialCreationOptions }): Promise<PublicKeyCredential<AuthenticatorAttestationResponse> | null>;
  create(options?: CredentialCreationOptions): Promise<Credential | null>;

  get(options?: CredentialRequestOptions & { publicKey: PublicKeyCredentialRequestOptions }): Promise<PublicKeyCredential<AuthenticatorAssertionResponse> | null>;
  get(options?: CredentialRequestOptions): Promise<Credential | null>;
}

Sample Code

const toUint8Array = (str: string) => Uint8Array.from(str, c => c.charCodeAt(0));

const credential = await navigator.credentials.create({
  publicKey: {
    challenge: toUint8Array("random challenge from server"),
    rp: {
      name: "WebAuthN",
      id: "webauth.io", // Run this code on the webauthn.io domain, or change this to another domain.
    },
    user: {
      id: toUint8Array("username"),
      name: "Name",
      displayName: "Display name",
    },
    pubKeyCredParams: [
      { alg: -7, type: "public-key" },
    ],
    attestation: "direct",
  },
});

if (credential) {
  console.debug(credential.toJSON());
  //                       ~~~~~~
  // Property 'toJSON' does not exist on type 'Credential'.ts(2339)

  console.debug(credential.response);
  //                       ~~~~~~~~
  // Property 'response' does not exist on type 'Credential'.ts(2339)

  console.debug((credential as PublicKeyCredential).response.getAuthenticatorData());
  //                                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  // Property 'getAuthenticatorData' does not exist on type 'AuthenticatorResponse'.ts(2339)
  
  // Currently forced to downcast twice like this essentially, which TypeScript permits:
  const pkc = credential as (PublicKeyCredential & { response: AuthenticatorAttestationResponse });
  console.debug(pkc.response.getAuthenticatorData());
}

Documentation Link

• CredentialsContainer.create(): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CredentialsContainer/create
• CredentialsContainer.get(): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/CredentialsContainer/get
• PublicKeyCredential.toJSON(): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/PublicKeyCredential/toJSON
• PublicKeyCredential.response: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/PublicKeyCredential/response
• AuthenticatorAttestationResponse.getAuthenticatorData(): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/AuthenticatorAttestationResponse/getAuthenticatorData