pwa-push-notifications-require-vapid-not-just-sw
A service worker that only handles network-first caching does NOT provide push notifications. Real push requires: VAPID key generation, a /subscribe endpoint to store PushSubscription objects, a push event handler in sw.js, and server-side notification dispatch via the Web Push Protocol. Many PWA scaffolds ship with a service worker for offline caching only and falsely imply push capability — always verify the sw.js contains a ‘push’ event listener and the backend has VAPID configuration.