Effective Strategies for Managing Session Data in Third-Party Embeddable Web Components

In today’s digital ecosystem, embedding dynamic content through third-party scripts and Web Components has become commonplace. However, developers often encounter challenges in maintaining persistent session data across different environments and browser restrictions. This article explores best practices and solutions for storing session information when building embeddable widgets that interact seamlessly across diverse websites.

Understanding the Context

Imagine you are creating a customizable widget—implemented as a Web Component—that other websites can embed effortlessly. This widget performs API calls and interacts with users, necessitating some form of session persistence. The key requirement is that user interactions within the widget should be preserved even when the host page is reloaded or revisited later.

Challenges Faced

1. Browser Privacy Policies and Storage Restrictions:
   Modern browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, actively block or restrict third-party cookies due to privacy concerns. This limits the ability to rely on traditional cookies for session storage, especially when embedded via third-party scripts.

2. Shadow DOM and Styling Constraints:
   Incorporating styling frameworks like TailwindCSS within Shadow DOM encapsulation adds complexity, but primarily affects visual styling rather than data persistence.

3. Cross-Origin Limitations:
   Since third-party scripts operate in the context of the host website, sharing persistent data securely and reliably can be tricky without proper storage mechanisms.

Potential Solutions for Persistent Session Storage

1. Local Storage and Session Storage

2. Limitations: These are scoped to the domain of the executing script and are not accessible across different websites or subdomains. Additionally, they are subject to browser security policies, and third-party scripts may have access restrictions based on context.

3. Server-Side Storage

4. Approach: Store session data on your server associated with a unique user or session identifier. You can generate a token or identifier embedded in the widget, which the host site can store in a cookie or local storage, and send back on each API call.

5. Implementation: Upon user interaction, generate a session ID, store relevant data server-side, and embed this ID in the widget. When the widget reloads, it can send the session ID via API to retrieve session context.

6. Browser Storage with First-Party Context

7. Strategy: When embedding via an iframe, it operates in a different context than scripts embedded directly on the page, making cookie behavior more predictable. Setting cookies within the iframe’s domain can help maintain session data more reliably