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docs: add warning about Chrome Private Network Access restrictions#1753

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ivan-aksamentov merged 1 commit intomasterfrom
docs/pna-localhost-warning
Feb 27, 2026
Merged

docs: add warning about Chrome Private Network Access restrictions#1753
ivan-aksamentov merged 1 commit intomasterfrom
docs/pna-localhost-warning

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@ivan-aksamentov ivan-aksamentov commented Feb 27, 2026

Chromium-based browsers block requests from HTTPS sites to localhost due to Private Network Access security restrictions. This affects users trying to load local files via URL parameters. Documentation now explains the restriction and provides workarounds.

Example error:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'http://localhost:3001/sequences.fasta' 
from origin 'https://clades.nextstrain.org' has been blocked by 
CORS policy: Permission was denied for this request to access the 
`unknown` address space.

localhost:3001/sequences.fasta:1  Failed to load resource: 
net::ERR_FAILED

Sometimes shows user a dialog:
screenshot

For dev purposes, disable this flag, in a separate dev instance of chromium (but never in your main browser!):

chrome://flags/#local-network-access-check

or run chrome(-ium) with:

--disable-features=LocalNetworkAccessChecks
  • Document PNA restriction affecting localhost URLs
  • Add workarounds: drag-and-drop, CLI, public HTTPS hosting, chrome://flags

@ivan-aksamentov ivan-aksamentov force-pushed the docs/pna-localhost-warning branch 2 times, most recently from 3a967ba to 46711d1 Compare February 27, 2026 10:44
- Document that Chromium browsers block HTTPS-to-localhost requests
- Add workarounds: drag-and-drop, CLI, public HTTPS hosting
@ivan-aksamentov ivan-aksamentov force-pushed the docs/pna-localhost-warning branch from 46711d1 to 67dec1d Compare February 27, 2026 11:09
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Base automatically changed from fix/alignment-overflow-panic to master February 27, 2026 11:51
@ivan-aksamentov ivan-aksamentov merged commit 67dec1d into master Feb 27, 2026
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@ivan-aksamentov ivan-aksamentov deleted the docs/pna-localhost-warning branch February 27, 2026 11:51
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