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Cool -- that's a really compelling story! And I presume the two apps (the main app and the connector app) can send messages to each other? The only part of th

Cool -- that's a really compelling story! And I presume the two apps (the main app and the connector app) can send messages to each other? The only part of this that seems short of ideal to me is: I want the connector to use a real web browser to talk to the bank's website, for several reasons, but chief among them is that if the website asks the user something unexpectedly (like a security question), or something doesn't work, it's easy for the user to see what is going on. That is one aspect of the client-side approach I liked: the browser running the accounting app is the same browser being used to actually fetch the data. Do you have an answer for this?

kentonv 11y ago
> And I presume the two apps (the main app and the connector app) can send messages to each other? Yep. Through Cap'n Proto RPC -- or HTTP layered on top of Cap'n Proto RPC. > I want the connector to use a real web browser to talk to the bank's website Interesting. That does add complication, but it seems doable. Perhaps the connector grain could act as a proxy, embedding the bank's UI in an iframe, where the iframe src of course doesn't point directly to the bank but points back to the connector grain in proxy mode. FWIW, we definitely want grains to be able to embed each other's UIs in iframes (with proper permissions), which might play a part in this.
- haberman 11y ago
  > Interesting. That does add complication, but it seems doable. Perhaps the connector grain could act as a proxy, embedding the bank's UI in an iframe, where the iframe src of course doesn't point directly to the bank but points back to the connector grain in proxy mode. You're saying MITM the user's HTTP connection? I can't imagine how that would work with SSL? This might be too tricky to actually be feasible, just dreaming here! Hopefully it is useful to help you imagine cool scenarios and possible requirements.
  - kentonv 11y ago
    > You're saying MITM the user's HTTP connection? I can't imagine how that would work with SSL? The browser wouldn't think it's talking to bankofamerica.com. The browser would think it's talking to your sandstorm server. The user is willingly letting the grain MITM the connection so that the app can get their data out. There would certainly be complications, though.

kentonv 11y ago

> And I presume the two apps (the main app and the connector app) can send messages to each other? Yep. Through Cap'n Proto RPC -- or HTTP layered on top of Cap'n Proto RPC. > I want the connector to use a real web browser to talk to the bank's website Interesting. That does add complication, but it seems doable. Perhaps the connector grain could act as a proxy, embedding the bank's UI in an iframe, where the iframe src of course doesn't point directly to the bank but points back to the connector grain in proxy mode. FWIW, we definitely want grains to be able to embed each other's UIs in iframes (with proper permissions), which might play a part in this.

haberman 11y ago
> Interesting. That does add complication, but it seems doable. Perhaps the connector grain could act as a proxy, embedding the bank's UI in an iframe, where the iframe src of course doesn't point directly to the bank but points back to the connector grain in proxy mode. You're saying MITM the user's HTTP connection? I can't imagine how that would work with SSL? This might be too tricky to actually be feasible, just dreaming here! Hopefully it is useful to help you imagine cool scenarios and possible requirements.
- kentonv 11y ago
  > You're saying MITM the user's HTTP connection? I can't imagine how that would work with SSL? The browser wouldn't think it's talking to bankofamerica.com. The browser would think it's talking to your sandstorm server. The user is willingly letting the grain MITM the connection so that the app can get their data out. There would certainly be complications, though.