Accessibility Testing Skill

Browser Tooling Routing (read first)

This skill has two distinct execution modes. Pick the right one before running anything:

Task	Tool	Why
Codified CI keyboard tests, visual regression, axe-core scans, WCAG compliance suites	npx playwright test with .spec.js files	Real keyboard events, CI-runnable, version-controlled, reproducible. Primary path — all mandatory rules below still apply.
Interactive agent-driven reconnaissance: snapshot ARIA structure, navigate a SPA to reach the page under test, verify a fix in place, capture annotated screenshots, probe a disclosure/menu/modal without writing a test file	agent-browser CLI (snapshot+ref pattern, persistent CDP daemon, real keyboard events)	One shell call per action, no test-file overhead, returns @e1-style refs that map directly to actions. See "Interactive reconnaissance with agent-browser" below.
Visual inspection, DOM queries from a conversational session	agent-browser screenshot / agent-browser screenshot --annotate / agent-browser snapshot	Same daemon, no test runner needed.
Anything requiring real keyboard event delivery through an MCP wrapper	DO NOT USE Playwright MCP. Its browser_press_key calls are silently dropped for most interactive widgets. Use npx playwright test or agent-browser instead.

CDP keyboard event delivery for agent-browser has been verified end-to-end on both a vanilla JS disclosure widget (WAI-ARIA APG disclosure-faq example: focus → press Enter → aria-expanded: false → true) and a React state-driven modal (react.dev DocSearch: Meta+K → React global keydown listener → state-mounted searchbox). The MCP keyboard delivery bug does not apply to agent-browser because it calls CDP Input.dispatchKeyEvent directly rather than through an MCP wrapper.

Interactive reconnaissance with agent-browser

For ad-hoc a11y probing inside a conversational session — before writing a .spec.js file, when verifying a single fix, or when exploring the ARIA structure of an unfamiliar component — use agent-browser. The snapshot+ref pattern eliminates locator hunting:

agent-browser open https://example.com/component-under-test
agent-browser snapshot -i                    # Returns interactive elements with refs: [ref=e1], [ref=e2]...
agent-browser focus @e1                      # Focus by ref
agent-browser press Enter                    # Real CDP keyboard event
agent-browser get attr @e1 aria-expanded     # Verify state mutation
agent-browser screenshot --annotate          # Numbered overlays mapping to refs (useful for multimodal review)
agent-browser close

Key flags: --profile Default (reuse the user's Chrome login state for authenticated sites), --session <name> (isolated browser per parallel agent), --json (parseable output for programmatic checks), --allowed-domains (safety).

When to escalate to npx playwright test: when the verification needs to live in CI, run across PR builds, or exercise the 12 APG widget pattern templates below. Reconnaissance with agent-browser is for interactive probing; codified regression still belongs in .spec.js files.

1. Keyboard Accessibility Tests

MANDATORY: All keyboard tests MUST use real Playwright keyboard interactions against a live or local site. Never check ARIA attributes alone and claim a keyboard test passed — you must actually press keys and verify the result.

Required Testing Method

• Use page.keyboard.press('Enter'), page.keyboard.press('Tab'), page.keyboard.press('Escape'), page.keyboard.press('Space') for single keys
• Use page.keyboard.press('Shift+ArrowRight'), page.keyboard.press('Control+Enter'), page.keyboard.press('Meta+Enter') for key combos
• Use page.keyboard.down('Shift') / page.keyboard.up('Shift') with page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight') for held-key sequences (e.g., text selection)
• Use element.focus() then verify with toBeFocused() or document.activeElement === element
• NEVER use synthetic dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent(...)) to test keyboard features — that bypasses the real browser keyboard path and proves nothing
• NEVER claim a keyboard test passed by only reading DOM attributes (aria-expanded, aria-pressed, etc.) without actually pressing a key and observing the state change

What to Test (with real key presses)

1. Tab order: Press Tab repeatedly and verify focus moves to each interactive element in logical order
2. Enter/Space activation: Focus a button/link, press Enter or Space, verify the expected action occurred (panel opened, state toggled, navigation happened)
3. Escape to dismiss: Open a modal/popup/sidebar, press Escape, verify it closed
4. Arrow key navigation: For tablists, menus, and custom widgets — press Arrow keys and verify focus/selection moves
5. Keyboard text selection: For content areas — use Shift+Arrow to select text, verify selection was created via window.getSelection()
6. Modifier combos: Test Ctrl+Enter, Meta+Enter, and other app-specific shortcuts
7. Focus management: After opening/closing panels, verify focus moves to the correct element (e.g., CKEditor gets focus when annotation form opens, focus returns to trigger after modal closes)

State Verification Pattern

Every keyboard test must follow this pattern:

1. Record initial state (aria-expanded, aria-pressed, visibility, activeElement)
2. Perform real keyboard action (page.keyboard.press)
3. Wait for UI to update (waitForTimeout or waitForFunction)
4. Verify state actually changed (attribute toggled, element visible/hidden, focus moved)

Example — testing a toggle button:

const btn = page.locator('button[aria-expanded]');
const initialExpanded = await btn.getAttribute('aria-expanded');
await btn.focus();
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await page.waitForTimeout(300);
const afterExpanded = await btn.getAttribute('aria-expanded');
expect(initialExpanded).not.toBe(afterExpanded); // State MUST change

WAI-ARIA APG Keyboard Test Templates

Reusable Playwright templates for common widget patterns. Each uses real page.keyboard.press() calls — never synthetic events.

1. Tree View Interactions: ArrowDown/Up move aria-activedescendant; ArrowRight expands closed node or moves to first child; ArrowLeft collapses open node or moves to parent; Home/End jump to first/last visible treeitem; Enter activates.

const tree = page.locator('[role="tree"]');
await tree.focus();
const before = await tree.getAttribute('aria-activedescendant');
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowDown');
await page.waitForTimeout(200);
const after = await tree.getAttribute('aria-activedescendant');
expect(after).not.toBe(before);
expect(after).toBeTruthy(); // must reference a [role="treeitem"] id

2. Roving Tabindex (Tabs) Interactions: ArrowRight/Left move focus between [role="tab"] elements and update tabindex; active tab keeps tabindex="0", others get tabindex="-1"; only one aria-selected="true" per [role="tablist"].

const activeTab = page.locator('[role="tab"][tabindex="0"]');
await activeTab.focus();
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
await page.waitForTimeout(200);
const newActive = page.locator('[role="tab"][tabindex="0"]');
await expect(newActive).toHaveAttribute('aria-selected', 'true');
expect(await page.locator('[role="tab"][aria-selected="true"]').count()).toBe(1);

3. Dialog Focus Trap Interactions: Tab/Shift+Tab cycle within [role="dialog"] (last focusable→first, first→last); Escape closes; focus returns to trigger after close.

await triggerButton.click();
const dialog = page.locator('[role="dialog"]');
// Tab past last focusable item — should wrap to first
const focusables = dialog.locator('button, [href], input, [tabindex="0"]');
const count = await focusables.count();
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) await page.keyboard.press('Tab');
await expect(focusables.first()).toBeFocused();
await page.keyboard.press('Escape');
await expect(triggerButton).toBeFocused();

4. Sidebar/Panel Focus Management Interactions: Close button receives focus on panel open; Escape closes panel and returns focus to trigger.

await triggerButton.click();
const panel = page.locator('[role="region"]'); // or your panel selector
await expect(panel.locator('button[aria-label*="Close"]')).toBeFocused();
await page.keyboard.press('Escape');
await page.waitForTimeout(150); // allow React unmount + setTimeout(0)
await expect(triggerButton).toBeFocused();

5. Disclosure Widget Interactions: Enter/Space toggle aria-expanded between "true"/"false"; aria-controls references the panel id; panel visibility matches expanded state.

const btn = page.locator('button[aria-expanded]');
await btn.focus();
const initial = await btn.getAttribute('aria-expanded');
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await page.waitForTimeout(200);
const toggled = await btn.getAttribute('aria-expanded');
expect(toggled).not.toBe(initial);
const panelId = await btn.getAttribute('aria-controls');
const panel = page.locator(`#${panelId}`);
await expect(panel).toBeVisible(); // when expanded=true

6. Menu Button / Dropdown Interactions: Enter/Space opens menu, focus moves to first item; Arrow keys navigate with wrapping; Escape closes and returns focus to trigger; Home/End jump to first/last; type-ahead jumps to matching item.

const trigger = page.locator('button[aria-haspopup="menu"]');
await trigger.focus();
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await page.waitForTimeout(200);
const menu = page.locator('[role="menu"]');
await expect(menu).toBeVisible();
await expect(menu.locator('[role="menuitem"]').first()).toBeFocused();
await page.keyboard.press('End');
await expect(menu.locator('[role="menuitem"]').last()).toBeFocused();
await page.keyboard.press('Escape');
await expect(trigger).toBeFocused();

7. Combobox / Autocomplete Interactions: typing shows listbox with filtered options; ArrowDown focuses first option; Enter selects and closes; Escape closes without selection; aria-expanded and aria-activedescendant update.

const input = page.locator('[role="combobox"]');
await input.focus();
await input.type('ap');
await page.waitForTimeout(300);
await expect(input).toHaveAttribute('aria-expanded', 'true');
const listbox = page.locator('[role="listbox"]');
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowDown');
expect(await input.getAttribute('aria-activedescendant')).toBeTruthy();
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await expect(listbox).toBeHidden();

8. Listbox (single and multi-select) Interactions: Arrow keys move selection in single-select; Space toggles in multi-select; Shift+Arrow extends range; Home/End jump to first/last; type-ahead navigation.

const listbox = page.locator('[role="listbox"]');
await listbox.focus();
await expect(listbox.locator('[role="option"]').first()).toHaveAttribute('aria-selected', 'true');
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowDown');
await page.waitForTimeout(150);
await expect(listbox.locator('[role="option"]').nth(1)).toHaveAttribute('aria-selected', 'true');
await page.keyboard.press('End');
await expect(listbox.locator('[role="option"]').last()).toBeFocused();

9. Slider Interactions: ArrowLeft/Right adjust by step; PageUp/Down by larger increment; Home/End set to min/max; aria-valuenow, aria-valuemin, aria-valuemax update.

const slider = page.locator('[role="slider"]');
await slider.focus();
const before = Number(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuenow'));
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
await page.waitForTimeout(150);
expect(Number(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuenow'))).toBeGreaterThan(before);
await page.keyboard.press('Home');
expect(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuenow')).toBe(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuemin'));
await page.keyboard.press('End');
expect(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuenow')).toBe(await slider.getAttribute('aria-valuemax'));

10. Date Picker Interactions: Arrow keys navigate days; PageUp/Down navigate months; Shift+PageUp/Down navigate years; Enter selects and closes; Escape closes without selection and returns focus to input.

const input = page.locator('[aria-label*="date" i]');
await input.focus();
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
const grid = page.locator('[role="grid"]');
await expect(grid).toBeVisible();
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
await page.keyboard.press('PageDown');
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await expect(grid).toBeHidden();
expect(await input.inputValue()).not.toBe('');

11. Accordion Interactions: Enter/Space on header toggles panel; aria-expanded reflects state; Arrow keys move between headers; Home/End jump to first/last header.

const headers = page.locator('[role="button"][aria-expanded]');
await headers.first().focus();
const initial = await headers.first().getAttribute('aria-expanded');
await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
await page.waitForTimeout(200);
expect(await headers.first().getAttribute('aria-expanded')).not.toBe(initial);
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowDown');
await expect(headers.nth(1)).toBeFocused();
await page.keyboard.press('End');
await expect(headers.last()).toBeFocused();

12. Radio Group Interactions: Arrow keys move selection within group (roving tabindex); Tab moves to/from group as a whole; first or checked radio receives initial focus; aria-checked updates with selection.

const radios = page.locator('[role="radiogroup"] [role="radio"]');
await radios.first().focus();
await page.keyboard.press('ArrowDown');
await page.waitForTimeout(150);
await expect(radios.nth(1)).toHaveAttribute('aria-checked', 'true');
await expect(radios.first()).toHaveAttribute('aria-checked', 'false');
await page.keyboard.press('Tab');
await expect(radios.nth(1)).not.toBeFocused();

Live Site Requirement

Keyboard tests MUST run against a real site (local dev environment like Lando/DDEV, or staging). Guard against accidental use of mocks:

if (!BASE_URL || !BASE_URL.match(/https?:\/\/.+/)) {
  throw new Error('Keyboard tests require a real site. Set BASE_URL.');
}

SPA-Specific Testing Patterns

React and other SPA frameworks introduce gotchas that break naive Playwright tests:

• No direct URL navigation: SPA routes (e.g., /book/truth-lending/2460032) return 404 from the server — the server has no route for them. Navigate WITHIN the app by clicking menu items and waiting for React to render. Use waitForSelector() to confirm content has loaded before interacting.

• Duplicate DOM (mobile + desktop): Many React apps render the same component twice — once for desktop, once for mobile. Playwright strict mode throws when a selector matches both. Fix by scoping to a container (nav.left-sidebar [role="tree"]) or appending .first() / .last() to your locator.

• React state waits: After page.keyboard.press(), React state updates are async — the DOM may not reflect the new state for tens of milliseconds. Add waitForTimeout(200–500) or waitForFunction(() => ...) before asserting on ARIA attributes that change via React state.

• React 16 setTimeout(0) for focus-after-unmount: In React 16, focus calls issued inside async callbacks do not survive component unmount. Production code must wrap the focus call in setTimeout(() => el.focus(), 0). Tests must account for this by allowing 100–200ms after a panel closes before checking document.activeElement.

• DOMPurify stripping data-* attributes: A bare DOMPurify.sanitize() call strips data-* attributes by default. If tests find click handlers broken after sanitization, the fix is to route sanitization through a wrapper component that calls sanitize at render time (not as a pre-processing step that discards needed attributes).

• Playwright MCP cannot deliver keyboard events: The Playwright MCP browser integration CANNOT forward keyboard events — browser_press_key calls are silently dropped for most interactive widgets. Always run keyboard a11y tests with npx playwright test using .spec.js files. Use the MCP browser only for visual inspection and DOM queries.

CSS Anti-patterns That Break Keyboard Access

visibility:hidden + :focus-within catch-22 (CRITICAL)

Never use visibility: hidden on elements that are supposed to become visible when a parent receives keyboard focus via :focus-within. The pattern creates an impossible state for keyboard users:

• visibility: hidden removes the element from the tab order entirely
• Because the element can't receive focus, :focus-within is never triggered on the parent
• Result: keyboard users can never reach the element at all

/* ❌ BROKEN — keyboard users can never trigger :focus-within on the parent */
.annotation-block-edit {
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden; /* removes from tab order → :focus-within never fires */
}
.annotation-block:focus-within .annotation-block-edit {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
}

/* ✅ CORRECT — opacity keeps element in tab order; :focus-within works */
.annotation-block-edit {
  opacity: 0; /* visually hidden but still focusable */
}
.annotation-block:hover .annotation-block-edit,
.annotation-block:focus-within .annotation-block-edit {
  opacity: 1;
}

This applies to any "reveal on hover/focus" pattern: edit buttons, delete buttons, action menus inside cards. Use opacity only (not visibility) when the element must remain keyboard-reachable.

ARIA Attribute Checks (supplement, not substitute)

After verifying keyboard operability, also check:

• Buttons have aria-label or visible text
• Toggle buttons have aria-pressed or aria-expanded
• Tab widgets have role="tablist", role="tab", aria-selected
• SVGs inside buttons have aria-hidden="true"
• Close buttons have descriptive aria-label
• Only one tab has aria-selected="true" per tablist

Section 5: Time-Based Media Tests

Run these tests when <video>, <audio>, or media player components are present.

Caption Infrastructure

• Verify <track kind="captions"> exists on every <video> with speech
• Verify <track> has valid src pointing to caption file
• Verify caption toggle control exists and is keyboard-accessible

Transcript Availability

• Verify transcript exists adjacent to media OR a visible link to it
• For audio-only content: verify full text transcript is available

Media Player Keyboard Access

• Tab: focus enters player controls; all controls have visible focus indicators
• Space: play/pause toggle
• Arrow keys: seek forward/backward; Up/Down: volume control
• C or CC button: caption toggle; Escape: exit fullscreen

Audio Auto-play

• Verify no audio auto-plays on page load
• If auto-play exists: verify pause/stop control is the first focusable element

Section 6: Screen Reader Test Protocol

Test Matrix

Screen Reader	Browser	Mode
NVDA	Chrome	Browse mode + Focus mode
VoiceOver	Safari (macOS)	Web rotor + standard navigation
(Optional) JAWS	Chrome/Edge	Virtual cursor + Forms mode

Landmark Navigation Test

• Use landmark navigation (NVDA: D key, VoiceOver: Web rotor)
• Verify: <main>, <nav>, <header>, <footer> announced correctly
• Verify: multiple <nav> elements have distinguishing aria-label

Heading Navigation Test

• Navigate by headings (NVDA: H key, VoiceOver: Web rotor); verify hierarchy is logical, no skipped levels; <h1> present

Form Mode Test

• Tab into form (NVDA enters focus mode automatically)
• Verify: each input announces its label and "required" if applicable
• Verify: error messages announce when field is focused; aria-describedby reads after label

Live Region Test

• Trigger dynamic content changes (form submission, async updates, notifications)
• Verify: aria-live="polite" announces after current speech
• Verify: aria-live="assertive" interrupts; toast content announced without focus moving

SPA Route Change Test

• Navigate between routes; verify page title updates and is announced
• Verify: focus moves to main content or heading; back button restores expected focus

2. Visual Regression Tests (REQUIRED)

Visual regression tests ensure accessibility fixes don't introduce unintended visual changes. Supports Playwright and optionally BackstopJS for side-by-side HTML reports.

Baseline Strategy

• Preferred: Use npx playwright test --update-snapshots on the current branch to establish baselines, then run tests after further changes to detect regressions.
• CRITICAL — build must be complete first: Only run --update-snapshots after any build (React, webpack, etc.) has fully finished. Running it during a concurrent build captures mixed pre/post-build screenshots — some pages reflect old code, some new. The resulting baseline is internally inconsistent and will fail on the next clean run. Wait for the build to complete, then run --update-snapshots, then run the tests.
• Cross-branch comparison: Only when explicitly requested. Requires branch switching, cache clearing, and potential config sync — avoid unless necessary.
• Never assume branch-switching is safe without checking with the user first.

Playwright Screenshot Configuration

Use toHaveScreenshot() with the correct options:

• maxDiffPixelRatio (0 to 1): Maximum ratio of different pixels to total pixels. Use 0.01 (1%) for element screenshots, 0.03 (3%) for full-page screenshots. This is the primary control for flakiness.
• threshold (0 to 1): Per-pixel color distance tolerance (0 = exact, 1 = any color). Default 0.2 is fine for most cases. This is NOT the overall diff threshold.
• maxDiffPixels: Absolute count of allowed different pixels. Alternative to maxDiffPixelRatio.

// Element screenshot — tight tolerance
await expect(element).toHaveScreenshot('name.png', {
  maxDiffPixelRatio: 0.01,
});

// Full-page screenshot — looser for dynamic content
await expect(page).toHaveScreenshot('name.png', {
  fullPage: true,
  maxDiffPixelRatio: 0.03,
  mask: [page.locator('.dynamic-region')],
});

BackstopJS (Optional)

BackstopJS provides an HTML report with side-by-side visual diffs — useful for manual review. It can run alongside Playwright tests.

Setup:

npm install --save-dev backstopjs

Configuration (backstop.json):

• Use scenarioDefaults for shared settings (delay, misMatchThreshold, removeSelectors)
• Use "selectors": ["document"] for full-page, or class/tag selectors for elements
• Avoid attribute selectors with quoted values (e.g. [type='text']) — they cause parse errors in Puppeteer engine
• Use requireSameDimensions: false for pages with dynamic heights
• Full-page scenarios need higher misMatchThreshold (15-20%) due to dynamic content
• Element scenarios can use tighter thresholds (5-10%)

Popup/overlay handling: Create an onReady.cjs engine script (use .cjs extension if project has "type": "module" in package.json):

const wait = (ms) => new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
module.exports = async (page, scenario, vp) => {
  await wait(2000);
  await page.evaluate(() => {
    document.querySelectorAll('dialog, [role="dialog"], .modal, .popup').forEach(el => el.remove());
  });
  await wait(300);
};

Workflow:

npx backstop reference --config=path/to/backstop.json  # Capture baseline
npx backstop test --config=path/to/backstop.json       # Compare against baseline
npx backstop approve --config=path/to/backstop.json    # Promote test -> reference
npx backstop openReport --config=path/to/backstop.json # View HTML report

Handling Dynamic Content

CMS pages often contain dynamic elements (timestamps, session blocks, popups). These cause false failures.

• Prefer element-level screenshots over full-page — more stable and more useful for a11y regression detection.
• Mask dynamic regions: Playwright uses mask: [page.locator()], BackstopJS uses removeSelectors or hideSelectors.
• Common elements to mask/remove: .contextual, .toolbar-tray, .messages, [data-drupal-messages], dialog, [role="dialog"], time/date elements.
• Dismiss popups before capture: Use Playwright's dismissPopups() helper or BackstopJS onReadyScript.
• Use waitForLoadState('networkidle') and a short wait to let JS behaviors settle before capture.

Contrast Verification

• Use browser DevTools (Chrome: CSS Overview, Firefox: Accessibility Inspector) to audit all text contrast
• Run axe-core with color-contrast rule enabled (catches most but not all cases)
• Manually check: text over images/gradients (axe-core misses these)
• Manually check: focus indicator contrast against both focused and unfocused backgrounds
• Check non-text contrast: UI component borders, icons, form control outlines (WCAG 1.4.11)
• Test with forced-colors mode: verify all interactive elements remain distinguishable

Zoom and Reflow Verification

• Set viewport to 1280px, zoom to 400% (equivalent to 320px)
• Verify: no horizontal scrollbar, content reflows to single column
• Verify: no text truncation, overlap, or content hidden behind other elements
• Test text spacing override: 1.5x line height, 2x paragraph spacing, 0.12em letter spacing
• Verify: all interactive elements remain visible and operable at 200% zoom

Elements to Test

• Focus indicators (links, buttons, inputs in :focus state)
• Breadcrumbs (structure and current page indicator)
• Navigation menus (default, hover, active states)
• Form inputs (borders, focus states)
• Link underlines in content areas
• External link icons
• Skip links (when visible)
• Progress bars and loading indicators

Viewport Sizes

• Desktop: 1280x800
• Tablet: 768x1024
• Mobile: 320x568

Reporting

• Playwright: npx playwright show-report for HTML report with side-by-side diffs
• BackstopJS: npx backstop openReport for visual comparison dashboard

3. WCAG Compliance Checks

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content (alt text, aria-labels)
• 1.4.1 Use of Color (link underlines)
• 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (4.5:1 normal text, 3:1 large text — note: text inside UI components like buttons uses TEXT thresholds, not the 3:1 UI component boundary threshold)
• 1.4.10 Reflow (320px viewport)
• 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (form borders, focus indicators)
• 2.4.4 Link Purpose (contextual aria-labels)
• 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (no empty headings)
• 2.4.7 Focus Visible (outline visibility)
• 2.4.8 Location (breadcrumbs with aria-current)
• 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (focused element not hidden by sticky headers/footers/banners) [WCAG 2.2]
• 2.4.13 Focus Appearance (focus indicator ≥2px perimeter, 3:1 contrast change) [WCAG 2.2]
• 2.5.7 Dragging Movements (drag ops have single-pointer alternative) [WCAG 2.2]
• 2.5.8 Target Size (interactive targets ≥24x24 CSS pixels) [WCAG 2.2]
• 3.3.7 Redundant Entry (don't re-ask for info already provided) [WCAG 2.2]
• 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (no cognitive function tests for login, paste/autofill supported) [WCAG 2.2]

4. Automated Scanning (axe-core via Playwright)

Inject axe-core into live pages via Playwright for automated WCAG violation detection. This catches issues that manual review misses (computed contrast through CSS layers, missing ARIA on dynamically rendered content, landmark coverage).

axe-core Injection Pattern

// In a Playwright test file (.spec.js)
const { test, expect } = require('@playwright/test');
const fs = require('fs');

test('axe-core accessibility scan', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto(BASE_URL);
  await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle');

  // Inject axe-core
  const axeSource = fs.readFileSync(
    require.resolve('axe-core/axe.min.js'), 'utf-8'
  );
  await page.evaluate(axeSource);

  // Run audit
  const results = await page.evaluate(() =>
    axe.run(document, {
      runOnly: ['wcag2a', 'wcag2aa', 'wcag21a', 'wcag21aa', 'best-practice']
    })
  );

  // Report violations
  const violations = results.violations;
  if (violations.length > 0) {
    const report = violations.map(v => ({
      id: v.id,
      impact: v.impact,
      description: v.description,
      helpUrl: v.helpUrl,
      nodes: v.nodes.length
    }));
    console.log('axe violations:', JSON.stringify(report, null, 2));
  }
  expect(violations.length).toBe(0);
});

Multi-Page Scanning

For sites with multiple routes, scan each page variant:

• Default state (no interactions)
• Loading state (if applicable — trigger a load and scan before it completes)
• Error state (submit an invalid form, then scan)
• Expanded state (open all disclosures/tabs, then scan)

Dynamic Test Prioritization

After the axe-core scan, use findings to prioritize manual testing effort:

• axe found ARIA violations → prioritize screen reader testing (Section 1 keyboard + ARIA checks)
• axe found color-contrast violations → prioritize visual inspection (Section 2 focus indicators, link underlines)
• axe found heading/structure violations → prioritize keyboard navigation order testing
• axe found no form violations → deprioritize form testing with a note that automated checks passed
• Always test regardless: focus indicators at zoom, reduced-motion, skip links

Scale and Sampling (>15 pages)

For large sites, classify pages into template groups and scan one representative per group:

1. Run discover phase: list all routes, group by template (list page, detail page, form page, etc.)
2. Select 1-2 pages per template group
3. Scan representatives, report which templates were covered
4. Document sampling strategy in the test report

Output Format

Report axe-core results alongside keyboard and visual regression results:

## axe-core Scan Results
Pages scanned: [count]
Total violations: [count]
Critical: [n] | Serious: [n] | Moderate: [n] | Minor: [n]

### Violations by Rule
| Rule ID | Impact | Description | Pages | Elements |
|---------|--------|-------------|-------|----------|
| color-contrast | serious | Elements must meet color contrast | 3 | 12 |

This output feeds directly into the a11y-critic's Phase 0 (Consume Test Evidence) — measured violations become hard evidence in the design review.

5. Static Analysis (eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y) — React/Vue/JSX only

Use when the project uses React, Next.js, Vue, or other JSX/TSX framework. Catches missing alt text, invalid ARIA, and inaccessible element nesting at build time — no running server needed.

Setup

# Install as dev dependency
pnpm add -D eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y  # or npm/yarn

# Create temporary standalone config (avoids ESLint 9 flat config issues)
cat > eslint.a11y.mjs << 'EOF'
import jsxA11y from "eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y";
import tseslint from "typescript-eslint";
export default [{
  files: ["src/**/*.tsx", "src/**/*.jsx"],
  plugins: { "jsx-a11y": jsxA11y },
  languageOptions: {
    parser: tseslint.parser,
    parserOptions: { ecmaFeatures: { jsx: true } },
  },
  rules: { ...jsxA11y.flatConfigs.recommended.rules },
}];
EOF

# Run
npx eslint --config eslint.a11y.mjs src/

# Clean up temp config (keep the plugin installed)
rm eslint.a11y.mjs

Known False Positives

Custom component role props, ARIA passed via spread, dynamic content loaded post-render, Next.js <Link> components (render valid anchors at runtime).

Test Execution Order

1. Static analysis (§5) — fast, no server needed
2. Keyboard accessibility tests (§1)
3. Visual regression tests (§2)
4. axe-core automated scans (§4)
5. WCAG compliance checks (§3)
6. Time-based media tests (§5-media) — if applicable
7. Screen reader tests (§6) — if applicable
8. Report consolidated results with pass/fail counts per section

Lifecycle integration: These test results feed into a11y-critic reviews. The full a11y lifecycle is: plan → critique plan → revise → implement → test (this skill) → critique implementation → fix → re-test