# Accessibility Checks — Playwright & Cypress

Source: https://www.skillbyai.com/en/e2e-testing/b-a11y

> axe-core in your E2E suite.

## Automated accessibility scans

The open-source **axe-core** engine detects many WCAG problems automatically: missing labels, insufficient colour contrast, invalid ARIA, missing alt text. In Playwright, the `@axe-core/playwright` package provides `AxeBuilder`: scan the page (optionally limited with `include`, `exclude` or `withTags`) and assert that `violations` is empty. In Cypress, the community `cypress-axe` plugin adds `cy.injectAxe()` and `cy.checkA11y()`. Automated scans catch only part of accessibility issues; keyboard navigation and screen-reader checks still need manual testing. Role-based locators help too: if `getByRole` cannot find your button, assistive technology may struggle as well.

## Scanning a page in both tools

Playwright with AxeBuilder; Cypress with cypress-axe.

```typescript
// Playwright: npm i -D @axe-core/playwright
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
import AxeBuilder from '@axe-core/playwright';

test('signup page has no detectable WCAG A/AA violations', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/signup');
  const results = await new AxeBuilder({ page })
    .withTags(['wcag2a', 'wcag2aa'])
    .exclude('#third-party-chat')
    .analyze();
  expect(results.violations).toEqual([]);
});

// Cypress: npm i -D cypress-axe axe-core, then import 'cypress-axe' in the support file
it('signup page has no detectable violations', () => {
  cy.visit('/signup');
  cy.injectAxe();
  cy.checkA11y();
});
```

## A spell checker for accessibility

axe is like a spell checker: it reliably flags many mistakes, but it cannot tell you whether the essay makes sense to a reader.

**Quiz:** What is a limitation of automated accessibility scans?

- [ ] They only work in Firefox
- [x] They catch only a portion of issues; manual keyboard and screen-reader testing is still needed
- [ ] They require a paid licence
- [ ] They cannot run inside E2E tests

*Answer:* They catch only a portion of issues; manual keyboard and screen-reader testing is still needed. Automate what you can, test the rest by hand.