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[Docs]: Recommend AxeWindowsCLI for automated accessibility checks #139

Description

@nmetulev

Thanks for taking the time to flag a documentation issue! Broken cross-references between skills, outdated examples, and missing prerequisites are especially valuable to know about.

Where is the issue?

plugins/winui/skills/winui-ui-testing/SKILL.md, especially the accessibility testing guidance and recipes.

What's wrong?

The WinUI UI testing skill does not currently provide a documented recipe for using the official AxeWindowsCLI for autonomous Windows accessibility checks. The guidance should distinguish responsibilities clearly: use AxeWindowsCLI for automated accessibility rule checks, and continue using the official winapp CLI for UIA targeting, raw evidence, screenshots, and interaction.

Empirical evidence from the parent experiment:

  • AxeWindowsCLI 2.4.2 found exactly two real unnamed-focusable-control defects in Paint.
  • Calculator was clean.
  • Settings failed with an empty desktopElements result, so the skill needs to explain unavailable/failed scans rather than treating them as clean.
  • Accessibility Insights used the same Axe 2.4.2 rules, but its workflow was too intrusive for autonomous agents.
  • Axe scans took roughly 12–15 seconds and emitted rich rule/property details plus a .a11ytest artifact.
  • CLI output is human-readable text; error, finding, and clean exit codes need to be documented explicitly.
  • The guidance must not make a compliance claim.

Suggested fix

Update the skill documentation and recipes only; do not implement an audit engine. Add installation and version-pinning instructions for AxeWindowsCLI 2.4.2, a minimal command/example for running a scan, interpretation of clean/finding/error outcomes, and graceful guidance when the CLI is unavailable or a scan fails. Keep winapp CLI as the UIA harness for locating/targeting elements, collecting raw evidence, taking screenshots, and performing interactions. Explain that Axe findings are automated rule results, not a compliance certification, and show how to preserve the rich text and .a11ytest output.

Additional context

The recommendation should favor a non-intrusive CLI workflow suitable for autonomous agents. Accessibility Insights can be mentioned as a manual/investigative alternative, but should not be the primary autonomous-agent recipe because it was too intrusive in the experiment.

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