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what is axe-core fr?

dequelabs/axe-core — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

7,148JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

tl;dr

A JavaScript library that automatically tests websites for accessibility issues against WCAG guidelines, detecting problems like missing image descriptions or low color contrast with zero false positives.

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mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Automated a11y testing
      WCAG compliance checks
      Zero false positives
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      All major browsers
    Use cases
      Test suite integration
      CI pipeline checks
      iframe scanning
    Audience
      Web developers
      QA engineers

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what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Add automated accessibility checks to an existing test suite to catch WCAG violations on every code change.

VIBE 2

Scan a specific page or component for accessibility issues during development before shipping.

VIBE 3

Check whether form fields, images, and color contrast on a page meet WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 standards.

VIBE 4

Test pages containing nested iframes for accessibility compliance across all frames.

what's the stack?

JavaScript

how it stacks up fr

dequelabs/axe-corepolyfillpolyfill/polyfill-servicegarris/backstopjs
Stars7,1487,1537,142
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · easy time til it works · 30min

in plain english

Axe-core is a JavaScript library for automatically testing whether a website is accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility testing checks things like whether images have text descriptions for screen readers, whether form fields have labels, whether color contrast is high enough, and whether a page can be used with a keyboard alone. Standards for this are set by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and axe-core checks against multiple versions of those guidelines (WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2) across different compliance levels. The library is designed to be added to an existing test suite rather than run as a standalone tool. After installing it via npm, you include a small JavaScript file in your test pages and call axe.run() at points in your tests where parts of the interface appear. It then scans the page, returns a list of violations found, and flags elements where it was uncertain as needing manual review. The authors claim it produces zero false positives, meaning everything it reports as a violation is a real problem, not a guess. According to the README, axe-core can automatically detect around 57% of WCAG issues. The rest require human judgment. For the issues it can detect, it runs quickly enough to be included in everyday testing without slowing down a development workflow. It works across all major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and (in a deprecated mode) Internet Explorer 11. It handles iframes nested to any depth and can be configured to run only certain rules depending on the context. Localization is supported, meaning error messages can be translated to other languages, with translation files living in the locales directory. The project is open source and actively maintained by Deque Systems, an accessibility consulting company. It serves as the engine underlying several of Deque's commercial and free browser extension tools.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
How do I add axe-core to a Jest test so it automatically checks a React component for WCAG accessibility violations?
prompt 2
Show me how to call axe.run() on a specific section of a page instead of scanning the entire document.
prompt 3
How do I configure axe-core to run only WCAG 2.1 AA rules and skip experimental or best-practice checks?
prompt 4
What does it mean when axe-core marks an element as incomplete versus a violation, and how should I handle each?
prompt 5
How can I translate axe-core error messages into Spanish using the locales directory?

Frequently asked questions

what is axe-core fr?

A JavaScript library that automatically tests websites for accessibility issues against WCAG guidelines, detecting problems like missing image descriptions or low color contrast with zero false positives.

What language is axe-core written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript.

How hard is axe-core to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is axe-core for?

Mainly developer.

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