BFSG / EAA / WCAG glossary
axe-core
The open-source accessibility testing engine inside Lighthouse, Chrome DevTools — and WCAGdesk’s scanner.
axe-core is the widely used open-source rules engine for automated accessibility testing. It powers Lighthouse, Chrome DevTools and most enterprise scanners — including the WCAGdesk free scan.
It reliably detects machine-checkable failures (contrast, missing alt text, unlabelled fields) — about 30–40% of WCAG. It cannot judge whether alt text is meaningful or whether a flow makes sense; that needs a human.
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