---
title: "Make every window work with a keyboard and · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility/desktop-accessibility
id: DSK-43
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 995
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Make every window work with a keyboard and a screen reader

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Crashes, telemetry and accessibility](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: DSK-43
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Crashes, telemetry and accessibility](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility.md)
- Rule: Every window, menu and dialog in the app works with the keyboard alone and announces its controls to the system screen reader. Test each release with VoiceOver on Mac, Narrator or NVDA on Windows, and Orca on Linux when you ship there.
- Check: For each release, a tester completes the 3 main tasks on each shipped platform with the keyboard alone and with the screen reader on. In an Electron or Tauri app, an automated accessibility scan such as axe-core runs on every window in CI and reports no violations.
- How: WCAG applies to desktop software too, as the W3C's WCAG2ICT guidance explains. Native controls from the platform's own toolkit come with names, roles and keyboard support. Custom-drawn controls have none until you add them through the platform's accessibility API. In Electron and Tauri, the window is a web page, so the web rules apply in full. Start with [make everything work by keyboard](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/keyboard-and-focus/keyboard-navigation.md) and [always show where focus is](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/keyboard-and-focus/focus-indicators.md). Desktop apps add a menu bar, keyboard shortcuts and several windows. Give every menu command a shortcut or a menu path, and move focus into each new window or dialog. Follow the system's high contrast, text size and reduced motion settings.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### JavaScript example

```js
// Electron end-to-end test: scan every open window with axe-core
import AxeBuilder from '@axe-core/playwright';

for (const window of electronApp.windows()) {
  const { violations } = await new AxeBuilder({ page: window }).analyze();
  expect(violations).toEqual([]);
}
```

### Python example

```python
# The same scan from a Python end-to-end suite
from axe_playwright_python.sync_playwright import Axe

for window in electron_app.windows:
    results = Axe().run(window)
    assert results.violations_count == 0, results.generate_report()
```

## Sources

- [W3C, Guidance on applying WCAG 2 to non-web ICT (WCAG2ICT)](https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict-22/)
- [Electron, Accessibility](https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/tutorial/accessibility)

## Related rules

- AXS-11 [Make everything work by keyboard](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/keyboard-and-focus/keyboard-navigation.md) in Accessibility
- AXS-13 [Always show where focus is](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/keyboard-and-focus/focus-indicators.md) in Accessibility

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility/desktop-accessibility">Agent Wranglers desktop apps and extensions playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Send usage data only after the user says yes](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility/telemetry-opt-in.md)
- [Crashes, telemetry and accessibility](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/desktop-apps/crashes-telemetry-and-accessibility.md)