xa11y

A Playwright-style library for driving native desktop apps on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Built for end-to-end tests, computer-use agents, and assistive tools.

Use cases: end-to-end desktop testing, computer-use agents, MCP tools, assistive technology.

Documentation | Rust API | Python API

Quick Example

use xa11y::*;
use std::time::Duration;

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    // `by_name` polls for up to the given timeout. Useful when the app
    // may not yet be registered with the a11y API. Pass `Duration::ZERO`
    // for a single attempt with no waiting.
    let safari = App::by_name("Safari", Duration::from_secs(5))?;

    // Find elements with CSS-like selectors
    let buttons = safari.locator("button[name='Submit']").elements()?;
    println!("Found {} buttons", buttons.len());

    // Interact with elements via locator (re-resolves every call)
    safari.locator("button[name='Submit']").press()?;

    Ok(())
}

Installation

[dependencies]
xa11y = "0.12"

On macOS, grant your terminal two permissions in System Settings > Privacy & Security:

1. Accessibility, required for all accessibility API access.
2. Screen & System Audio Recording (macOS 26+), required to read window content. Without it, only menu bars are visible.

Restart your terminal after changing permissions.

On Linux, AT-SPI2 must be running (the default on GNOME and most desktop environments). Nothing else to grant.

Windows works as installed.

Selector Syntax

Query accessibility trees with CSS-like selectors:

Supported Actions

Platform Support

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/xa11y/xa11y && cd xa11y
cargo build --workspace
cargo xtask check   # fmt, lint, test, python bindings

See the development docs for architecture and setup.

License

MIT. All dependencies are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD, or similar), enforced via cargo-deny.