Accessibility auditor ecosystem

Kitchen Sink ships a website accessibility auditor (tools/website-a11y-auditor/) that crawls live sites with Playwright, runs axe-core (WCAG-tagged), deterministic (DET.A11Y.GENERIC.* / DET.A11Y.KS.*) rules, and documents AI-assisted (AI.A11Y.*) principles for judgment-heavy review.

This chapter is the narrative parent for the rule catalog, harness campaigns, and per-rule handbook pages. Full Before/After HTML for every rule is compiled into the showcase gallery (a11y-audit-ecosystem-examples.html) from Markdown siblings under docs/design/a11y-audit/rule-pages/.

Scope and boundaries

In scope	Out of scope
WCAG-oriented axe tags and scoped DET rules	Legal conformance claims or VPAT signing
Generic rules (`-generic-` modules) for any site	Product-specific audit profiles
KS rules (`-ks-` modules) when repo/DOM detects Kitchen Sink	Merging `analyze-website-a11y.mjs` and `score-website-a11y.mjs`
Harness under `auditor-tests/`	Replacing forge-accessibility Studio (CDP deep dives)

Non-negotiable split: analyze-website-a11y.mjs (auditor) and score-website-a11y.mjs (scorer) share helpers but must not call each other.

Three lanes

Lane	Flag	Role
axe	default in `--lanes axe,det`	Deque axe-core violations → `AXE.*` findings
DET	`--lanes det`	`DET.A11Y.GENERIC.` and (when KS) `DET.A11Y.KS.`
AI	`--enable-ai`	Lists eligible `AI.A11Y.*` prompts (Cursor/agent)

Use --rules-scope auto (default), generic, ks, or all to control KS rule packs.

Artifact chain

Ruleset (deterministic-a11y-rules.md + registry.generated.json)
    → Rule page (docs/design/a11y-audit/rule-pages/*.md — Before/After HTML)
        → Detection check (det-a11y-generic-*.check.js / det-a11y-ks-*.check.js)
            → Fixture (auditor-tests/fixtures/*.html)
                → Auditor (analyze-website-a11y.mjs on fixture URL)
                    → Optional fixer pilot (`lib/a11y-deterministic-fixers/`) + AI audit + remediation loop

Artifact	Location	Role
Ruleset	`deterministic-a11y-rules.md`, `ai-enabled-a11y-principles.md`, `registry.generated.json`	Stable rule IDs, `scope`, axe standards
Rule page	`rule-pages/<kebab>.md`	Handbook + Before (fail) / After (pass) examples
Detection	`design-rules/deterministic/generated/*.check.js`	DOM/repo checks
Auditor	`analyze-website-a11y.mjs`	`a11y-audit-data.json`, report
Scorer	`score-website-a11y.mjs`	Sitewide `a11y-quality-score.json`
Harness	`auditor-tests/invoke-a11y-ruleset-harness.sh`	Prove one DET rule on a fixture

Two CLIs: auditor vs scorer

Tool	Entry	Crawl	Use when
Auditor	`analyze-website-a11y.mjs`	Major+ early stop by default; `--breadth-crawl` for full budget	Campaign reports, rule-scoped runs
Scorer	`score-website-a11y.mjs`	Full crawl within `--max-pages`	Portfolio scorecard

Rule handbook (Before / After contract)

Every rule has a sibling Markdown page per rule-pages/RULE_PAGE_SCHEMA.md:

Before example — fenced html that fails the rule on a harness fixture.
After example — fenced html that passes the rule.

Those blocks feed:

Showcase rule detail pages (showcase/a11y-audit-rules/)
The Before/After gallery on this ecosystem chapter

Per-rule handbook pages:

Catalog with Open handbook links: Accessibility audit rules overview
Direct URL: a11y-audit-rules/{rule-id-kebab}.html (e.g. det-a11y-generic-lang.html)
Each page: Purpose, Passing/Failing signals, How this rule is checked, Before/After, Evidence

Standards traceability matrix (RTM)

npm run blend-rules generates a traceability matrix for 12 RTM packs (WCAG 2.0–2.2 A/AA/AAA and WCAG 3.0 Bronze/Silver/Gold draft): which success criteria are covered by axe vs Forge DET/AI rules, which criteria lack automation, and which rules are untied.

Handbook	Purpose
`standards-traceability.md`	RTM concepts, coverage legend, refresh
`standards-traceability-matrix.md`	Tooling × lane (auditor / scorer / fixer) + profile summary
`standards/README.md`	Index of per-pack pages + CLI alias map
`standards/wcag22aa.md`	Example pack page (SC ↔ axe/DET/AI ↔ fixer)
`standards-traceability-gaps.md`	Uncovered criteria and untied rules
`axe-unmappable-rules.md`	axe rules without WCAG SC tags (best-practice lane)

Per-pack pages: standards/wcag20a.md … standards/wcag30gold.md (one file per RTM profile).

Standards packs (RTM) — per-profile traceability in the design handbook (not copied into showcase HTML; open from repo or handbook build):

Pack	Handbook
`wcag20a`	Handbook (source)
`wcag20aa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag20aaa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag21a`	Handbook (source)
`wcag21aa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag21aaa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag22a`	Handbook (source)
`wcag22aa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag22aaa`	Handbook (source)
`wcag30bronze`	Handbook (source)
`wcag30silver`	Handbook (source)
`wcag30gold`	Handbook (source)

Also: standards-traceability-matrix.md, standards/README.md, axe-unmappable-rules.md.

Compliance profiles (standards bundles)

Operators choose a compliance profile (--standard or --compliance-profile) to bundle:

axe tag sets (most WCAG automation),
DET rules whose standards[] overlap the profile,
Report coverage map (in-scope DET, excluded DET, manual testing themes).

Profile	Typical use
`wcag22aa`	Forge default
`wcag21aa`	Procurement / WCAG 2.1 AA
`ada-title-ii-wcag21aa`	US state/local gov (same automation as `wcag21aa`)
`ada-title-iii-wcag21aa`	US public accommodations web
`section508`	US federal ICT
`en301549`	EU ICT

See compliance-profiles.md and the showcase Compliance profiles table on Accessibility audit rules.

Disclaimer: automated runs are not legal conformance or VPAT sign-off.

Ruleset harness (DET)

cd tools/website-a11y-auditor/auditor-tests
./invoke-a11y-ruleset-harness.sh DET.A11Y.GENERIC.LANG

Full example gallery

Before/After HTML for every rule is compiled into Before/After gallery from docs/design/a11y-audit/rule-pages/*.md.