microsoft / microsoft/vscode

Agents window Markdown editor lacks editable text accessibility semantics

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#327,536 0 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee Claimed by @ulugbekna View on GitHub
accessibility bug markdown-editor
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TypeScript
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Description

Testing #326540

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

- VS Code Version: Insiders with the experimental Markdown editor
- OS Version: All
- Audited package revision: microsoft/vscode-packages@1d81418d61ad769f154579196a51a9364c105e2d

### Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a Markdown document in the Agents window Markdown editor.
2. Switch to **Editing** mode.
3. Inspect the editor in the browser accessibility tree or with a screen reader.

### Expected

The editable surface exposes appropriate editable-text semantics, a multiline state, an accessible name, selection/caret information, and read-only state when locked. For example, this may include a `textbox` role with `aria-multiline="true"` where appropriate for the EditContext-based implementation.

### Actual

The focusable root is a `

` exposed as a generic element. It does not identify itself as an editable multiline text surface.

### Impact

Screen-reader users are not told that focus is in an editor or how to interact with it. Assistive technologies, voice control, and automated accessibility tooling cannot reliably discover the editor's purpose or state. This makes the primary editing surface substantially less usable for keyboard and screen-reader users.

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