Speed Up Your Tests

Integrating Axe Watcher into your end-to-end test suite adds time because Watcher analyzes each page your tests visit. If that overhead becomes a problem, the techniques below let you reduce it without giving up coverage you care about.

Exclude Pages You Don't Need to Test

If your test suite visits pages you don't need to test for accessibility (login pages, third-party pages, admin dashboards, checkout flows owned by another team), you can skip them entirely using excludeUrlPatterns. Skipping entire pages is the most effective way to reduce testing time.

JavaScript or TypeScript:

axe: {
  excludeUrlPatterns: [ 'https://example.com/login*', 'https://example.com/admin/**' ]
}

Java:

AxeWatcherOptions options = new AxeWatcherOptions();
options.setExcludeUrlPatterns(new String[] {
    "https://example.com/login*",
    "https://example.com/admin/**"
});

See Exclude URLs from Analysis for pattern syntax and matching examples.

Limit Analysis to Specific Page Sections

Instead of analyzing the entire page, use runContext to focus on the section your test exercises. For example, if a test only covers the checkout form, there is no need to analyze the navigation, footer, or sidebar.

JavaScript or TypeScript:

axe: {
  runContext: {
    include: '.checkout-form',
    exclude: '.site-navigation'
  }
}

Java:

AxeRunContext context = new AxeRunContext()
    .setInclude(Arrays.asList(".checkout-form"))
    .setExclude(Arrays.asList(".site-navigation"));

AxeWatcherOptions options = new AxeWatcherOptions();
options.setRunContext(context);

See (JavaScript/TypeScript) runContext or (Java) AxeRunContext for more information.

Disable Expensive Rules

Some axe-core rules are computationally expensive. The color-contrast rule, for example, requires the browser to compute the rendered color of every visible text element on the page, which can add significant time on content-heavy pages.

You can disable specific rules using runOptions.rules:

JavaScript or TypeScript:

axe: {
  runOptions: {
    rules: {
      'color-contrast': { enabled: false }
    }
  }
}

Java:

Map<String, AxeRuleOptions> rules = new HashMap<>();
rules.put("color-contrast", new AxeRuleOptions().setEnabled(false));

AxeRunOptions runOptions = new AxeRunOptions();
runOptions.setRules(rules);

AxeWatcherOptions options = new AxeWatcherOptions();
options.setRunOptions(runOptions);

See (JavaScript/TypeScript) runOptions or (Java) AxeRunOptions for more information.

Use Manual Mode to Control Which Tests Analyze Pages

By default, Watcher automatically analyzes every page your tests visit. If most of your test suite visits pages you don't need to check, you can turn off automatic analysis globally and enable it only in the tests that need it.

JavaScript or TypeScript:

axe: {
  autoAnalyze: false
}

Java:

AxeWatcherOptions options = new AxeWatcherOptions();
options.setAutoAnalyze(false);

With automatic analysis disabled, you call analyze() explicitly where you need a result, and use start() / stop() to bracket sections of your test suite where you want automatic analysis to resume.

See Control Your Scans for full instructions and examples.

Run Tests in Parallel

If your testing infrastructure supports parallel execution, running your test suite with multiple workers reduces total wall-clock time. Watcher supports parallel test runners; you only need to ensure each worker shares the same non-null buildID so their results are combined rather than overwritten.

See Running Tests in Parallel for setup instructions.

Summary