feat(linter): add noAutofocus rule for HTML by tt-a1i · Pull Request #8641 · biomejs/biome

tt-a1i · 2026-01-01T12:26:10Z

Summary

Port the noAutofocus a11y rule to HTML. This rule enforces that the autofocus attribute is not used on elements, as it can cause usability issues for sighted and non-sighted users.

The rule allows autofocus in the following contexts:

Inside <dialog> elements
Inside elements with the popover attribute

Part of #8155

Test plan

Added invalid.html test with 5 cases that should trigger the rule
Added valid.html test with dialog and popover exception cases
All tests pass with cargo test -p biome_html_analyze no_autofocus

AI Assistance Disclosure

I used Codex to review the changes, sanity-check the implementation against existing patterns, and help spot potential edge cases.

Port the noAutofocus a11y rule to HTML. The rule enforces that the autofocus attribute is not used on elements, with exceptions for dialog elements and elements with the popover attribute. Part of biomejs#8155

changeset-bot · 2026-01-01T12:26:14Z

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: d83126c

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 14 packages

Name	Type
@biomejs/biome	Minor
@biomejs/cli-win32-x64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-win32-arm64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-darwin-x64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-darwin-arm64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-linux-x64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-linux-arm64	Minor
@biomejs/cli-linux-x64-musl	Minor
@biomejs/cli-linux-arm64-musl	Minor
@biomejs/wasm-web	Minor
@biomejs/wasm-bundler	Minor
@biomejs/wasm-nodejs	Minor
@biomejs/backend-jsonrpc	Patch
@biomejs/js-api	Major

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Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

codspeed-hq · 2026-01-01T12:35:00Z

CodSpeed Performance Report

Merging #8641 will not alter performance

_{Comparing tt-a1i:feat/html-no-autofocus (d83126c) with next (857d450)}

Summary

✅ 1 untouched
⏩ 154 skipped¹

154 benchmarks were skipped, so the baseline results were used instead. If they were deleted from the codebase, click here and archive them to remove them from the performance reports. ↩

… itself

coderabbitai · 2026-01-01T13:40:25Z

Walkthrough

This change adds a new HTML accessibility lint rule noAutofocus to the @biomejs/biome package. The rule flags use of the autofocus attribute except when the element is inside a dialog or an element with a popover attribute. It introduces the rule implementation, integrates it into the A11y lint group, and adds valid/invalid HTML test cases exercising the rule and its automatic fix to remove the attribute.

Possibly related PRs

feat(biome_html_analyze): add useButtonType rule (#8241) #8243: Adds a new HTML a11y lint rule and modifies the same crates/biome_html_analyze/src/lint/a11y.rs group file.
feat(lint/html): implement noDistractingElements for html #8287: Another HTML accessibility rule that updates the A11y lint group and adds a pub mod for the new rule.
feat(lint/html): add noAccessKey #8165: Adds an HTML a11y lint rule with the same file-structure changes (rule module, tests, and lint group update).

Suggested reviewers

dyc3
ematipico

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: adding a new noAutofocus lint rule for HTML accessibility checks.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is well-detailed and directly related to the changeset, explaining the rule's purpose, allowed contexts, test coverage, and including proper disclosures.

✨ Finishing touches

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ematipico

Looks good. The code can be improved

ematipico · 2026-01-02T10:29:03Z

+
+/// Check if the element is inside an allowed context (dialog or popover)
+///
+/// Note: We skip the first element (the one containing the autofocus attribute)


Suggested change

/// Note: We skip the first element (the one containing the autofocus attribute)

/// Note: We skip the first [HtmlElement] (the one containing the autofocus attribute)

ematipico · 2026-01-02T10:29:42Z

+/// Note: We skip the first element (the one containing the autofocus attribute)
+/// because we only want to check if it's *inside* a dialog/popover, not if
+/// it *is* the dialog/popover itself.
+fn is_inside_allowed_context(attr: &HtmlAttribute) -> bool {


Return Option<bool>, so that you can convert all let Ok() in .ok()?

ematipico · 2026-01-02T10:34:01Z

+            if let Ok(opening) = element.opening_element() {
+                if let Ok(name) = opening.name()
+                    && let Ok(token) = name.value_token()
+                    && token.text_trimmed().eq_ignore_ascii_case("dialog")
+                {
+                    return true;
+                }
+                // Check if element has popover attribute
+                if opening.find_attribute_by_name("popover").is_some() {
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+        }


We're repeating these checks, which means this code isn't well-maintainable. Instead, let's do something more generic.

We already have AnyHtmlTagElement from biome_html_syntax, let's use that so we can extract the name of the element and then do one single check

Address code review feedback: - Add [HtmlElement] link in doc comment for better rustdoc - Change is_inside_allowed_context to return Option<bool> - Use AnyHtmlTagElement to eliminate duplicate HtmlElement/HtmlSelfClosingElement checks - Extract helper functions for better maintainability

coderabbitai

Actionable comments posted: 0

🧹 Nitpick comments (2)

crates/biome_html_analyze/src/lint/a11y/no_autofocus.rs (2)
71-71: Options type is unused.

NoAutofocusOptions is declared but never accessed in the implementation. If options aren't currently needed, consider removing lines 9 and 71 to simplify the code.
🔎 Proposed change to remove unused Options

Remove the import on line 9:
-use biome_rule_options::no_autofocus::NoAutofocusOptions;
And change line 71 to:
-    type Options = NoAutofocusOptions;
+    type Options = ();
126-146: Consider simplifying return type to bool.

The function returns Option<bool> but always returns Some(...) (lines 141, 145), never None. This means the .unwrap_or(false) on line 82 never uses its default value.

Whilst a past review suggested Option<bool>, the current implementation doesn't have any operations that would benefit from early-returning None. Consider simplifying to fn is_inside_allowed_context(attr: &HtmlAttribute) -> bool and removing the Some(...) wrappers.
🔎 Proposed simplification
-fn is_inside_allowed_context(attr: &HtmlAttribute) -> Option<bool> {
+fn is_inside_allowed_context(attr: &HtmlAttribute) -> bool {
     let mut skip_first_element = true;
 
     // Walk up the ancestors to find if we're inside a dialog or popover
     for ancestor in attr.syntax().ancestors() {
         let Some(tag_element) = get_tag_element(&ancestor) else {
             continue;
         };
 
         if skip_first_element {
             skip_first_element = false;
             continue;
         }
 
         if is_dialog_or_popover(&tag_element) {
-            return Some(true);
+            return true;
         }
     }
 
-    Some(false)
+    false
 }
And update line 82:
-    if is_inside_allowed_context(node).unwrap_or(false) {
+    if is_inside_allowed_context(node) {

📜 Review details

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Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 3278074 and d83126c.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

crates/biome_html_analyze/src/lint/a11y/no_autofocus.rs

🧰 Additional context used

📓 Path-based instructions (1)

**/*.rs

📄 CodeRabbit inference engine (CONTRIBUTING.md)

**/*.rs: Use inline rustdoc documentation for rules, assists, and their options
Use the dbg!() macro for debugging output in Rust tests and code
Use doc tests (doctest) format with code blocks in rustdoc comments; ensure assertions pass in tests

Files:

crates/biome_html_analyze/src/lint/a11y/no_autofocus.rs

🧠 Learnings (14)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: CR
Repo: biomejs/biome PR: 0
File: crates/biome_analyze/CONTRIBUTING.md:0-0
Timestamp: 2025-12-19T12:53:30.413Z
Learning: Applies to crates/biome_analyze/**/*analyze/src/**/*.rs : Set rule severity to `error` for rules in correctness, security, and a11y groups

📚 Learning: 2025-12-22T09:26:56.943Z

Learnt from: ematipico
Repo: biomejs/biome PR: 8537
File: crates/biome_js_analyze/src/lint/nursery/no_leaked_render.rs:167-210
Timestamp: 2025-12-22T09:26:56.943Z
Learning: When defining lint rules (declare_lint_rule!), only specify fix_kind if the rule implements an action(...) function. Rules that only emit diagnostics without a code fix should omit fix_kind. This applies to all Rust lint rule definitions under crates/.../src/lint (e.g., crates/biome_js_analyze/src/lint/...).

Applied to files:

crates/biome_html_analyze/src/lint/a11y/no_autofocus.rs