feat: expose axe.resetLocale() to restore the default locale by zlayaAvocado · Pull Request #5108 · dequelabs/axe-core

zlayaAvocado · 2026-05-18T22:04:15Z

Adds a public axe.resetLocale() that reverts the locale back to the default English snapshot taken on the first applyLocale call, without touching any other configuration.

Closes #5107

Motivation

axe.configure({ locale }) has no inverse, and axe.reset() also clears branding, rule enable/disable overrides, frameMessenger, noHtml, allowedOrigins, and anything else Audit._init() resets. Consumers that let end users switch languages at runtime have no clean way to roll back to the default English messages without destroying the rest of their setup. The internal machinery for this already exists (Audit._setDefaultLocale + Audit._resetLocale) — this PR just exposes it as a public method.

Implementation

New lib/core/public/reset-locale.js, wired into lib/core/core.js next to axe.reset.
Delegates to the existing private audit._resetLocale(). Throws No audit configured if called before _load, matching axe.reset.
No-op when no non-default locale has ever been applied (existing _resetLocale early-return when _defaultLocale is null).
Does not touch branding, rule enable/disable, tagExclude, noHtml, allowedOrigins, frameMessenger, or standards.
Safe to call repeatedly.
Type declaration added to axe.d.ts.
API documentation added to doc/API.md.

Tests

test/core/public/reset-locale.js covers:

throws when no audit is configured
no-op when no locale has been applied
restores original check messages after axe.configure({ locale })
restores original lang
safe to call repeatedly
does not affect other configuration (verified by registering a custom rule and confirming it survives)

All 6 pass; existing reset and configure tests still pass (61/61).

axe.configure({ locale }) has no inverse, and axe.reset() also clears branding, rule enable/disable overrides, frameMessenger, and other configuration. Consumers that let end users switch languages at runtime had no clean way to roll back to the default English messages without destroying the rest of their setup. axe.resetLocale() maps directly to the existing Audit._resetLocale() private method: no-op when no non-default locale has ever been applied, restores rule descriptions, check messages, failure summaries and lang to the snapshot captured on the first applyLocale call, and leaves all other configuration untouched. Safe to call repeatedly. Closes #5107

CLAassistant · 2026-05-18T22:04:24Z

All committers have signed the CLA.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces a new public API axe.resetLocale() to revert axe-core’s runtime locale back to the original default snapshot captured on the first locale application, without performing a full axe.reset() (and therefore without clearing unrelated configuration like branding, rules, messaging configuration, etc.).

Changes:

Added a new public method axe.resetLocale() wired into the core public API surface.
Added unit tests covering expected behavior (error when unconfigured, no-op behavior, restoring messages/lang, repeatability, and preserving other configuration).
Updated public-facing documentation and TypeScript declarations to include resetLocale.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`lib/core/public/reset-locale.js`	Adds the public wrapper that delegates to `audit._resetLocale()` and matches `axe.reset` error semantics.
`lib/core/core.js`	Exposes `resetLocale` on the `axe` public API object alongside existing `axe.reset`.
`test/core/public/reset-locale.js`	Adds coverage for the new API’s key behaviors and non-interference with other configuration.
`doc/API.md`	Documents the new `axe.resetLocale()` API and adds it to the Table of Contents.
`axe.d.ts`	Extends TypeScript typings with `axe.resetLocale(): void`.

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

+
+#### Description
+
+`axe.configure({ locale })` has no inverse, and `axe.reset()` also clears branding, rule enable/disable overrides, `frameMessenger`, and other configuration. `axe.resetLocale()` reverts only the locale (rule descriptions, check messages, failure summaries, `lang`) back to the default that was in effect before the first `applyLocale` call. It is a no-op if no non-default locale has ever been applied, and safe to call repeatedly.


straker

Just a minor nit on the docs, but not something that really blocks the pr. Up to you if you'd like to chagne it.

straker · 2026-05-21T16:06:10Z

+#### Description
+
+`axe.configure({ locale })` has no inverse, and `axe.reset()` also clears branding, rule enable/disable overrides, `frameMessenger`, and other configuration. `axe.resetLocale()` reverts only the locale (rule descriptions, check messages, failure summaries, `lang`) back to the default that was in effect before the first `applyLocale` call. It is a no-op if no non-default locale has ever been applied, and safe to call repeatedly.


This describes more of why the api exists instead of what it's doing. A simple description of what the api does and an example should suffice.

…o feat/reset-locale

## [4.12.0](v4.11.4...v4.12.0) (2026-06-01) ### Features - add gather-internals.js external script ([#5099](#5099)) ([c61d58b](c61d58b)), closes [#5080](#5080) - **aria-allowed/prohibited-attr, aria-required-parent/children:** partially support element internals role ([#5080](#5080)) ([417b48a](417b48a)), closes [#5039](#5039) [#4259](#4259) - **axe.externalAPIs:** add public api for setting elementInternal data ([#5105](#5105)) ([63bab8f](63bab8f)) - **core:** expose normalizeRunOptions ([#4998](#4998)) ([b8e6a59](b8e6a59)) - expose axe.resetLocale() to restore the default locale ([#5108](#5108)) ([c2b5292](c2b5292)), closes [#5107](#5107) - **getRules:** include rule enabled state in returned objects ([#5118](#5118)) ([75bf772](75bf772)), closes [#5116](#5116) - **list,listitem:** support element internals role ([#5119](#5119)) ([7d9d696](7d9d696)) - **new-rule:** check that aria-tab have an accessible name ([#5001](#5001)) ([0d4e4e7](0d4e4e7)), closes [#4842](#4842) - **rules:** deprecate landmark-complementary-is-top-level rules ([#4992](#4992)) ([9e09139](9e09139)), closes [#4950](#4950) - **utils:** add `getElementInternals` function ([#5077](#5077)) ([1c15f82](1c15f82)) ### Bug Fixes - **aria-allowed-attr:** restrict br and wbr elements to aria-hidden only ([#4974](#4974)) ([c6245e7](c6245e7)) - **aria-conditional-attr:** add support for radio ([#5100](#5100)) ([8223c98](8223c98)) - **aria-valid-attr-value:** handle multiple aria-errormessage IDs ([#4973](#4973)) ([0489e30](0489e30)) - **aria:** prevent getOwnedVirtual from returning duplicate nodes ([#4987](#4987)) ([48ca955](48ca955)), closes [#4840](#4840) - **commons/text:** exclude natively hidden elements from aria-labelledby accessible name ([#5076](#5076)) ([ea7202c](ea7202c)), closes [#4704](#4704) - **DqElement:** avoid calling constructors with cloneNode ([#5013](#5013)) ([0281fa1](0281fa1)) - **existing-rule:** aria-busy now shows an error message for a use with unallowed children ([#5017](#5017)) ([2067b87](2067b87)) - **helpUrl:** ensure axe.configure always updates the help URLs ([#5114](#5114)) ([c4f60ff](c4f60ff)) - **label-content-name-mismatch:** match visible text with aria-label and exclude invisible text ([#5096](#5096)) ([3a012a1](3a012a1)) - **locale:** ensure all subtags are correctly set ([#5112](#5112)) ([13005ed](13005ed)) - **scrollable-region-focusable:** clarify the issue is in safari ([#4995](#4995)) ([4ec5211](4ec5211)), closes [WebKit#190870](https://github.com/dequelabs/WebKit/issues/190870) [WebKit#277290](https://github.com/dequelabs/WebKit/issues/277290) - **scrollable-region-focusable:** do not fail scroll areas when all content is visible without scrolling ([#4993](#4993)) ([838707a](838707a)) - **target-size:** determine offset using clientRects if target is display:inline ([#5012](#5012)) ([a4b8091](a4b8091)) - **target-size:** ignore position: fixed elements that are offscreen when page is scrolled ([#5066](#5066)) ([1229a6e](1229a6e)), closes [#5065](#5065) - **target-size:** ignore widgets that are inline with other inline elements ([#5000](#5000)) ([a8dd81b](a8dd81b)) - **utils/getAncestry:** escape node name ([#5079](#5079)) ([d1fabaa](d1fabaa)), closes [#5078](#5078) - **utils:** Add null check to parseCrossOriginStylesheet, closes [#5074](#5074) ([#5075](#5075)) ([f12ef32](f12ef32)) - **utils:** update isShadowRoot to use spec-compliant custom element regex ([#5059](#5059)) ([edc6ce2](edc6ce2)), closes [#5030](#5030) This PR was opened by a robot 🤖 🎉

zlayaAvocado added 2 commits May 18, 2026 22:05

🤖 Automated formatting fixes

4ea9f2a

Merge branch 'develop' into feat/reset-locale

4897c6d

zlayaAvocado marked this pull request as ready for review May 19, 2026 20:46

zlayaAvocado requested a review from a team as a code owner May 19, 2026 20:46

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 19, 2026 20:46

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of zlayaAvocado May 19, 2026 20:46 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

straker previously approved these changes May 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

zlayaAvocado added 2 commits May 21, 2026 11:55

combine purpose and desc

55b0c50

Merge branch 'feat/reset-locale' of github.com:dequelabs/axe-core int…

6b2167c

…o feat/reset-locale

zlayaAvocado dismissed straker’s stale review via 6b2167c May 21, 2026 16:59

zlayaAvocado requested a review from straker May 21, 2026 17:00

straker approved these changes May 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

zlayaAvocado merged commit c2b5292 into develop May 21, 2026
23 checks passed

zlayaAvocado deleted the feat/reset-locale branch May 21, 2026 17:06

WilcoFiers mentioned this pull request May 25, 2026

The result of scanning is not translated into browser's language #5095

Closed

1 task

attest-team-ci mentioned this pull request Jun 1, 2026

chore(release): v4.12.0 #5122

Merged

Navigation Menu

Uh oh!

feat: expose axe.resetLocale() to restore the default locale - #5108

feat: expose axe.resetLocale() to restore the default locale#5108
zlayaAvocado merged 5 commits into
developfrom
feat/reset-locale

zlayaAvocado commented May 18, 2026

Uh oh!

CLAassistant commented May 18, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

Copilot AI left a comment

Uh oh!

straker left a comment

Uh oh!

straker May 21, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

4 participants


		#### Description

		`axe.configure({ locale })` has no inverse, and `axe.reset()` also clears branding, rule enable/disable overrides, `frameMessenger`, and other configuration. `axe.resetLocale()` reverts only the locale (rule descriptions, check messages, failure summaries, `lang`) back to the default that was in effect before the first `applyLocale` call. It is a no-op if no non-default locale has ever been applied, and safe to call repeatedly.

Uh oh!

Conversation

zlayaAvocado commented May 18, 2026

Motivation

Implementation

Tests

Uh oh!

CLAassistant commented May 18, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Copilot AI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Pull request overview

Reviewed changes

Uh oh!

straker left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

straker May 21, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

4 participants

CLAassistant commented May 18, 2026 •

edited

Loading