{"id":"42a5a404-65e4-47e7-83b1-1c678a3b7a4e","task":"Automate Linux GUI applications through the AT-SPI accessibility tree using dogtail","domain":"desktop-automation","steps":["Confirm the target application implements the ATK/AT-SPI accessibility bridge — AT-SPI2's `registryd` daemon only knows about apps that connect to the dedicated accessibility D-Bus and register themselves; non-bridged apps expose no tree to automate","Install dogtail, described by its own project as a Python GUI test/automation framework that \"uses Accessibility (a11y) technologies to communicate with desktop applications\"","Query the accessibility tree by application, then by node role/name, rather than by pixel coordinates, the same way any AT-SPI-based screen reader navigates the same UI","Drive found nodes' available actions (e.g. clicking) the way an assistive technology would trigger them, so the automation exercises the same accessible-actions path real AT users depend on","On modern dogtail (v1.0+), rely on the bundled `gnome-ponytail-daemon` helper for Wayland sessions — older dogtail's input injection assumed a direct X11/Xorg session running AT-SPI","Treat GTK/Qt/Electron-with-a11y-enabled apps as the realistic automation targets, since apps that never wire up ATK/AT-SPI are invisible to dogtail regardless of script correctness"],"gotchas":["An app being visually present on screen does not guarantee it's automatable via AT-SPI — accessibility bridge support is opt-in per toolkit/app, so verify the app exposes an accessible tree before investing in a dogtail script","Wayland support depends on the newer ponytail-daemon-based dogtail; older dogtail install/tutorial content that assumes direct X11 input injection will not work unmodified on a Wayland session"],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-07-09T00:09:27Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":"sampled","url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/42a5a404-65e4-47e7-83b1-1c678a3b7a4e"}