Introduce initial screen reader mode handling and flag (#6653)

packages/cli/src/config/config.ts

@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ export interface CliArgs {
   listExtensions: boolean | undefined;
   proxy: string | undefined;
   includeDirectories: string[] | undefined;
+  screenReader: boolean | undefined;
 }
 
 export async function parseArguments(): Promise<CliArgs> {
@@ -229,6 +230,11 @@ export async function parseArguments(): Promise<CliArgs> {
             // Handle comma-separated values
             dirs.flatMap((dir) => dir.split(',').map((d) => d.trim())),
         })
+        .option('screen-reader', {
+          type: 'boolean',
+          description: 'Enable screen reader mode for accessibility.',
+          default: false,
+        })
 
         .check((argv) => {
           if (argv.prompt && argv['promptInteractive']) {
@@ -465,6 +471,9 @@ export async function loadCliConfig(
 
   const sandboxConfig = await loadSandboxConfig(settings, argv);
 
+  // The screen reader argument takes precedence over the accessibility setting.
+  const screenReader =
+    argv.screenReader ?? settings.accessibility?.screenReader ?? false;
   return new Config({
     sessionId,
     embeddingModel: DEFAULT_GEMINI_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
@@ -490,7 +499,10 @@ export async function loadCliConfig(
       argv.show_memory_usage ||
       settings.showMemoryUsage ||
       false,
-    accessibility: settings.accessibility,
+    accessibility: {
+      ...settings.accessibility,
+      screenReader,
+    },
     telemetry: {
       enabled: argv.telemetry ?? settings.telemetry?.enabled,
       target: (argv.telemetryTarget ??

packages/cli/src/config/settings.ts

@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ export interface SummarizeToolOutputSettings {
 
 export interface AccessibilitySettings {
   disableLoadingPhrases?: boolean;
+  screenReader?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface SettingsError {

packages/cli/src/config/settingsSchema.ts

@@ -206,6 +206,16 @@ export const SETTINGS_SCHEMA = {
         description: 'Disable loading phrases for accessibility',
         showInDialog: true,
       },
+      screenReader: {
+        type: 'boolean',
+        label: 'Screen Reader Mode',
+        category: 'Accessibility',
+        requiresRestart: true,
+        default: false,
+        description:
+          'Render output in plain-text to be more screen reader accessible',
+        showInDialog: true,
+      },
     },
   },
   checkpointing: {

packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx

@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ export async function main() {
           />
         </SettingsContext.Provider>
       </React.StrictMode>,
-      { exitOnCtrlC: false },
+      { exitOnCtrlC: false, isScreenReaderEnabled: config.getScreenReader() },
     );
 
     checkForUpdates()

packages/cli/src/ui/App.test.tsx

@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ interface MockServerConfig {
   getGeminiClient: Mock<() => GeminiClient | undefined>;
   getUserTier: Mock<() => Promise<string | undefined>>;
   getIdeClient: Mock<() => { getCurrentIde: Mock<() => string | undefined> }>;
+  getScreenReader: Mock<() => boolean>;
 }
 
 // Mock @google/gemini-cli-core and its Config class
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
           getConnectionStatus: vi.fn(() => 'connected'),
         })),
         isTrustedFolder: vi.fn(() => true),
+        getScreenReader: vi.fn(() => false),
       };
     });
 

packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx

@@ -923,10 +923,12 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
           key={staticKey}
           items={[
             <Box flexDirection="column" key="header">
-              {!settings.merged.hideBanner && (
+              {!(settings.merged.hideBanner || config.getScreenReader()) && (
                 <Header version={version} nightly={nightly} />
               )}
-              {!settings.merged.hideTips && <Tips config={config} />}
+              {!(settings.merged.hideTips || config.getScreenReader()) && (
+                <Tips config={config} />
+              )}
             </Box>,
             ...history.map((h) => (
               <HistoryItemDisplay
@@ -1093,12 +1095,14 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
               <LoadingIndicator
                 thought={
                   streamingState === StreamingState.WaitingForConfirmation ||
-                  config.getAccessibility()?.disableLoadingPhrases
+                  config.getAccessibility()?.disableLoadingPhrases ||
+                  config.getScreenReader()
                     ? undefined
                     : thought
                 }
                 currentLoadingPhrase={
-                  config.getAccessibility()?.disableLoadingPhrases
+                  config.getAccessibility()?.disableLoadingPhrases ||
+                  config.getScreenReader()
                     ? undefined
                     : currentLoadingPhrase
                 }

packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
   cleanupOldClipboardImages,
 } from '../utils/clipboardUtils.js';
 import * as path from 'path';
+import { SCREEN_READER_USER_PREFIX } from '../constants.js';
 
 export interface InputPromptProps {
   buffer: TextBuffer;
@@ -688,7 +689,12 @@ export const InputPrompt: React.FC<InputPromptProps> = ({
         >
           {shellModeActive ? (
             reverseSearchActive ? (
-              <Text color={theme.text.link}>(r:) </Text>
+              <Text
+                color={theme.text.link}
+                aria-label={SCREEN_READER_USER_PREFIX}
+              >
+                (r:){' '}
+              </Text>
             ) : (
               '! '
             )

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/CompressionMessage.tsx

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { Box, Text } from 'ink';
 import { CompressionProps } from '../../types.js';
 import Spinner from 'ink-spinner';
 import { Colors } from '../../colors.js';
+import { SCREEN_READER_MODEL_PREFIX } from '../../constants.js';
 
 export interface CompressionDisplayProps {
   compression: CompressionProps;
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ export const CompressionMessage: React.FC<CompressionDisplayProps> = ({
           color={
             compression.isPending ? Colors.AccentPurple : Colors.AccentGreen
           }
+          aria-label={SCREEN_READER_MODEL_PREFIX}
         >
           {text}
         </Text>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/GeminiMessage.tsx

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import React from 'react';
 import { Text, Box } from 'ink';
 import { MarkdownDisplay } from '../../utils/MarkdownDisplay.js';
 import { Colors } from '../../colors.js';
+import { SCREEN_READER_MODEL_PREFIX } from '../../constants.js';
 
 interface GeminiMessageProps {
   text: string;
@@ -28,7 +29,12 @@ export const GeminiMessage: React.FC<GeminiMessageProps> = ({
   return (
     <Box flexDirection="row">
       <Box width={prefixWidth}>
-        <Text color={Colors.AccentPurple}>{prefix}</Text>
+        <Text
+          color={Colors.AccentPurple}
+          aria-label={SCREEN_READER_MODEL_PREFIX}
+        >
+          {prefix}
+        </Text>
       </Box>
       <Box flexGrow={1} flexDirection="column">
         <MarkdownDisplay

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/UserMessage.tsx

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import { Text, Box } from 'ink';
 import { Colors } from '../../colors.js';
+import { SCREEN_READER_USER_PREFIX } from '../../constants.js';
 
 interface UserMessageProps {
   text: string;
@@ -31,7 +32,9 @@ export const UserMessage: React.FC<UserMessageProps> = ({ text }) => {
       alignSelf="flex-start"
     >
       <Box width={prefixWidth}>
-        <Text color={textColor}>{prefix}</Text>
+        <Text color={textColor} aria-label={SCREEN_READER_USER_PREFIX}>
+          {prefix}
+        </Text>
       </Box>
       <Box flexGrow={1}>
         <Text wrap="wrap" color={textColor}>

packages/cli/src/ui/constants.ts

@@ -15,3 +15,7 @@ export const UI_WIDTH =
 export const STREAM_DEBOUNCE_MS = 100;
 
 export const SHELL_COMMAND_NAME = 'Shell Command';
+
+export const SCREEN_READER_USER_PREFIX = 'User: ';
+
+export const SCREEN_READER_MODEL_PREFIX = 'Model: ';

packages/core/src/config/config.ts

@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ export enum ApprovalMode {
 
 export interface AccessibilitySettings {
   disableLoadingPhrases?: boolean;
+  screenReader?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface BugCommandSettings {
@@ -734,6 +735,10 @@ export class Config {
     return this.skipNextSpeakerCheck;
   }
 
+  getScreenReader(): boolean {
+    return this.accessibility.screenReader ?? false;
+  }
+
   getEnablePromptCompletion(): boolean {
     return this.enablePromptCompletion;
   }