Entity reference — accessibility

Covers all three variants: default, mini and removable.

Keyboard

With onOpen the chip (default or mini) is a real <button type="button"> with tabIndex 0 (measured), so Tab reaches it and Enter or Space opens the record.
Without onOpen it is not a button and takes no tab stop — a reference that leads nowhere never pretends to.
There is no shortcut and no arrow-key navigation between chips in a row; each is its own stop.
Mini in prose: a sentence can contain several tab stops. That is correct — each reference is a separate destination — but keep the count per sentence low, because there is no way to skip them.
Removable: two tab stops per token, the chip (when onOpen is given) and the ×, in reading order. The × is hidden until :hover or :focus-within, so tabbing into a token reveals it. Enter or Space on the × removes the token. Focus then lands wherever the browser puts it — the component does not manage this, so a host removing the last token should move focus deliberately.

No explicit role: the chip is a real button, and its accessible name is the visible name text.
Default: the identity mark is aria-hidden, so the announcement is the name alone — which is why the name must never be abbreviated to fit.
The record's type is not announced in any variant. In default it is carried only by the mark's shape and colour; mini draws no mark at all. A screen-reader user hears Brno Tech a.s. without hearing that it is a company; where the kind matters, the surrounding label has to say it (a rail row's key, a field label). In a sentence there is no such label, so for mini this limit weighs more.
date is inside the button, so it becomes part of the name (Schůzka s Brno Tech 26. 8.), which reads correctly.
Removable: the × carries an aria-label from removeLabel, defaulting to Odebrat {name} (measured Odebrat Josef Novák). A bare Odebrat on every token makes a row of identical unnamed controls — always include the name. The token wrapper has no role. Removal is not announced.
Nothing announces what opening the chip did — the host owns that.

The foundation ring from ds.css applies (outline: 2px solid var(--accent); outline-offset: 1px); .eref-chip does not switch it off. Focus ring --accent: 4.44:1 light, 3.83:1 dark.
Mini: the ring is drawn around a 19px inline box with 1px of horizontal padding, so it sits very close to the text. It is the only focus signal, because hover does not tint the ground.
Removable: .eref-x has its own :focus-visible rule in ds.css; :focus-within on the token keeps the × visible for as long as focus is inside.
The dashed underline is a permanent affordance, not a focus indicator — focus is the ring.

Computed from packages/ui/src/tokens/tokens.css:

Default: name --ink-900 on the canvas — well above AA in both themes.
Mini: name --fg-secondary at 12px — 3.93:1 light, 6.20:1 dark. Below AA for normal text in the light theme, and this is a link. Hover lifts it to --ink-900, but hover does not reach keyboard or touch users.
The dashed underline is --border-strong at rest, darkening on hover (--ink-700 default, --ink-500 mini). As a 1px decoration it is what marks a mini reference at rest — the right fallback, but a thin one.
Removable: the name inherits the chip's tone; the 13px × inherits currentColor and needs 3:1 as a non-text control — met with the default chip, under AA with mini in the light theme.
The typed tiles of the default chip are solid grounds with white glyphs; they are decorative and aria-hidden.

The record type reaches only sighted users, and only in default; it is shape and colour, never words.
Long names are clipped, and the full value survives only in title — unavailable to touch users and unreliable for screen readers.
The hover tint and the darkened underline are the only rest→hover signal; at 1px they are subtle.
Mini at rest is under AA in the light theme.
Removable: the × is invisible until hover or focus, so on touch it appears only after the first tap; removal is silent to assistive technology; focus after removal is left to the browser.
Nothing announces the result of activating the chip.