Accessibility limitations of npm login prompts

Goal

Improve the npm CLI’s login workflow so screen‑reader users can reliably identify and interact with the username, password, and email prompts.

Constraints & Uncertainty

The current implementation uses a custom readline interface that does not expose ARIA labels or announce that the password field is masked. Documentation provides no guidance on assistive‑technology usage, and the codebase contains an unresolved design decision: whether to replace this custom logic with the inquirer library, which offers built‑in accessibility support.

Unresolved Questions

1. Do the existing prompts fail to expose ARIA labels or hidden‑input announcements to screen readers across major terminals?
2. Would adopting inquirer resolve these gaps without introducing new usability issues?
3. What are the performance or compatibility trade‑offs of switching to inquirer for the login flow?