diff --git a/src/lib/status.test.ts b/src/lib/status.test.ts
index 87b9b0b..ae590c0 100644
--- a/src/lib/status.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/status.test.ts
@@ -32,8 +32,25 @@ describe('statusMessagesFor', () => {
     expect(msgs[0]?.text).toMatch(/Refresh/)
   })
 
-  it('shows checking while no state is known yet', () => {
-    expect(statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: undefined })[0]?.text).toMatch(/Checking/)
+  it('shows checking while no state is known yet, and marks it as not an answer', () => {
+    const checking = statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: undefined })[0]
+    expect(checking?.text).toMatch(/Checking/)
+    // The popup turns this into aria-busy on the status region; a screenshot
+    // taken while it is up is a screenshot of detection that has not finished
+    // (scripts/capture-status-docs.mjs).
+    expect(checking?.pending).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('marks nothing else pending: every other line is an answer', () => {
+    const answers = [
+      statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: undefined, requestFailed: true }),
+      statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: undefined, httpPage: false }),
+      statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: state({ error: 'offline' }) }),
+      statusMessagesFor({ ...base, state: state({}), sessionExpired: true }),
+    ]
+    for (const msgs of answers) {
+      expect(msgs.some((msg) => msg.pending)).toBe(false)
+    }
   })
 
   it('distinguishes offline from a record fetch failure', () => {
diff --git a/src/lib/status.ts b/src/lib/status.ts
index 3ceb9ef..f3f0a0e 100644
--- a/src/lib/status.ts
+++ b/src/lib/status.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,14 @@ export interface StatusMessage {
   tone: StatusTone
   /** A substring of `text` to render as a link pointing at `href`. */
   link?: { text: string; href: string }
+  /**
+   * This line is not an answer, it is the absence of one: the worker has not
+   * said anything about this page yet. The popup marks the status region
+   * `aria-busy` for it, the same way the publication card does while its own
+   * lookups are out — so "still working" is one question anything outside the
+   * popup can ask, including the capture (scripts/capture-status-docs.mjs).
+   */
+  pending?: boolean
 }
 
 export interface StatusInput {
@@ -80,7 +88,7 @@ export function statusMessagesFor(input: StatusInput): StatusMessage[] {
       tone: 'error',
     })
   } else if (!state) {
-    messages.push({ text: 'Checking this page…', tone: 'info' })
+    messages.push({ text: 'Checking this page…', tone: 'info', pending: true })
   } else {
     if (state.error === 'offline') {
       messages.push({
diff --git a/src/popup/cards/loading.test.ts b/src/popup/cards/loading.test.ts
index d123e3b..e4c8e4a 100644
--- a/src/popup/cards/loading.test.ts
+++ b/src/popup/cards/loading.test.ts
@@ -120,4 +120,34 @@ describe('LoadTracker', () => {
     expect(tracker.busy('labels')).toBe(false)
     expect(tracker.anyPending()).toBe(false)
   })
+
+  // What `aria-busy` is worth to anything reading it from outside — assistive
+  // technology, and the capture (scripts/capture-status-docs.mjs), which
+  // refuses to shoot a card that has it. The card sets it from anyPending, so
+  // a placeholder on screen with the attribute already gone would be a
+  // screenshot of a half-drawn popup that the capture had been told was done.
+  it('is pending for as long as anything is drawing a placeholder', async () => {
+    const tracker = new LoadTracker(vi.fn())
+    const fast = deferred()
+    const slow = deferred()
+    tracker.track('owner', fast.work)
+    tracker.track('subscribers', slow.work)
+
+    for (const at of [0, SHOW_AFTER_MS - 1, 1, 500]) {
+      await tick(at)
+      const showing = ['owner', 'subscribers'].filter((id) => tracker.busy(id))
+      if (showing.length > 0) expect(tracker.anyPending()).toBe(true)
+    }
+
+    fast.settle()
+    await tick(0)
+    // The slow one is still drawing, so the card is still busy.
+    expect(tracker.busy('subscribers')).toBe(true)
+    expect(tracker.anyPending()).toBe(true)
+
+    slow.settle()
+    await tick(0)
+    expect(tracker.busy('subscribers')).toBe(false)
+    expect(tracker.anyPending()).toBe(false)
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/popup/popup.ts b/src/popup/popup.ts
index 1b82558..23759b9 100644
--- a/src/popup/popup.ts
+++ b/src/popup/popup.ts
@@ -288,6 +288,11 @@ function renderStatus() {
   const el = $('status')
   el.hidden = messages.length === 0
   el.replaceChildren(...messages.map(pillFor))
+  // "Checking this page…" is the worker not having answered yet, which is the
+  // same kind of not-finished the publication card reports while its lookups
+  // are out — said here in the same way, on the region that is showing it.
+  if (messages.some((msg) => msg.pending)) el.setAttribute('aria-busy', 'true')
+  else el.removeAttribute('aria-busy')
 }
 
 function pillFor(msg: StatusMessage): HTMLElement {