Using lattice configurations for quantum chromodynamics (QCD) generated with three domain-wall fermions at a physical pion mass, we obtain a parameter-free prediction of QCD’s renormalisation-group-invariant process-independent effective charge, $\hatlpha(k^2)$. Owing to the dynamical breaking of scale invariance, evident in the emergence of a gluon mass-scale, this coupling saturates at infrared momenta: $\hatlpha(0)/\pi=0.97(4)$. Amongst other things: $\hatlpha(k^2)$ is almost identical to the process-dependent (PD) effective charge defined via the Bjorken sum rule; and also that PD charge which, employed in the one-loop evolution equations, delivers agreement between pion parton distribution functions computed at the hadronic scale and experiment. The diversity of unifying roles played by $\hatlpha(k^2)$ suggests that it is a strong candidate for that object which represents the interaction strength in QCD at any given momentum scale; and its properties support a conclusion that QCD is a mathematically well-defined quantum field theory in four dimensions.