Which CI providers does the AccessiSight CI API work with?

Any CI platform that can send an HTTP request: GitHub Actions (via our composite Action or a raw curl step), GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI, Bitbucket Pipelines, or a Playwright test file running on a self-hosted runner. There's no GitHub-specific lock-in; the underlying endpoint is a plain REST API.

Can the CI scan reach localhost or a private staging server?

No. The scan runs on AccessiSight's servers, which only scan public URLs (localhost and private network addresses are refused), so point it at a preview or staging deployment that is reachable from the internet.

Does the CI scan use the same detection engine as the website?

Yes. /api/ci/scan runs the exact same first-party engine (core rules, heuristics, and real keyboard-interaction simulation) that powers the dashboard scan and the browser extension, not a lighter or separate API.

Do I need a Pro license or API key to run scans in CI?

Yes. Unlike the website's own scan form, the CI scan API has no anonymous free tier. It requires a valid Pro license key or a generated API key (Settings → API Keys) passed as licenseKey/apiKey in the request body, or as the x-license-key/x-api-key headers.

What's a reasonable PR gate policy to start with?

Block merges on any new critical or serious violation, keyboard trap, missing alt text, or unlabeled form field. Warn (but allow) on new moderate violations and non-text contrast issues, and triage those within the sprint rather than blocking the PR outright.

Can CI scanning replace manual accessibility testing?

No. Automated tools, including this one, catch roughly 30-40% of WCAG issues, which is the honest industry baseline for what automation alone can detect. CI scanning should sit alongside periodic manual testing with assistive technology, not replace it.

Developer Guide · CI/CD Integration

Accessibility in
CI/CD Pipelines

Shift-left accessibility testing: catch WCAG violations at every stage of your development pipeline, from IDE to production. Copy-paste ready workflows for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI and Playwright, run against your preview or staging deployment.

GitHub ActionsGitLab CIJenkinsCircleCIPlaywright

Last reviewed: September 9, 2026

Cheaper to Fix Early

Fixing accessibility issues before they reach production costs far less than post-launch remediation, re-testing, and legal risk.

Automated Coverage

Automated tools catch about 30-40% of WCAG issues (the honest industry baseline). Running them on every PR catches those violations before they reach production.

Compliance Evidence

CI scan history is a dated record of ongoing accessibility work, useful evidence for ADA, EAA, and Section 508 compliance.

The 5-Stage Accessibility Pipeline

Layer accessibility checks at every stage. Each layer catches different issues.

Shift Left: Lint in IDE

Catches static issues (missing alt text, labels, roles) before they enter the codebase

Catch accessibility issues while writing code, before they ever reach a PR.

ESLint jsx-a11y pluginAccessiSight component-a11y-lintStorybook a11y addon

Pre-commit Hooks

Prevents accessibility regressions at the source

Block commits that introduce new accessibility violations automatically.

lint-staged + eslintHusky pre-commit hooks@accessisight/cli --threshold

Pull Request Checks

Catches ~30-40% of WCAG issues automatically before merge

Automated scans on every PR with results posted as comments. Block merges on critical violations.

GitHub ActionsAccessiSight CI APIPlaywright + AccessiSight CLI

Staging Environment Audit

Full multi-page coverage before any user sees the change

Full-site crawl and audit against staging before production deployment.

AccessiSight Site-Wide Crawler@accessisight/cli --crawl

Production Monitoring

Catches regressions from CMS changes, third-party scripts, A/B tests

Schedule recurring scans of production, alert when new issues appear.

AccessiSight scheduled scansCustom webhooks

Ready-to-Use Configurations

Copy these configurations into your project. Each one runs the AccessiSight WCAG 2.2 AA scan against your preview or staging URL.

yaml

# Simplest option: our own composite Action, no raw curl/jq needed.
name: Accessibility CI

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  accessibility:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Run AccessiSight Scan
        # Replace with wherever this repo's action.yml is published/tagged -
        # e.g. your-org/your-fork@v1 once you've pushed a tag.
        uses: your-org/accessisight@v1
        with:
          # Your preview or staging deployment - not localhost: the scan
          # runs on AccessiSight's servers.
          url: ${{ vars.PREVIEW_URL }}
          # Required: the CI scan API has no anonymous tier (unlike the
          # website's own scan form) and returns 402 without a valid Pro
          # license key or API key.
          license-key: ${{ secrets.ACCESSISIGHT_LICENSE_KEY }}
          fail-on-moderate: 'false'
          # Optional - posts an automatic fix-suggestion comment on this PR.
          # No extra secret needed; this is the token GitHub Actions already
          # injects for every job.
          github-token: ${{ github.token }}

Recommended PR Gate Policy

Block Merge (Fail CI)

Any new critical WCAG violations

Any new serious violations without documented exception

Keyboard trap introduced in any flow

Missing alt text on any new non-decorative image

New form field without label association

Warn (Allow with Comment)

New moderate violations (must be triaged within sprint)

Colour contrast issues in non-text UI elements

New images that need manual alt text review

Interactive components without ARIA labels

Focus order change in complex interactive patterns

Recommended npm Packages

@accessisight/cli

Run a full AccessiSight scan from the command line or a CI pipeline. Fails the build below a compliance-score threshold.

First-party, not yet on npm

eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y

Static accessibility analysis for JSX (React)

8M+ downloads/wk

@storybook/addon-a11y

Accessibility testing inside Storybook

1M+ downloads/wk

wait-on

Wait for server to be ready before running tests

6M+ downloads/wk

Frequently Asked Questions

Add AccessiSight to Your Pipeline

Use our API to run scans from CI, get structured JSON results, and post PR comments automatically.

Get an API Key Enterprise CI/CD