axle

Continuous accessibility compliance for the modern web. Scans every PR for WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 AA violations, generates real code fixes with Claude, and produces the legal artifacts your lawyer asks for. Never overlay widgets.

Deploy

What ships

Web (Next.js 16):

• / — compliance-CI landing + live scan + AI fix widget
• /statement — free Hebrew accessibility-statement generator, תקנה 35-aligned
• /badge — free embeddable shields-style compliance badge

Libraries (lib/):

• scanner.ts — Playwright + axe-core 4.11 scanner (WCAG 2.0/2.1/2.2 A+AA)
• fixer.ts — Claude Sonnet fix generator with prompt caching
• badge.ts — dependency-free SVG badge renderer
• statement/hebrew-template.ts — תקנה 35-aligned Hebrew statement generator

API:

• POST /api/scan — scan a URL
• POST /api/fix — generate a code-fix for a violation
• GET /api/badge — SVG or shields.io-JSON compliance badge

CI:

• .github/workflows/a11y.yml — PR-triggered scan, auto-updating inline comment, artifacts upload, severity gate
• .github/workflows/a11y-scheduled.yml — nightly cron over a URL list, auto-opens regression tracking issues
• scripts/ci-scan.ts + npm run a11y:ci — local/CI CLI emitting JSON + markdown

Distribution scaffolds (ready to publish):

• packages/axle-action/ — composite GitHub Action for Marketplace (asafamos/axle-action)
• packages/axle-cli/ — @axle/cli npm package
• packages/axle-netlify/ — @axle/netlify-plugin Netlify Build Plugin

Local use

npm ci
npx playwright install chromium
cp .env.local.example .env.local   # set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY if you want AI fixes
npm run dev                          # localhost:3000 — interactive web UI
npm run a11y:ci -- --url https://example.com --with-ai-fixes true

In your repo's CI

# .github/workflows/accessibility.yml
name: Accessibility
on: pull_request
permissions: { contents: read, pull-requests: write }
jobs:
  axle:
    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: asafamos/axle-action@v1       # coming to Marketplace
        with:
          url: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha && format('https://preview-{0}.your-domain.dev', github.event.pull_request.number) }}
          fail-on: serious
          with-ai-fixes: "true"
          anthropic-api-key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

Positioning

axle is a compliance workflow around an axe-core scan, not just a better scanner. The legal pressure (EAA June 2025, ADA Title III lawsuits, חוק שוויון) is the buying trigger; the scanner, AI fixer, PR comment, audit trail, badge, and accessibility statement are the bundle that makes the purchase obvious.

Explicit non-goals:

• No overlay widgets. Ever. (see accessiBe's $1M FTC fine, Jan 2025.)
• No "compliance certificate" language. axle provides remediation assistance.
• No false-confidence AI fixes. Every fix ships with confidence + manual_review_needed.