Skill: CI Integration

Domain: CI/CD accessibility pipeline configuration
Agents that use this skill: ci-accessibility, web-accessibility-wizard, accessibility-lead

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Purpose

Patterns, templates, and reference data for integrating automated accessibility scanning into CI/CD pipelines. Covers axe-core CLI, Lighthouse CI, SARIF output, baseline management, and multi-platform configuration.

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axe-core CLI Reference

Installation

npm install --save-dev @axe-core/cli

WCAG 2.2 AA Tag Set

npx axe <url> --tags wcag2a,wcag2aa,wcag21a,wcag21aa,wcag22aa

Output Formats

Flag	Output
--reporter json	JSON results to stdout
--reporter sarif	SARIF format for code scanning
--reporter html	Human-readable HTML report
--save <file>	Save results to file

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	No violations found
1	Violations found
2	Error running scan

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Baseline Pattern

Purpose

Without a baseline, every legacy violation fails CI, making adoption impossible on brownfield apps. With a baseline, CI gates only prevent regressions.

Baseline File Schema (axe-baseline.json)

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-22T00:00:00Z",
  "tool": "@axe-core/cli",
  "tags": "wcag2a,wcag2aa,wcag21a,wcag21aa,wcag22aa",
  "violations": {
    "color-contrast": { "count": 12, "pages": ["index.html", "about.html"] },
    "image-alt": { "count": 3, "pages": ["gallery.html"] },
    "label": { "count": 5, "pages": ["contact.html", "signup.html"] }
  },
  "total": 20
}

Comparison Logic

current_violations = run_axe_scan()
baseline = load("axe-baseline.json")

new_violations = current_violations - baseline
if new_violations.count > 0:
    FAIL PR — "N new accessibility violations introduced"
else:
    PASS — "No new violations (M existing in baseline)"

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GitHub Actions Template

name: Accessibility Check
on:
  pull_request:
    paths: ['**/*.html', '**/*.jsx', '**/*.tsx', '**/*.vue', '**/*.svelte']

jobs:
  a11y:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: 22 }
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx axe $(git diff --name-only HEAD~1 --diff-filter=ACMR -- '*.html' | tr '\n' ' ') --tags wcag2a,wcag2aa,wcag21a,wcag21aa,wcag22aa --reporter json --save results.json
      - name: Check results
        run: |
          violations=$(jq '[.[].violations[]] | length' results.json)
          echo "Found $violations violations"
          if [ "$violations" -gt 0 ]; then exit 1; fi

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SARIF Integration

SARIF (Static Analysis Results Interchange Format) enables inline annotations in GitHub PR diffs.

Upload Step

- uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
  with:
    sarif_file: results.sarif
    category: accessibility

Benefits

• Violations appear as inline annotations on the exact lines in the PR diff
• Results visible in the Security → Code Scanning tab
• Tracks violation trends over time
• Supports dismissal workflow for false positives

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Gating Strategies

Strategy	Blocks On	Best For
Strict	Any violation (all severities)	New greenfield projects
Standard	Critical + Serious only	Active projects with good a11y baseline
Baseline	New violations only (regression)	Brownfield adoption, legacy codebases
Warning	Never blocks, comments only	Awareness phase, gradual adoption

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Multi-Platform Templates

Azure DevOps

trigger:
  paths:
    include: ['**/*.html', '**/*.jsx', '**/*.tsx']

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
  - task: NodeTool@0
    inputs: { versionSpec: '22.x' }
  - script: npm ci && npx axe $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/index.html --tags wcag2a,wcag2aa
    displayName: 'Accessibility Scan'

GitLab CI

accessibility:
  image: node:22
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx axe $CI_PROJECT_DIR/index.html --tags wcag2a,wcag2aa
  only:
    changes: ['**/*.html', '**/*.jsx', '**/*.tsx']

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Severity Mapping

axe-core Impact	CI Priority	Action
critical	p1-blocker	Must block merge
serious	p2-high	Should block merge
moderate	p3-medium	Warn in PR comment
minor	p4-low	Info only