Run accessibility checks using the CLI

Use the Accessibility DevTools Command Line Interface (CLI) to automate accessibility checks in your development workflow.

The Accessibility DevTools CLI enables you to scan your codebase for accessibility issues directly from the terminal. This is useful for integrating accessibility testing into CI/CD pipelines or running checks locally without a UI.

With the CLI, you can scan multiple files or entire directories at once, and add accessibility as a quality check to your Git commits or CI/CD builds. This helps you catch issues early and maintain accessibility standards throughout your development workflow.

Install the CLI

curl -L "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=macos&os_arch=arm64" | bsdtar -xvf- -O > browserstack-cli && chmod 0775 browserstack-cli

curl -L "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=macos&os_arch=x64" | bsdtar -xvf- -O > browserstack-cli && chmod 0775 browserstack-cli

curl -L "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=linux&os_arch=arm64" | tar -xz -O > browserstack-cli && chmod +x browserstack-cli

curl -L "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=linux&os_arch=x64" | tar -xz -O > browserstack-cli && chmod +x browserstack-cli

curl -L "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=alpine&os_arch=arm64" | tar -xz -O > browserstack-cli && chmod +x browserstack-cli

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://api.browserstack.com/sdk/v1/download_cli?os=windows&os_arch=x64" -OutFile browserstack_cli.zip
Expand-Archive -Path browserstack_cli.zip -DestinationPath . -Force
Rename-Item -Path "binary-win-x64.exe" -NewName "browserstack-cli.exe"
Remove-Item browserstack_cli.zip  # Cleanup

Authenticate with your BrowserStack account

1. Log in to your BrowserStack account or sign up if you don’t have an account.

2. Obtain your Username and Access Key from the Account & Profile section section on the dashboard.

3. Set the following environment variables using the Username and Access Key you obtained in step 2. This allows the CLI to authenticate with your BrowserStack account:
   • BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME
   • BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY

   Add the export commands to the configuration file, depending on your shell:

   • Zsh: Add the following lines to your ~/.zshrc file:

     export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME="<your-username>"
     export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY="<your-access-key>"
     

   • Bash: Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile file:

     export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME="<your-username>"
     export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY="<your-access-key>"
     

   • Fish Shell: Add the following lines to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish file:

     set -x BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME <your-username>
     set -x BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY <your-access-key>
     

   After updating your configuration file, restart your terminal or run source on the file to apply the changes.

Run accessibility checks

To scan your files or directories for accessibility issues, use the following command:

./browserstack-cli accessibility --include src/**.jsx 

This command scans all .jsx files in the src directory and its subdirectories for accessibility issues.

CLI options

You can use the following options with the CLI:

Exit codes

The CLI returns the following exit codes:

Sample pre-commit hook to run accessibility checks

You can use the following script to run accessibility checks automatically before each commit. Add this script to your repository’s .git/hooks/pre-commit file: