Start and stop accessibility scans

Start and stop automated accessibility scans in your test cases for precise control over what gets scanned.

This guide explains how you can start and stop automated accessibility scans in BrowserStack Accessibility Testing.

Why control accessibility scans?

Developers and SDETs often need to focus accessibility testing on specific parts of a workflow. By controlling when scans start and stop, you can:

• Limit scans to relevant sections of your test cases.
• Avoid reporting issues outside your team’s scope.
• Optimize test execution and reporting.

How to start and stop accessibility scans

You can use the following commands in your test scripts:

• startA11yScanning() — Starts accessibility scanning (A11Y context).
• stopA11yScanning() — Stops accessibility scanning (A11Y context).

Example usage

// ...existing test setup...
startA11yScanning();
// DOM-changing commands here will trigger automatic scans
// ...test steps...
stopA11yScanning();
// Further commands will not trigger automatic scans

Configuration options

Set global config flags in your BrowserStack YAML file:

• autoScanning: true | false (default: true)

Error handling

• If a start command is issued without a corresponding stop command, an error will be raised.
• Scans only run on DOM-changing commands. If you call startA11yScanning() without any DOM change, no scan will be triggered.

Supported combinations

You can use multiple start/stop pairs within a single test case for granular control. Explicit scan statements are supported via the existing performScan method.

Best practices

• Always pair start and stop commands to avoid errors.
• Configure global flags in your YAML for team-wide defaults.

How autoScanning and scan commands interact

• When autoScanning: true is set in your config, accessibility scans run automatically on every page mutation (current default setting).
• If you use the stopA11yScanning() command, scanning will stop—even if autoScanning is true. The command takes precedence over the config flag.
• Similarly, if you use startA11yScanning() in a test case, scanning resumes regardless of the global flag or include/exclude settings.
• The start/stop commands always override the autoScanning, includeTagsInTestingScope, and excludeTagsInTestingScope flags for that test case.

Use cases

Learn more about automated accessibility tests and configuration options.