How to configure accessCode

Note: accessCode is currently in beta and only available to eligible customers.

The accessCode AI Reviewer is designed to be flexible. You can customize how strict the AI Reviewer is, whether it runs automatically, and which rules it should ignore.

Set up the configuration file

To configure the AI reviewer, create a file named .accesscode.yml in the root (top level) of your repository. This file controls how and when the reviewer scans your code, and which issues it reports.

Configuration options

You can customize the following settings:

`severityThreshold`

Controls which accessibility issues the reviewer reports based on severity.

By default, all accessibility issues are reported. You can limit this to only report issues of a certain severity or higher.

Values: "minor", "moderate", "serious", "critical"
Default: "minor" (reports everything)

accessCode uses a different set of severity labels than accessFlow. The table below shows how they correspond.

accessCode severity	accessFlow severity
minor	low
moderate	medium
serious	high
critical	extreme

`ignoreRules`

Exclude specific accessibility rules from being reported. Use this if certain rules do not apply to your project.

Values: A list of rule IDs (e.g., alt-misuse, button-mismatch).
Default: [] (empty list)

`autoReview`

Determines whether the AI Reviewer runs automatically on pull requests (PR). When set to true, the reviewer scans your code whenever a PR is opened or updated.

Set to false to run the AI reviewer manually.

Values: true, false
Default: true

`excludeFiles`

Define files or directories the reviewer should skip. This is useful for excluding: legacy code, test files, third party libraries, or vendor assets.

Use standard glob patterns to define exclusions. Ignored files are cleanly logged under the “Ignored Files” section in the Pull Request check-run summary.

Values: A list of standard glob patterns (e.g., legacy-assets/**, app/components/third-party/*.tsx).
Default: The AI reviewer automatically ignores common non-production files, test files, package lockfiles, and static markdown documentation:
yaml excludeFiles: - "**/*.test.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}" # Test files - "**/*.spec.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}" # Spec files - "**/__tests__/**" # Test directories - "package-lock.json" # NPM lockfile - "yarn.lock" # Yarn lockfile - "pnpm-lock.yaml" # PNPM lockfile - "bun.lockb" # Bun lockfile - "npm-shrinkwrap.json" # NPM shrinkwrap lock - "tsconfig.json" # TypeScript configs - "**/*.md" # Markdown documentation
Override Behavior: If you define excludeFiles in your .accesscode.yml, it replaces the default list entirely. To keep the defaults, you must include them explicitly in your configuration list.

`lenses`

Scopes the AI Reviewer’s analysis to specific accessibility perspectives or framework rule packages.

Values: A list of active lenses (e.g., ["react"], ["nextjs"], ["vanilla"]).
Default: [] (defaults to the core vanilla ruleset)
Auto-detection behavior: By default, the accessCode AI Reviewer detects the framework used in your codebase and adjusts its accessibility suggestions automatically. If the lenses property is omitted or left empty, the system automatically scans your project's package.json and the files being edited to determine the appropriate framework dependencies. If it detects Next.js or React, it applies the corresponding lens. Otherwise, it defaults to the vanilla lens. In some cases, you may want to override this behavior. For example, if your project uses a custom or non-standard setup, you can define a specific lens to guide the AI Reviewer. This ensures that suggested fixes align with your preferred framework or coding patterns.

Example configuration

Here is an example .accesscode.yml file:

# Place this file in the root of your repository

# Only report issues that are "serious" or "critical"
severityThreshold:"serious"

# Do not report errors related to missing autofocus or empty links rules
ignoreRules:
- no-autofocus
- link-context

# 🚫 Exclude tests, legacy, and vendor folders from AI reviews
# Note: This completely replaces the default list of excluded files.
excludeFiles:
-"**/__tests__/**"
-"legacy-assets/**"
-"**/*.spec.tsx"

# Configure the active rule evaluation lenses
lenses:
-"vanilla"

# Disable automatic reviews on pull requests
# (You will need to manually request a review via the GitHub UI)
autoReview:false

Supported rules

These are the rules automatically checked by the AI Reviewer.

alt-misuse
aria-controls-has-reference
aria-describedby-has-reference
aria-invalid-mismatch
aria-invalid-misuse
aria-labelledby-has-reference
article-misuse
background-image-discernible
background-image-discernible-image
breadcrumbs-mismatch
breadcrumbs-in-nav
broken-aria-references
button-discernible
button-mismatch
captcha-accessible-provider
carousel-aria-live
carousel-discernible
carousel-mismatch
carousel-next-slide-discernible
carousel-next-slide-discernible-correctly
carousel-previous-slide-discernible
carousel-previous-slide-discernible-correctly
carousel-redundant-discernible-text
carousel-slide-picker-discernible
checkbox-aria-checked
checkbox-discernible
checkbox-mismatch
checkbox-misuse
color-contrast
custom-select-options-list-listbox
custom-select-trigger-combobox
dialog-modal-mismatch
dialog-modal-misuse
duplicate-id
emphasis-mismatch
figure-discernible
form-context-change-warning
form-duplicate-id
form-mismatch
form-submit-button-mismatch
heading-discernible
heading-lengthy
heading-mismatch
heading-misuse
heading-order
heading-order-optimal
icon-discernible
iframe-discernible
image-discernible
image-discernible-correctly
image-mismatch
image-misuse
input-discernible
interactive-not-tabbable
interactive-target-size
link-anchor-ambiguous
link-anchor-discernible
link-context
link-current-page
link-homepage-warning
link-image-warning
link-mailto-warning
link-navigation-ambiguous
link-navigation-discernible
link-new-window-warning
link-pdf-warning
link-telephone-warning
list-item-within-list
list-not-empty
main-navigation-discernible
main-navigation-mismatch
map-area-discernible
marquee-deprecated
menu-avoid
menu-bar-avoid
menu-item-avoid
menu-trigger-clickable
menu-trigger-correct-state
menu-trigger-mismatch
menu-trigger-misuse
name-prohibited-no-aria-label
navigation-discernible
navigation-item-link
navigation-mismatch
navigation-misuse
navigation-not-nested
navigation-redundant-discernible-text
navigation-submenu-discernible
navigation-submenu-region
no-autofocus
no-extra-information-in-title
no-role-application
had-meta-viewport
pixel-image-not-discernible
radio-aria-checked
radio-discernible
radio-mismatch
radio-misuse
redundant-discernible-content
region-footer-mismatch
region-footer-misuse
region-main-content-mismatch
region-main-content-misuse
required-form-field-aria-required
sale-price-discernible
search-form-mismatch
select-option-mismatch
select-option-misuse
sr-hidden-tabbable
strong-mismatch
svg-discernible
tab-list-mismatch
tab-list-misuse
tab-mismatch
tab-misuse
tab-panel-mismatch
tab-panel-misuse
tabbable-non-interactive
tabbable-visible
tabindex-valid
table-column-header
table-header-not-empty
table-headers
table-misuse
table-not-nested
table-row-header
text-spacing-word-spacing
toggle-button-correct-state
toggle-button-mismatch
toggle-button-misuse
user-rating-discernible
visibility-mismatch
visibility-misuse
visible-text-part-of-accessible-name

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