Accessibility Core

Our shared accessibility standard in one place. Reference this repo from any project so it meets WCAG 2.2 AA by default, across UK, EU and US requirements.

Maintained by Michael Hele.

What you get

• A single skill (skills/accessibility/SKILL.md) that AI coding agents load automatically when working on web UI, web apps, dashboards or extensions.
• A CI workflow that fails the build on accessibility regressions.
• A short, link-checked list of trusted sources for the latest guidance.

Add it to an existing project (about two minutes)

1. Add this repo as a git submodule (or copy skills/accessibility/ into your project's skills/ directory):

   git submodule add https://github.com/michaelhele/accessibility-core .accessibility-core

   This URL is where Accessibility Core will live. Until the repository is published, substitute your local path or fork.

2. Point your agent at it. In your project's AGENTS.md (create one if needed):

   ## Skills
   For all web, dashboard or extension work, read and apply
   .accessibility-core/skills/accessibility/SKILL.md before writing UI code.

3. Wire in the CI gate. Copy ci/a11y.yml into .github/workflows/ and pass your build or preview URL. It runs axe-core and Lighthouse on every pull request. See ci/README.md.

4. That's it. New UI work now follows the standard without anyone having to remember it.

What this does and doesn't do

It gets you past almost all automated checks and the common structural failures. It does not replace manual testing: meaningful alt text, sensible focus order and coherent screen-reader output still need a human. Automated tooling catches roughly a third to a half of WCAG issues. Run the manual checks in the skill before making a formal conformance claim.

Standard and updates

Targets WCAG 2.2 AA — the current W3C Recommendation, also published as ISO/IEC 40500:2025, and the de facto benchmark under the UK Public Sector Bodies Regulations 2018 and Equality Act 2010, the EU's European Accessibility Act via EN 301 549, and the US ADA and Section 508. WCAG 3.0 is still a draft (not before ~2028); we'll revisit the target when it lands. See TRUSTED_SOURCES.md for where to check, and CHANGELOG.md to pin a version.

Layout

accessibility-core/
├── README.md                     you are here
├── AGENTS.md                     tells any AI agent to read the skill before UI work
├── TRUSTED_SOURCES.md            where to get the latest guidance
├── CHANGELOG.md                  so consuming projects can pin a version
├── LICENSE                       MIT
├── skills/accessibility/SKILL.md the consolidated core skill
└── ci/
    ├── a11y.yml                  reusable GitHub Actions workflow (axe-core + Lighthouse)
    └── README.md                 how to wire it in

Keeping it current

Accessibility guidance moves: WCAG 3.0 is coming and the European Accessibility Act is still bedding in through national enforcement. Update this repo in one place and every consuming project inherits the change. Re-check the links in TRUSTED_SOURCES.md whenever you touch it, and record anything a consumer needs to know in CHANGELOG.md.

Credits and licence

Based on the MIT-licensed skill by Casey Kreer, adapted and extended. Licensed under MIT — see LICENSE, with third-party notices in NOTICE.

This repository is scaffolded on the AI Prime Directive framework for agent routing and session handover.