CLI Reference

ax-audit <urls...> [options]

One or more fully qualified URLs (scheme required). A single URL produces a full report; multiple URLs run in batch mode with a summary table.

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--output <format>	terminal	Output format: terminal, json, html, markdown. Invalid values error out.
--json	—	Shorthand for --output json.
--checks <list>	all	Comma-separated check IDs to run (see checks.md). Unknown IDs error with the list of valid ones.
--timeout <ms>	10000	Per-request timeout in milliseconds.
--retries <n>	2	Retry attempts for transient fetch failures (network errors, timeouts, 408/425/429/5xx) with exponential backoff from 250ms. 0 disables retries.
--concurrency <n>	1	Batch mode only: maximum URLs audited in parallel. Output order always matches input order.
--verbose	—	Log every HTTP request, cache hit, retry, and per-check score to stderr.
--only-failures	—	Hide passing findings; checks with only passes are omitted entirely.
--save-baseline <path>	—	Save this audit as a baseline JSON file.
--baseline <path>	—	Compare against a saved baseline; shows per-check deltas (▲/▼). Single-URL mode only.
--fail-on-regression <points>	—	Exit 1 if any check regresses more than N points vs the baseline. Requires --baseline.
-v, --version	—	Print version.

Output formats

• terminal — colored report with score bar, per-check sections, and PASS/WARN/FAIL findings.
• json — the full AuditReport (plus baselineDiff when --baseline is used). Stable shape for CI pipelines.
• html — self-contained page (score gauge, dark/light mode, collapsible sections). Pipe to a file: ax-audit <url> --output html > report.html.
• markdown — summary table + per-check findings with status emoji. Built for CI logs and PR comments: ax-audit <url> --output markdown > report.md.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Score ≥ 70 (single), or all URLs ≥ 70 (batch), and no regression beyond the --fail-on-regression threshold.
1	Score < 70, any batch URL < 70, invalid arguments, or regression beyond threshold.
2	Fatal error (network failure on the audit itself, unreadable baseline file).

Baseline workflow

# First run — record the baseline
ax-audit https://your-site.com --save-baseline .ax-baseline.json

# Subsequent runs — compare and gate
ax-audit https://your-site.com --baseline .ax-baseline.json --fail-on-regression 5

The baseline stores the overall score and per-check scores. Checks added after the baseline was saved appear as new (no delta); removed checks are ignored.

Examples

# Quick audit
npx ax-audit https://your-site.com

# Only the AI-licensing surface
npx ax-audit https://your-site.com --checks robots-txt,rsl,content-negotiation

# Batch, 4 at a time, machine-readable
npx ax-audit $(cat urls.txt) --concurrency 4 --json > batch.json

# Show me only what is broken
npx ax-audit https://your-site.com --only-failures