MCP Accessibility Helper

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides accessibility checking tools for HTML navigation and dropdown elements, following WCAG guidelines.

Features

• Navigation Accessibility Checker: Validates <nav> elements for proper ARIA labeling, semantic structure, and uniqueness
• Dropdown Accessibility Checker: Validates dropdown buttons for proper ARIA attributes like aria-expanded, aria-haspopup, and aria-controls
• Multiple Output Formats: Diagnostic, notification, and inline reporting modes
• Detailed Suggestions: Provides fix suggestions and example code for accessibility issues
• Dual Transport Support: Both stdio (local) and HTTP (remote deployment) transports

Quick Start

Installation

npm install
npm run build

Local Development

# Start stdio server for local MCP integration
npm run dev

# Start HTTP server for testing
npm run dev:http

Cursor IDE Integration

Add to your Cursor MCP configuration (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "accessibility-helper": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-101/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage

Navigation Accessibility Check

// Example usage in MCP client
const result = await callTool('check-nav-accessibility', {
  content: `
    <nav aria-label="Main navigation">
      <ul>
        <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
      </ul>
    </nav>
  `,
  notificationType: 'diagnostic',
  provideSuggestions: true
});

Dropdown Accessibility Check

// Example usage in MCP client
const result = await callTool('check-dropdown-accessibility', {
  content: `
    <button aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-controls="dropdown-menu">
      Menu
    </button>
    <ul id="dropdown-menu">
      <li><a href="/item1">Item 1</a></li>
      <li><a href="/item2">Item 2</a></li>
    </ul>
  `,
  notificationType: 'diagnostic',
  provideSuggestions: true
});

Tool Parameters

Both tools accept the same parameters:

• content (required): HTML string to analyze
• mode: 'realtime' | 'on-demand' (default: 'on-demand')
• notificationType: 'diagnostic' | 'notification' | 'inline' (default: 'diagnostic')
• provideSuggestions: boolean (default: true)

Accessibility Rules

Navigation Rules

• Required Labels: Nav elements must have aria-label or aria-labelledby
• Unique Labels: Multiple nav elements must have distinct labels
• Label Quality: Non-empty, meaningful label text
• Semantic Structure: Preference for <ul>/<li> structure
• Reference Validation: aria-labelledby must point to existing elements

Dropdown Rules

• State Indication: aria-expanded with valid boolean values
• Popup Type: aria-haspopup with appropriate values
• Control Relationship: aria-controls referencing controlled content
• Accessible Names: Clear text content or aria-label
• Keyboard Hints: Guidance for complex dropdown navigation

Deployment

Render.com Deployment

1. Connect your repository to Render.com
2. Use the included render.yaml configuration
3. The deployment process will:
   • Install dependencies with npm install (includes TypeScript types as dependencies)
   • Build TypeScript with npm run build
   • Start with node dist/server.js (automatically detects production and starts HTTP server)
4. Verify deployment at: https://your-app.onrender.com/

Smart Server Detection: The main server automatically detects when running in production (with NODE_ENV=production and PORT set) and starts the HTTP server instead of the stdio server. This ensures proper deployment regardless of Render.com configuration.

Deployment Endpoints

• Root: / - Server status and info
• Health: /health - Health check for monitoring
• MCP: /mcp - MCP protocol endpoint

Environment Variables

PORT=3000                          # Server port
NODE_ENV=production               # Environment
MCP_LOG_LEVEL=info               # Logging level
MCP_NOTIFICATION_DEFAULTS=diagnostic  # Default notification type

MCP Configuration for Remote Server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "accessibility-helper-remote": {
      "transport": "http",
      "url": "https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Development

Project Structure

src/
├── server.ts              # Main MCP server (stdio)
├── http-server.ts         # HTTP MCP server
├── tools/                 # Accessibility checking tools
│   ├── nav-checker.ts     # Navigation accessibility tool
│   ├── dropdown-checker.ts # Dropdown accessibility tool
│   └── html-parser.ts     # HTML parsing utilities
├── rules/                 # Accessibility rule engines
│   ├── nav-rules.ts       # Navigation accessibility rules
│   └── dropdown-rules.ts  # Dropdown accessibility rules
└── types/
    └── index.ts           # TypeScript definitions

docs/                      # Documentation
├── DESIGN-PLAN.md         # Technical design and architecture
├── MCP-DESIGN.md          # MCP integration details
└── CURSOR-SETUP.md        # Cursor IDE setup guide

examples/                  # Example HTML files for testing
└── accessibility-test-cases.html # Test cases with good/bad examples

tests/                     # Test files
└── test-integration.js    # MCP integration test

scripts/                   # Build and utility scripts
└── fix-imports.js         # ES module import fixer

Scripts

npm run build          # Build TypeScript + fix ES module imports
npm run fix-imports    # Fix imports in compiled JS (auto-runs after build)
npm run dev           # Start stdio server
npm run dev:http      # Start HTTP server
npm run start         # Start built stdio server
npm run start:http    # Start built HTTP server
npm run test          # Run integration tests
npm run test:integration # Run MCP integration test
npm run lint          # Run linter
npm run lint:fix      # Run linter with auto-fix
npm run clean         # Clean build directory

Pure TypeScript Development

This project uses pure TypeScript imports (without .js extensions) in source files. A post-build script automatically adds the required .js extensions to the compiled JavaScript for proper ES module compatibility with Node.js.

License

MIT