If you’ve spent any time in development, you know the command line is where things get real. It’s efficient, fast, and—let’s be honest—satisfying. That single blinking cursor has powered decades of progress. From deploying servers to pushing commits, the command line is still where we get work done.
But for all its simplicity, it isn’t always as accessible as it seems. Yes, it’s text-based. Yes, it’s keyboard-driven. Yet those strengths can be deceiving. For developers who rely on screen readers or braille displays, a CLI’s clean look can hide a mess of barriers: missing structure, unreadable tables, spinning animations that never speak.
Accessibility isn’t just a web problem—it’s a design principle. When a command line is an accessible CLI, it becomes what it’s always meant to be: a tool for everyone to build, create, and solve problems efficiently.
Why Accessibility Still Matters in the Command Line
A 2021 study by Google researchers Harini Sampath, Alice Merrick, and Andrew Macvean took a closer look at command-line accessibility for developers with visual impairments. What they found might surprise you: CLIs, for all their strengths, are far from friction-free.
Participants could technically complete tasks—but it took significantly more effort, time, and patience than expected. The issue wasn’t skill. It was design. CLIs are, by nature, streams of text with no built-in structure for assistive technology to interpret. There are no headings, no semantic anchors, no easy ways to navigate.
One developer summed it up perfectly: the CLI “works, but it’s tiring.” Most found themselves building workarounds—copying output into Notepad, exporting text to a browser, or writing custom scripts to make data readable.
And that’s really the heart of it: accessibility isn’t just about whether something can be used. It’s about whether it can be used well. That’s where building an accessible CLI from the start changes everything.
Where the Command Line Trips Up—and How to Fix It
The study’s findings highlight some clear patterns that every CLI developer can learn from. None of them require reinventing the wheel; they just ask for intention.
1. Structure Matters More Than You Think
We tend to think of text as automatically accessible—but not all text is equal. The command line outputs everything as flat strings. There’s no hierarchy, no markup, and no way for screen readers to interpret context.
Take man pages. They look structured, with headings and sections, but to a screen reader they’re just one long stream. Users can’t jump between sections or skim efficiently. Many developers in the study said they avoid man pages entirely and rely on web docs instead.
A simple solution? Offer structure where it’s missing:
- Provide HTML or Markdown versions of documentation.
- Add export options (
--help-html,--manual-online). - Allow users to format output as CSV or JSON for easy navigation.
A truly accessible CLI doesn’t stop at giving you data—it gives you data you can navigate.
2. Tables and Long Outputs Need Rethinking
Tables are a classic offender. They look organized, but they’re actually just rows of text spaced apart. For a screen reader, that structure disappears. Developers have to mentally map where each number belongs, remembering what every column represents.
That’s not accessibility—that’s endurance.
Better approaches include:
- A
--flator--no-tableflag to simplify output. - Options to export to structured formats (
--output=csv,--output=json). - Including clear, readable headers for every data point.
And for those endless command outputs? Let users redirect text to a file automatically (--export, --logfile, --view-html). Searching or filtering shouldn’t require stepping out of accessibility tools just to get the job done.
These simple changes turn a good CLI into a genuinely accessible CLI—one that respects how different users interact with information.
3. Feedback Should Be Informative—Not Decorative
Developers love a good spinner or progress bar. But when screen readers encounter those fancy progress indicators, they usually read something like “dot dot dot dot fail.”
In Google’s study, one developer said it best: “I could tell something was happening, but I didn’t know what.”
Instead of simulating motion, communicate progress with plain, descriptive text:
“Deploying container… 50% complete.”
“Success: VM created.”
And always give users an escape hatch: flags like --no-animation or --static-output keep feedback clean without slowing anyone down. A smart, accessible CLI never assumes sight is the only way to know something’s working.
4. Make Error Messages Clear and Human
If you’ve ever seen a CLI error filled with regex syntax, you can imagine how that sounds when read aloud: “left bracket A dash Z right bracket…”? Not exactly clear.
Error messages in the study were one of the most common frustrations. Developers spent hours debugging issues that could’ve been solved with one plain-language sentence.
Here’s the fix:
- Describe what happened, not just what failed.
- Offer actionable next steps.
- Keep symbols and regex out of default messages—reserve them for verbose or debug modes.
The goal isn’t to oversimplify; it’s to make sure the message is usable by everyone who reads—or hears—it.
Practical Guidelines for Designing an Accessible CLI
The study concludes with recommendations that align perfectly with inclusive design best practices.
Here’s how to apply them in your next CLI project:
- Provide HTML versions of documentation: Treat
--helpandmanoutputs as summaries, not full references. - Let users export long outputs: Make it easy to redirect results to text, HTML, or CSV.
- Document output structures: Explain what your CLI prints before users run it—help them form a mental model.
- Make tables convertible: Offer ways to flatten or export tabular data for screen reader compatibility.
- Always include progress and status updates: Never assume silence equals success.
- Use progress indicators that read correctly: ASCII art may look fun, but it sounds like noise.
- Write error messages that are understandable aloud: Avoid shorthand or syntax that doesn’t translate when spoken.
An accessible CLI isn’t a niche feature—it’s a sign of thoughtful engineering.
Start Where Developers Live: The CLI
Here’s the takeaway: accessibility isn’t a bonus; it’s good design. The same features that help someone using a screen reader—structured data, consistent output, clear feedback—help everyone who uses your tool. They make automation cleaner, logs easier to parse, and development faster.
Most importantly, they remove the unnecessary friction that holds good developers back.
At 216digital, we see accessibility as the foundation of quality, not the final coat of paint. Whether it’s your website, software, or CLI, inclusive design starts with asking a simple question: Can everyone use this the way it’s meant to be used?
If you’re building developer tools and want to make them as efficient as they are inclusive, schedule an ADA briefing with 216digital. We’ll help you test, refine, and design CLIs that truly work for everyone—from the first keystroke to the final command.