Local audits with the CLI

Local audits are free, unlimited, and need no login. The squirrel CLI crawls a site on your machine and runs the deterministic audit rules against it, so you can check a live URL or your own localhost dev server without spending a thing. By the end of this guide you will have installed the CLI, run an audit, and read the report in the format that suits you.

Install the CLI

curl -fsSL --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 120 https://install.squirrelscan.com | bash

iwr -useb https://install.squirrelscan.com/install.ps1 | iex

This drops the binary at ~/.local/bin/squirrel and adds it to your PATH. Confirm it works:

squirrel self doctor

Full install detail, including Alpine and musl notes, is in the Quickstart.

Run your first audit

Point squirrel audit at any URL:

squirrel audit https://example.com

You get a crawl and a scored report in the terminal:

✓ Audited 12 pages in 2.1s

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
SQUIRRELSCAN REPORT
https://example.com • 12 pages • 72/100 (C)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Core SEO (1 error, 3 warnings)
  core/meta-description Meta Description (error)
    ✗ meta-description: Missing meta description
      → /about
      → /contact

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
87 passed • 12 warnings • 3 failed
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Logged out, audits default to the quick coverage mode: a fast scan of the seed URL plus sitemaps, with no cloud calls and no credit spend. For a wider crawl, raise the page limit or switch coverage:

# Crawl up to 200 pages
squirrel audit https://example.com -m 200

# Smart sampling across URL patterns
squirrel audit https://example.com -C surface

The three coverage modes are quick, surface, and full. See squirrel audit for what each one crawls.

Set project defaults with a config file

Running the same audit repeatedly? Create a squirrel.toml so you do not retype flags:

squirrel init

This writes a config with sensible defaults. Edit it to pin the crawl scope and rule selection for the project:

[crawler]
max_pages = 100
include = ["/blog/*"]
exclude = ["/admin/*"]

[rules]
enable = ["*"]
disable = ["content/reading-level"]

Now every squirrel audit in this folder uses those settings. See the Configuration reference for all options, and squirrel init for the command flags.

Read the report your way

The console output is for humans. For everything else, pick a format with -f and, optionally, write it to a file with -o:

# Machine-readable JSON to a file
squirrel audit https://example.com -f json -o report.json

# A visual HTML report
squirrel audit https://example.com -f html -o report.html

Every audit is stored in a local database, so you can re-read it later without re-crawling. The squirrel report command queries that history:

squirrel report --list                    # recent audits
squirrel report example.com               # latest for a domain
squirrel report --severity error          # errors only
squirrel report --category core,links     # filter by category

For how the health score and grade are calculated, see Reports and scoring.

Use it inside a coding agent, locally

You do not need the cloud to put audits in front of an agent. Three local options, no login required:

Pipe the report straight in. The llm format is built for this:

squirrel audit https://example.com --format llm | claude "prioritize these fixes"

Run the local MCP server. squirrel mcp starts a stdio MCP server that runs the audit engine on your machine, so an agent can call audits as tools while working offline:

squirrel mcp

Local MCP audits are free and need no account. Setup and the tool list are in squirrel mcp and the Hosted MCP server guide.

Install the skill. squirrel skills install teaches your agent the audit workflow so a prompt like “audit this site and fix the issues” just works. See AI agent integration.

Gate CI on a local audit

Because it needs no login, a local audit is a clean CI check. --fail-on makes the command exit non-zero when a threshold trips:

squirrel audit https://staging.example.com --fail-on 'score<90' --fail-on 'severity>=error'

Quote each expression, since shells read bare < and > as redirection. The full recipe for GitHub Actions, GitLab, and generic runners is in the CI guide.

Related

• squirrel audit - every flag and coverage mode
• squirrel report - query and export stored audits
• Reports and scoring - how the health score works
• Cloud audits - add AI analysis, rendering, and a shared tracker
• AI agent integration - pipe, skill, and MCP workflows