IT Staff Resource

CLI Getting Started Guide

Process thousands of course files from the terminal. Bulk accessibility compliance in one command.

Batch Processing

Parallel Processing

Screen Reader Compatible

Why Terminal-Based Tools?

GUI tools seem easier, but for bulk processing and accessibility, the terminal is superior:

More Accessible

"Terminal is pure text... universally accessible." - Blind PhD in Astrophysics. Screen readers work perfectly with CLI tools.

Faster

Process 500 files in parallel vs clicking through 500 files one by one in a GUI. 10x speed improvement.

Automatable

Write bash scripts once, run forever. Schedule cron jobs to process new files automatically.

Scriptable

Generate reports, send notifications, trigger workflows - all from one command.

# GUI approach: Click 500 files, wait 5 seconds each = 42 minutes
# CLI approach: Process 500 files in parallel = 3 minutes
# 14x faster with one command

Installation

The Aelira CLI is distributed as a standalone binary (no dependencies required):

macOS/Linux

# Download and install

curl -fsSL https://aelira.ai/install.sh | bash

# Verify installation

aelira --version

# Output: aelira CLI v1.0.0

Windows (PowerShell)

# Download and install

irm https://aelira.ai/install.ps1 | iex

# Verify installation

aelira --version

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install aelira/tap/aelira

Authentication

# Interactive login (opens browser)

aelira login

# Browser opens, you authenticate, CLI receives token

# OR: API key authentication (for automation)

export AELIRA_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

aelira whoami

# Output: Logged in as it-director@university.edu

Security Tip: For automated scripts, use API keys with limited scopes. Generate keys at https://dashboard.aelira.ai/settings/api

Basic Commands

Scan a Single File

# Scan a PDF

aelira scan pdf lecture_notes.pdf

# Output: 23 issues found (12 critical, 8 high, 3 medium)

# Scan a PowerPoint

aelira scan pptx slides.pptx

# Output: 45 images missing alt text, 12 contrast violations

# Scan LaTeX

aelira scan latex paper.tex

# Output: 87 equations need MathML conversion

Generate Fixes

# Scan and fix automatically

aelira fix pdf lecture_notes.pdf --output lecture_notes_accessible.pdf

# OCR complete, headings added, structure tagged

# Generate alt text for images

aelira fix pptx slides.pptx --auto-alt-text

# AI generates alt text for 45 images (~2 min)

# Convert LaTeX to accessible HTML

aelira fix latex paper.tex --output paper-accessible.html

# MathML generated, ARIA labels added

View Reports

# Generate detailed JSON report

aelira scan pdf lecture.pdf --format json > report.json

# Generate human-readable report

aelira scan pdf lecture.pdf --format text

# Export to Excel for stakeholders

aelira scan pdf lecture.pdf --format xlsx > report.xlsx

Batch Processing Workflows

This is where the CLI shines - process entire departments worth of files in one command.

Process All PDFs in a Directory

# Scan all PDFs recursively

aelira batch scan pdf ./course-materials/ --recursive

# Scanning 487 PDFs... (ETA 8 minutes)

# Fix all PDFs and save to output directory

aelira batch fix pdf ./course-materials/ --output ./accessible/ --recursive

# Processing in parallel (8 workers)...

# Process only files modified in the last 30 days

aelira batch fix pdf ./course-materials/ --modified-since 30d --recursive

Parallel Processing Script

For maximum speed, process multiple courses in parallel:

#!/bin/bash # process-department.sh # Process all courses in a department with parallel processing DEPARTMENT_DIR="/mnt/lms-export/biology-dept" OUTPUT_DIR="/mnt/accessible-output/biology-dept" MAX_PARALLEL=8 # Create output directory mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR" # Find all course directories find "$DEPARTMENT_DIR" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | \ parallel -j $MAX_PARALLEL \ 'COURSE=$(basename {}); \ echo "Processing $COURSE..."; \ aelira batch fix pdf {}/ --output '"$OUTPUT_DIR"'/$COURSE/ --recursive; \ echo "<Check className="w-4 h-4 text-[var(--feature-success-content)] inline-block" /> $COURSE complete"' # Generate department-wide compliance report aelira report compliance "$OUTPUT_DIR" --format xlsx > biology_compliance_report.xlsx echo "Department processing complete!" echo "Report: biology_compliance_report.xlsx"

Performance: This script processed 200 courses (4,300 files) in 47 minutes using 8 parallel workers. Manual GUI processing would take 40+ hours.

Automated Cron Job

Process new files automatically every night:

# Add to crontab (crontab -e) # Run every night at 2 AM 0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/aelira batch fix pdf /mnt/lms-export/ \ --output /mnt/accessible/ \ --modified-since 1d \ --recursive \ --notify it-team@university.edu

Advanced Features

Compliance Reporting

# Department-wide compliance report

aelira report compliance ./accessible-files/ --format text

# Output:

# Total files: 4,327

# Compliant: 4,103 (94.8%)

# Issues remaining: 224 files

# Critical: 12, High: 87, Medium: 125

# Export for legal/audit team

aelira report compliance ./accessible-files/ --format pdf --legal-detail

Custom Workflows with Webhooks

# Trigger Slack notification when processing completes

aelira batch fix pdf ./course-materials/ \\

--webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK \\

--webhook-on-complete

# Send email report to department chair

aelira report compliance ./accessible/ \\

--email chair@university.edu \\

--subject "Weekly Accessibility Compliance Update"

Quality Thresholds

# Only process files below 90% compliance

aelira batch scan pdf ./files/ --threshold 90

# Fail build if any critical issues found

aelira scan pdf file.pdf --fail-on critical

# Exit code 1 if critical issues detected (useful for CI/CD)

Troubleshooting

"Permission denied" errors

Make sure the CLI has read/write access to input and output directories:

chmod -R 755 ./course-materials/

"API rate limit exceeded"

Add delays between requests or upgrade to Enterprise plan for higher limits:

aelira batch fix pdf ./files/ --delay 500ms

"Out of memory" errors

Process fewer files in parallel or increase memory allocation:

# Reduce parallel workers

aelira batch fix pdf ./files/ --workers 4

# OR increase memory limit

export AELIRA_MAX_MEMORY=8G

"Invalid file format" errors

Check file extensions and verify files aren't corrupted:

# Skip invalid files

aelira batch fix pdf ./files/ --skip-invalid

Get Help

Built-in Help

aelira --help

aelira scan --help

aelira batch --help

Support

Email: support@aelira.ai

Slack: aelira-community

Docs: docs.aelira.ai

Ready to Process Your Department?

Start with a free trial. Process 50 files to see the CLI in action.

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