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Quick Start

No install required. npx auto-downloads Argus on first run.

Step 1 — Add to .mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"] },
    "argus":           { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "argusqa-os"] }
  }
}

Or via Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add chrome-devtools -- npx -y chrome-devtools-mcp@latest
claude mcp add argus -- npx -y argusqa-os

Step 2 — Start Chrome with remote debugging:

# macOS
open -a "Google Chrome" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222 --headless=new

# Windows (PowerShell)
& "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9222 --headless=new --no-sandbox --disable-gpu --user-data-dir="$env:TEMP\chrome-argus"

# Linux
google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222 --headless=new --no-sandbox

Step 3 — Run an audit:

Run argus_audit on http://localhost:3000

Argus scans your app and either posts findings to Slack or opens a local report.html. That's it.

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What Argus Catches

32 analysis engines, 140 distinct issue types, zero test-file maintenance:

Category	What it detects
JavaScript	Uncaught exceptions, unhandled promise rejections, console.error on critical routes
Network & API	HTTP 5xx, 401/403 auth failures, duplicate API calls (infinite loops), 4xx errors, broken links
Performance	LCP > 2500ms, CLS > 0.1, TTFB > 800ms, slow APIs > 1s/3s, payloads > 500KB/2MB, JS bundles > 500KB
Accessibility	axe-core (80+ WCAG rules), color-blind simulation, missing ARIA, keyboard focus, heading hierarchy
SEO	Missing meta description, OG tags, canonical, viewport, h1
Security	Auth tokens in localStorage/URL, eval(), missing CSP/X-Frame-Options, CSP violations, missing SRI on external scripts, source map exposure, open redirects, npm CVEs
CSS	Cascade overrides, component style leaks, unused rules, React inline style conflicts
Content	null/undefined as visible text, lorem ipsum, broken images, empty data lists
Responsive	Horizontal overflow at 375px/768px, touch targets < 44×44px
Memory	Detached DOM nodes via V8 heap snapshot, heap growth across navigation
Visual	Pixel-level screenshot regression via pixelmatch (≥0.1% warning, ≥5% critical)
Figma	Design-to-implementation fidelity — 13 property types (color, spacing, typography, shadows, etc.)
Forms	Missing required, autocomplete, aria-describedby; unlabelled inputs
Fonts	FOIT, FOUT, missing fallbacks, slow loads > 1s, suboptimal formats
Motion	prefers-reduced-motion violations, autoplay without pause controls
Network baseline	New requests, missing requests, status-code regressions vs saved HAR baseline
Environment diff	Dev vs staging — screenshot diff, DOM changes, console/network regressions

And every finding is post-processed with:

Post-processor	What it adds
Intelligent baseline filtering	Findings that flip-flop across runs are tagged noisy and downgraded to info — pure cross-run heuristics, no API calls (ARGUS_NOISE_FILTER=0 to disable)
Root cause linking	New findings are annotated with the recent git commits and files most likely to have caused them (ARGUS_ROOT_CAUSE=0 to disable)

All findings are classified as critical / warning / info and routed to the right Slack channel — or surfaced in the local HTML report. For per-finding severity tables and detection methods, see REFERENCE.md.

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MCP Tools

Ask Claude (or any MCP client) — no terminal required:

Tool	Description
argus_audit	Fast pass — JS, network, accessibility, SEO, security, CSS, content
argus_audit_full	Deep pass — adds Lighthouse, responsive checks, memory leak detection, hover-state bugs
argus_compare	Diff dev vs staging — screenshots, findings delta, environment regressions
argus_get_context	Capture everything broken on the open tab for Claude to diagnose
argus_watch_snapshot	Snapshot the open tab without navigating (preserves auth/form state)
argus_last_report	Return last JSON report without re-running
argus_design_audit	Figma URL → 13 design-token finding types (color, spacing, typography, shadows, etc.)
argus_visual_diff	Screenshot baseline comparison. Pass updateBaseline: true to reset.
argus_pr_validate	Fetch GitHub PR diff → map changed files to affected routes → targeted audit → { blocked, findings }

Example prompts:

Run argus_audit on http://localhost:3000/checkout
Run argus_audit_full on http://localhost:3000/dashboard
Run argus_compare
Run argus_get_context

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Full Setup

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Node.js	v20.19+
Chrome	Stable (desktop or headless)
Claude Code	Latest (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code)
Slack workspace	Optional — omit for local report.html mode

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Option A — MCP Server (recommended for Claude Code users)

No local install needed. Use the Quick Start above, then add your target URL:

# .env in your project root
TARGET_DEV_URL=http://localhost:3000
TARGET_STAGING_URL=https://staging.example.com   # optional — enables argus_compare

Optional — Slack notifications:

1. api.slack.com/apps → Create New App → name it BugBot
2. OAuth & Permissions → Bot Token Scopes: chat:write, files:write, files:read
3. Install to workspace → copy the xoxb-... token
4. Create channels #bugs-critical, #bugs-warnings, #bugs-digest and run /invite @BugBot in each

SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...
SLACK_CHANNEL_CRITICAL=C0000000000
SLACK_CHANNEL_WARNINGS=C0000000001
SLACK_CHANNEL_DIGEST=C0000000002

Without Slack: Argus auto-generates reports/report.html and opens it in your browser — zero extra config.

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Option B — npm Package (CI / dev dependency)

npm install --save-dev argusqa-os
npx argus init   # interactive wizard — detects framework, discovers routes, writes .env
npm run crawl    # run after Chrome is started

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Option C — Clone the Repository (contributors / full source)

git clone https://github.com/ironclawdevs27/Argus.git
cd Argus
npm install
npm run init     # interactive setup wizard

Manual setup (skip the wizard):

cp .env.example .env
# Fill in TARGET_DEV_URL and optional Slack tokens

Then configure your routes in src/config/targets.js:

export const routes = [
  { path: '/',          name: 'Home',      critical: true,  waitFor: 'main' },
  { path: '/login',     name: 'Login',     critical: true,  waitFor: 'form' },
  { path: '/dashboard', name: 'Dashboard', critical: true,  waitFor: '[data-testid="dashboard"]' },
  { path: '/settings',  name: 'Settings',  critical: false, waitFor: null },
];

• critical: true — errors on this route go to #bugs-critical
• waitFor — CSS selector Argus waits for before capturing (signals page-ready)

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CLI Commands

npm run chrome         # Launch Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222 (auto-detects binary)
npm run doctor         # Pre-flight check: Chrome reachable, .mcp.json valid, .env has TARGET_DEV_URL
npm run crawl          # Batch audit of all configured routes
npm run compare        # Dev vs staging diff (CSS-only if no staging URL)
npm run watch          # Passive monitor — polls open Chrome tab every 1s
npm run report:html    # Generate reports/report.html from last JSON audit
npm run report:pdf     # Export HTML report to A4 PDF (requires: npm install puppeteer)
npm run server         # Start Slack slash-command server (port 3001)
npm run init           # Interactive setup wizard
npm run test:unit          # 94 unit tests — no Chrome required
npm run test:harness       # 149-block correctness harness — requires Chrome
npm run test:harness:log   # same, but tees full output to harness-results.txt
npm run test:coverage      # merged unit + harness coverage gate (requires Chrome)

Watch mode — live monitoring as you develop:

# Terminal 1: start your app
npm run dev

# Terminal 2: start Argus watcher
npm run watch
# Ctrl+C → stops monitor and writes reports/report.html

Slack slash command (on-demand from any channel):

/argus-retest https://staging.example.com/checkout

To expose the server via tunnel: cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3001 (free, no account required). Set the resulting URL as the Request URL in Slack App → Slash Commands.

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GitHub Actions CI

Add to your repo's secrets (Settings → Secrets → Actions):

Secret	Required	Value
TARGET_STAGING_URL	Yes	Your staging base URL
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	No	xoxb-... token (omit for HTML-only mode)
SLACK_CHANNEL_CRITICAL	No*	Channel ID (needed when Slack is configured)
SLACK_CHANNEL_WARNINGS	No*	Channel ID
SLACK_CHANNEL_DIGEST	No*	Channel ID
GITHUB_TOKEN	No	Auto-injected by Actions for PR comments + Check Runs

The included workflow runs on push to main, daily at 6 AM UTC, and on manual trigger. If critical issues are found, the pipeline fails.

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Environment Variables

Full reference (click to expand)

Variable	Default	Description
TARGET_DEV_URL	—	Required. Base URL of your dev environment
TARGET_STAGING_URL	—	Staging URL — enables argus_compare; omit for CSS-only mode
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	—	xoxb-... token. Omit for local report.html mode
SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET	—	For /argus-retest slash command verification
SLACK_CHANNEL_CRITICAL	—	Channel ID for critical bugs
SLACK_CHANNEL_WARNINGS	—	Channel ID for warnings
SLACK_CHANNEL_DIGEST	—	Channel ID for info / daily digest
PORT	3001	Slack slash-command server port
REPORT_OUTPUT_DIR	./reports	Where to write JSON reports
ARGUS_CONCURRENCY	1	Parallel MCP clients for route crawling
ARGUS_LOG_LEVEL	info	trace / debug / info / warn / error
ARGUS_LOG_PRETTY	—	Set 1 for human-readable logs in dev
ARGUS_RETRY_ATTEMPTS	3	Max retries for navigate/fill MCP calls
ARGUS_WATCH_INTERVAL_MS	1000	Watch mode poll interval (ms)
ARGUS_WATCH_UI_PORT	3002	Watch mode web dashboard port
ARGUS_SOURCE_DIR	—	App source path — enables env-var / feature-flag / dead-route analysis
ARGUS_ENV_FILE	—	Path to app .env for codebase cross-reference
SCREENSHOT_DIFF_THRESHOLD	0.5	Pixel diff % threshold for environment comparison
GITHUB_TOKEN	—	For PR comments + Check Runs
GITHUB_REPOSITORY	—	owner/repo format
GITHUB_PR_NUMBER	—	Auto-injected by Actions from PR context
ARGUS_CRITICAL_THRESHOLD	1	New criticals before blocking merge (0 = never block)
ARGUS_DIFF_IMAGE_URL	—	Visual diff image URL to embed in PR comment
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	—	OTLP collector for Jaeger / Grafana Tempo
FIGMA_API_TOKEN	—	Required for argus_design_audit
FONT_SLOW_MS	1000	Slow web font load threshold (ms)
A11Y_CONTRAST_AA	4.5	WCAG AA min contrast ratio for CVD simulation

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Troubleshooting

Chrome DevTools MCP not connecting

claude mcp add chrome-devtools -- npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest
# Restart Claude Code after adding

Slack messages not posting

• Token must start with xoxb- (not xoxp-, xoxe-, or xapp-)
• Run /invite @BugBot in each channel
• Required scopes: chat:write, files:write, files:read

Screenshots are blank

• Page hasn't settled — increase pageSettleMs in src/config/targets.js or add a waitFor selector for the route

/argus-retest returns "dispatch_failed"

• Tunnel URL changed — update the Request URL in Slack App → Slash Commands and reinstall

CSS analysis returns empty results

• Page may be behind auth — ensure you're logged in on the Chrome instance Argus is controlling

CI pipeline fails immediately

• Chrome may not start fast enough — increase sleep 3 to sleep 5 in .github/workflows/argus.yml

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How Argus Differs From Playwright / Cypress

Argus is a complementary layer, not a replacement for unit or E2E tests:

	Playwright / Cypress	Argus
Purpose	Test your logic and API contracts	Catch what the user actually sees
What it catches	Regressions in behavior	CSS drift, visual regressions, API loops, console noise, perf budgets
When it runs	In your test suite	Continuously, on the live running app
Setup	Write test files	Configure routes in targets.js
Output	Pass / fail	Structured Slack reports with screenshots

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Known Limitations

All 846 harness assertions pass (846/846) — there are currently no known MCP- or Chrome-layer restrictions. Lighthouse now runs in headless (after the lighthouse_audit argument fix); the remaining soft assertions (perf traces, GC-dependent heap-growth) are promoted to counted hard assertions only in the weekly strict-soft lane (harness-strict.yml) via ARGUS_HARNESS_STRICT_SOFT.

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Project Structure

src/
  argus.js              — single-page audit entry point
  mcp-server.js         — 9 MCP tools exposed to Claude / any MCP client
  orchestration/        — crawl loop, Slack/GitHub dispatch, env comparison, watch mode
  utils/                — 32 analysis engines (accessibility, security, performance, PDF, recording, etc.)
  adapters/browser.js   — CdpBrowserAdapter — wraps all chrome-devtools-mcp calls
  config/targets.js     — routes, thresholds, auth steps
  cli/
    init.js             — argus init interactive setup wizard
    chrome-launcher.js  — npm run chrome / argus-chrome — launches Chrome with correct flags
    doctor.js           — npm run doctor / argus-doctor — pre-flight checks
    pr-validate.js      — headless CI entry point for GitHub Actions
test-harness/           — 149-block correctness harness, 846 hard assertions, 63 fixture pages
test/unit/              — 94 Vitest unit tests (no Chrome required)
landing/                — Product landing page (React 19 + Vite + Tailwind)

Full source map → CLAUDE.md · MCP/DSL reference → SKILL.md

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Contributing

1. Fork the repo and create a branch
2. npm run test:unit — verify without Chrome (94 tests)
3. npm run test:harness — full integration coverage (requires Chrome on port 9222)
4. Open a PR — Argus audits itself via the CI workflow

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License

MIT © ironclawdevs27

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